Coaches aka Charlatans?
“Life coaches” have no credibility with me. If you are a seasoned professional with credentials and degrees in your field, and you are mentoring folks for a competitive hourly rate, I’m not talking about you. Call it coaching if you must, but I prefer to call that consulting, from a place of subject matter expertise. “Life coaches” however, often have no real credentials, no consistent career experience, are totally unregulated, and held to no code of ethics. They are nothing like therapists, despite marketing themselves that way. Their “certificate” from the 2-day online coaching academy has about as much value as the PDF it isn’t even printed on. After a little bit of success they market themselves as a coach of other coaches, promising to show them how to get rich, if only they listen to the advice exactly right. That is how they actually get wealthy. It’s a pyramid scheme. If a trainee fails, it must be their fault. If it seems like I am taking this personally, I am, these people bankrupted someone I love.
I spent many years getting my graduate degree and independent clinical license. I don’t understand why other therapists are demoting themselves to “coach.”