Badjedidude said:
I think there could be some blurred lines in terms of... coaches trying to diagnose or treat valid psychological problems or mental illness. I think a competent life coach would be careful to refer their coachee to a professional should they begin to suspect that their clients require such assistance.
There's also the problem of life coaching often having a sort of quasi-religious nature wherein clients/coaches could potentially be hurt. I seem to recall one incident wherein a "life coach" styled as some sort of religious leader ended up accidentally killing a few of her clients when they spent too long in a sweat lodge or something. I don't remember the whole story, but...
No, not at all. As a matter of fact coaching has nothing to do with mental treatment (as far as I am concerned). Coach solves solely non-pathological issues. But don't afraid of not getting what you want (meaning in general) because "pathological" has much shorter spread that you might think of. For instance, one friend of mine was scared to tell me that sometimes he suffers of quite some depressive and lack of energy to do anything. After a brief observation I clearly could see the reason: guy spends days almost nonstop studying when he takes no break or social relief so no wonder that after 5 days staying over his books is done for. A simple beer
with friends and doing some sports in the day quickly solved his problem. In other words: coaches do not deal with real psychological disorders and if they identify, they simply suggest to visit a specialist. But that is all. Only a small number people suffers of something what could be called harmful psychological disorder. Vast majority who think so have just lowered self esteem.
second, coaching has nothing to do with any religion. It is simple way how to resolve issues. Example: Client tells he has problem with study. Coach analyses his problem and ask him key question: how he spend he free time, what is his motivation, what is his relationship in school, etc. From that identifies key obstacles such as lack of goals or distraction during study time. Suggest improvements or best ask client to suggest improvement by himself and than makes checkout to see if it works.
JHK said:
Sounds like school.
What would deem one to have the qualifications to show other's how to live their life? Out of curiosity. I'm not trying to sound like an ass.
Good question.
Yes, they are usually qualified individuals with coaching diploma what I don't have. On the other hand qualified ones are quite expensive (starting on 100 Euro/ 125 USD hour) but that doesn't mean unqualified can't do the trick.
Coaches never show other how to life their life. That is very important to understand. Sole purpose of coaches is just to offer feedback on their clients and help them find solutions by themselves. You are right, no one can tell you how to best live your life. Only you can. And coaches is here to help you with that.
People who give direct advice are called mentors. Mentors usually work in technical field such as business or science. There are mentors for life (and very often dating) but frankly, I think for the same reason as you that they are mostly scam.
Badjedidude said:
^^^That's the thing... I'm pretty sure there's no "life coaching" degrees or supervisory boards, so... unfortunately a lot of the time it might just come down to the individual life coach's claims or client list. Aside from word-of-mouth, there's not really a way to ensure that anyone is properly trained or experienced or anything.
*shrug*
There are schools for coaches with renown degree. Branch of Oxford university offers such diploma and if you want to be professional coach you must have official diploma and experience, just as you want to be doctor you have to have finished study with attestation. Quality varies that is true. For that reason professional coaches usually offer one or two free lessons for the beginning to see if client will be satisfied.
Also most of top-notch CEOs and COOs have several coached all the time (statistics tell 33% of CEO in general are coached). Its very common practice for high-performance people but I believe everyone can use such person.
Sorry for bad Engrish. I am too lazy to correct it
