Lactation consulting is a counselling profession that involves active listening and collaborative problem-solving skills. IBCLC certificants need a thorough understanding of human personality development and the principles of effective interpersonal communication.
Courses in public speaking, media communications, marketing and industrial or work psychology do not meet this requirement.
The table below describes typical courses that meet the psychology or counselling skills or communication skills requirement.
| Typical Course Name | Typical Course Description |
| Basic Concepts in Psychology | Introduces psychology as scientific discipline. Examines concepts and methods in learning, motivation, development, personality, and measurement. |
| Introduction to Psychology | A general survey of selected content areas in psychology, including personality and human development, physiological psychology, learning, intelligence, heredity and environment, and motivation and emotion. |
| Applied Psychology | Overview of behavioural principles, strategies, and system approaches to individual, organisational, and community change. |
| Foundations of Interpersonal Communication | Theories and principles of interpersonal communication emphasising models of communication, verbal and nonverbal message systems, and analysis of communicative relationships. |
| Health Communication | Examines interpersonal communicative processes associated with health in consumer-provider, family, and health communication campaign contexts. Particular attention to understanding cultural differences in perceptions of and communication about health and disease. |
| Consumer-Provider Health Communication | Explores relational health communication research and practice. Examines the role of interpersonal communication in health care delivery, health promotion, disease prevention, risk communication, as well as in promoting personal and psychosocial well being. |