How to apply for IACS Accreditation

Your application for accreditation packet (your self-study materials) will go through two independent peer reviews to assess your readiness for the site visit portion of the evaluation. 

If the reviews discover issues that need to be addressed or if we have questions requiring clarity, we will contact you to resolve these questions before we move to the site visit stage. Generally, the more details you can provide in your application packet, the easier it will be for the reviewers to assess your responses against the IACS standards.

You will be notified when you're approved for a site visit and we begin the scheduling process, starting with identifying a site visit team. 

Upon approval to move to the site visit stage, you will be invoiced the Initial Application Fee, which is credited back to you upon successfully achieving accreditation. See our Fees page for details.

Once your counseling center has undergone the two initial peer reviews of your self-study materials and appears to meet the IACS Standards, you will be notified that an on-site review has been approved. You will be notified again when the site visit team has been established. You and the site visitors will set up a mutually agreeable date for the visit. 

A site visit is at least 1.5 days, usually two full days. Once the visit takes place, the Site Visitors have one month to submit their findings to IACS. IACS will review the report before providing it to you for your review. You will have one month to submit a written response with your comments to the findings and recommendations in the report. Once your written response is received, IACS will generally make a final accreditation decision within a couple weeks, unless further review is needed.

If there are outstanding issues after the site visit, there may be up to three additional peer-reviews (two more Application Reviewers, who will look at your application in its entirety, including the site visit report and your response to the recommendations; plus a potential review by the IACS Vice President). The additional Reviewers will be peers who have not seen your application materials before, which include the application and supplemental materials you orginally submitted, the two initial Application Reviews, the Site Visit Report, and your written response to the report. If, after two additional peer reviews, a clear accreditation determination cannot be made, a final peer review is conducted by the IACS Vice President of the Board of Directors, who has authority to make final adjudications regarding accreditation.

Each year, accredited centers are assessed an annual Accreditation Fee. This fee must be paid annually to remain in good standing.

Additionally, accredited centers are required to submit an Annual Review each year to self-attest to continued compliance with IACS Standards and progress on prior recommendations. There is no separate fee associated with the Annual Review.

Centers are required to undergo re-accreditation every eight years, including a submitting full application packet, site visit, and the peer-reviews.

The IACS Board of Directors can request a re-evaluation with a mandatory site visit, prior to eight years, if they feel it is warranted based on Annual Reviews or other information submitted during this timeframe.

Additional re-accreditation details are here.