Earning Contact Hours is a standard practice for most certifying organizations.  These hours ensure that certified individuals keep up on changes in their field of education. An ICEA Contact hour is a specific amount of time spent participating in an educational program.  Contact hours are computed as sixty (60) minutes of education equals one contact hour and resembles nursing continuing education credits (CEUs).

ICEA requires 24 hours of continuing education for recertification. These hours can be earned through the following ways:

ICEA Contact Hours

ICEA offers a variety of ways in which contact hours can be earned directly through the organization.  These are earned by attending an ICEA event or completing an ICEA Continuing Education Opportunity.  Examples are as follows:

• ICEA Conferences
• ICEA IAT Trainings
• ICEA Webinars

ICEA Reciprocal and Partner Organizations

ICEA will accept Continuing Education from the list below after a review of the agenda.  Please email info@icea.org to obtain permission to use the contact hours.  You are responsible to keep your certificate of completion and documentation of approval for the contact hours until your certification is due.

Up to 24 hours of continuing education will be accepted from the following organizations:

• Lamaze
• CAPPA
• DONA
• Bradley

Up to 12 hours will be accepted from the following organizations:

• National Perinatal Task Force
• IBCLE- CERPs
• Healthy Children’s Center for Breastfeeding
• USLCA/ILCA
• LER
• PSI International or a PSI local chapter

Approved Contact Hours should reflect ICEA’s mission and vision. ICEA will accept up to 4 Contact Hours per renewal cycle for education activities that do not address pregnancy, birth, postpartum, newborn care, breastfeeding, or maternal mental health. There are many Continuing Education activities that could be beneficial to an ICEA Certified Professional’s practice not directly related to these topics (for example: adult education, mindfulness, public health).

Individual Attendance

On occasion, an individual might attend an educational activity that they would like to be able to use for recertification. It is strongly encouraged that individual contact hours are approved before attending the event.  Please submit a copy of the agenda and speaker bios to info@icea.org a minimum of 30 days prior to the event. Once approved you will be charged a $25.00 administrative fee to transfer the contact hours to ICEA approved contact hours.

Requests for transfer of hours after completion of a training or workshop will be reviewed but acceptance cannot be guaranteed. These requests must be submitted within 6 weeks after completing the training.

ICEA Approved Workshops

Any perinatal or breastfeeding related organization sponsoring a workshop, conference, or other training may apply for Continuing Education from ICEA by completing the form found here –  https://icea.org/contact-hour-application/   Once approved, the organization will be provided a reference number to be used on the activity certificate.  This certificate will be used to verify hours when recertification occurs.

FAQs

Cost

Find your appropriate country category here.

How long are they good for?

A program can be approved for either a single event or for multiple events.  If the program is offering multiple events, it must be reviewed and reapproved annually by reapplying for contact hours.

If there is a change to a speaker for a long term event then a COI form for that speaker must be submitted but no other action is needed.

If any content is changed during that year, then it will need to be reviewed for approval.

Alternate Contact Hours

Alternate contact hours may be approved for learning formats such as correspondence courses, video or audio tapes. Alternate contact hours must be applied for by the program sponsor, and approval must be awarded prior to use by the candidate or certified member. Candidates and certified members may use alternate contact hours for one-half (12.0) of the required hours for recertification.

Independent Study Contact Hours

If someone is unable to obtain enough contact hours required for recertification through any related opportunities listed above, alternate contact hours may be obtained through independent study.

Independent Study opportunities include:

• Read and take posttest for positions papers – 1 contact hour for each completed position paper and exam.
• Read and write a book review on a childbirth or breastfeeding book, published within one year – 5 contact hours (2 per recertification period accepted).
• Write an ICEA Blog – 4 contact hours if accepted by ICEA’s blog editor (2 per recertification period accepted).
  • Topic must be approved prior to submission.
  • 300-500 words
  • Use 5 current, evidenced based references that are under five years old
  • Submission may be edited
• If the member is a CLC or IBCLC, they may use 8 contact hours obtained for maintaining their CLC or IBCLC, for ICEA certification renewal. Proof of these contact hours must be provided.

Submit the information above with your recertification applications or email info@icea.org for additional details.

Reviewing each application may take up to one month. At the completion of the renewal process applicant will be notified in writing of the decision. If the event has been approved to offer ICEA Contact Hours it will be assigned a program number to include on the completion certificates.