Should I Become a Life Coach?

Hello,
 
I won't belabor this email as to how I came upon your site, but instead ask if you would point me in the best direction to filter out whether the profession of life coach is for me.
 
Last year I lost my husband over in Iraq and currently I'm seeking a new path in which to restart my life. It's to my detriment that in my many years of marriage, 20+ (I'm 42 now), I did not work, nor did I have to. We had no children but ourselves and enjoyed a good life. Nonetheless life changes and in order to move on you must adapt and so this is where you find me.
 
A little of my background might lend a hand. My B.A. is in Psychology and at one time I had thought about becoming a psychologist but frankly my interest is not as Freudian as most therapies and I prefer a more rounded approach working with people on several facets rather than strictly dysfunction. I also hold a B.A. in Business but that, too, I have never utilized. More to the point, I have no interest to move into the business sector unless it has to do with counseling.
 
So, as you can see, my interest is clearly working with people in a therapeutic sort of capacity. To compound this interest I won't deny that providing a good income is key, as well. However, there seems to be such a mirage of information pertaining to this career path and its rewards that I'm not certain what is fluff, if not puff.
 
It's my hope that you can share a minute with me and tell me the best way to go about getting into this profession in the most reputable fashion. Where do I gain formal training and what should I expect from it? I'm also curious whether, if you had to start all over, if you would even do it again or recommend this path and to whom?
 
Kind Regards,

Joanna

Joanna,

Thanks for your email. I’m sorry for your loss.

There are many ways to get into coaching. There are many coaches who have no degrees or certifications. However, I did not have any experience in psychology or coaching when I started so I wanted to get some training.

In terms of formal training, you could check out some programs offered by the International Coaching Federation, which is one of the governing organizations in the coaching field. What you personally get is some basics on coaching and a degree.

I find that business clients and professionals often ask about how I’m qualified to coach and the degree does matter to about 25-30 percent of the folks I coach. Given your background in psychology, I think you are likely to have most of the basic skills you already need to listen, ask questions, and facilitate learning with your client. It may be worth it to get a book on coaching basics and see what learning gaps (if any) you may have. I’d recommend Co-Active Coaching as a starting place. This will give you a general sense of what you may get from formal training.

If I were to do it all over again, I would have read the book above, taken some basic classes to fill my knowledge gaps, signed up with a program to practice coaching other coaches, and then took a class on effective networking for the marketing piece. What the coaching program I took missed was helping people through behavioral change. I took an NLP and hypnosis class that I thought helped the most in terms of working effectively with clients to create real change. I think there are some NLP and coaching programs combined. If I were to do it again, I would have signed up for one of those classes. Make sure these programs offer adequate practice too.

Sincerely
 
C.J.

Comments

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[Paul]

I really think people who want to be a life coach should be certified or licensed by some sort of govt agency, the same as licensed clinical professionals must. The problem I have with life coachin is you have a lot of people out there claiming to be able to assist with clinical issues, and have absolutley no clincial training. Example, a life coach can't treat depression but they can treat sadness? That's the kind of garbage that is going on out there. Sooner or later, enough of these life coaches will ruin it for everyone else and they will become regulated. As a counselor, I had to do 6 yrs of school, an internship and a practicum. Anyone can get a certificate for life coaching. In fact, there is no requirement for life coaching. Just hang out a shingle and say your a life coach. That's the fact of the how it works.

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it's to hard to begin this career

[Amy]

Life coaching is a joke. I spent a lot of money to become certified. I also spend most of my time marketing myself. Coaches are a dime a dozen and the only "coaches" making money are those who sell to other coaches. With the promise of perfect websites, programs,marketing strategies and other advice, these coaches will drain what money you didn't spend on certification.

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Dear Joanna, if you followed the suggestions of C.J. ten months ago, you probably are in the life coaching career by now. If you had the motivation (not just for the income) to help others transform their lives and succeed in achieving their goals in life, you would be a life coach now. Add to that passion and commitment, you would be a good coach. How are you faring today?

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[C.J. Liu]

I know of a couple of coaches who are also psychotherapists. The two practices are different. I agree with the above about the focus on past and present and for the most part coaching is about the present. I agree that it isn't about solving emotional problems too. However, I think that there are many similarities in terms of using your intuition, listening, and being present, which are the critical skills you need with both. The key is that you have a strong foundation to build from than most folks.

[Gina]

Hi, Joanna,

I don't know how much you've looked into the life coaching field, and whether you already know that psychological therapy, and life coaching, have very little to do with each other in terms of how they function. Therapy tends to look to the past to find what events had an impact on a patient, in order to help them deal with it psychologically. Life coaching is about the future, only. It isn't about solving emotional problems, but about helping the client set goals, then help them find the steps they must take to achieve those goals, and act as a cheerleader (of sorts) to encourage them to take those steps. If a life coach finds the client has a psychological hang-up that prevents them from reaching the goals they've set, then it's the moral duty of the coach to advise them to seek professional counseling. This is why even with your background in psychology, you will still need training. You'll have to resist the temptation to psychoanalize or otherwise treat your clients as patients. You may even have to unlearn some of the thinking patterns you developed while studying for your degree. I suggest you do some research to find the program that suits you best. The best way your degree will help you, will be for those clients who want to know what your credentials are - you can list it to them along with your other credentials.
Best of luck to you!

[Jean-Louis st-Pierre]

Hello,
sorry for my english but i leave you my opinion about coaching.
I'm woring in industrie and believe me since ''coaching term''
is use often the method does'nt serve the customer.

Method and else which serve more for evaluation ,not for accompagnement..You don't feel any interest ,any cooperation to a common goal.

I'm coaching teenager in soccer and hockey, I know than i need a good preparation,i do better when i give them some educative according their interests..''play'' when i define clearly their function(responsability) in the game.

Good luck!
Almost people have good hability when thy use their feeling ,their regards.They become a life coach.

Jean-Louis