Life coaching

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Life coaching is a practice of assisting clients to determine and achieve personal goals. A trained coach will use a variety of methods, tailored to the client, to move through the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and coaches are not therapists (although therapists may be coaches).

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[edit] Credentials

There are several different training programs and coaching institutes available, though no official regulatory standard currently exists. Additionally, there is a high degree of confusion around the terms 'certification' and 'credentialing' as used within the coaching industry and there exists a wide variety of certificate and credential designations, the status of which are still in flux. [1] There are currently two internationally recognised standards and accreditation bodies. The ICF (international coaching Federation) and the ECI (European coaching Institute)

The International Coach Federation, self-proclaimed as the largest worldwide not-for-profit professional association of coaches,[2] in an attempt to self-regulate the coaching industry, has developed a system of credentialing coaches that includes specified number of hours of coach-specific training, number of hours of coaching experience, and proof of ability to coach at or above defined standards for each credentialing level. The credentialing levels defined by the International Coach Federation are Associate Certified Coach (ACC), Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and Master Certified Coach (MCC). [3] Coaches credentialed by the ICF and members of the ICF, regardless of whether they are credentialed, agree to abide by a code of ethics. [4]

The ICF also provides accreditation of coach training programs that are deemed by that organization to meet defined professional standards and agree to continuing oversight. [5]

The ECI (European Coaching Institute) is now one of the world's largest independent accreditation and standards bodies. www.europeancoachinginstitute.org and is regarded by many as the world leader when it comes to setting coaching standards. They are accredit both individuals and coach training companies. They are also responsible for administrating the world's largest independent register of coaches.


With roots in executive coaching, which itself drew on techniques developed in management consulting and leadership training, life coaching also draws from a wide variety of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, career counseling, mentoring, and numerous other types of counseling. The coach applies mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification, behavior modeling, goal-setting, and other techniques in assisting clients. Coaches are to be distinguished from counselors, whether counselors in psychotherapy or other careers.

[edit] Specialization

Coaches tend to specialize in one or more of several areas: career coaching, transition coaching, life or personal coaching, executive coaching, small business coaching, systemic coaching and organizational or corporate coaching. As the internet has grown, life coaching has greatly expanded its online presence. Many life coaching organizations now offer online coaching as well as coaching over the telephone.

[edit] Relationship coaching

Most life coaching helps people reach individual goals. Coaching can help people to enjoy better relationships with parents, partners and children, or with team members and managers.

An increasingly popular niche of relationship coaching is [dating coaching] - which focuses on dating singles. Although dating coaches may have different sub specialties, their clients often seek help with issues related to creating and growing healthy, intimate relationships.

Systemic coaching increases the adaptability and survival potential of relationships. Systemic coaching helps people attain relationship goals and their individual goals. Individual coaching can be embedded within relationship coaching.

[edit] Coaching vs therapy

Coaching is not therapy. [6] [7] Neither will tell you what to do but rather help you discover your own goals. There are many different types of therapy, some of which may be, in content, quite similar to life coaching. However, some locales require a therapist to have obtained Masters or Doctorate degree in Psychology, therefore undergoing some formal training in the workings of the mind and therapeutic methodology. Similar requirements for coaches do not exist. Some kinds of therapy, such as those for a phobia, tend to be problem focused and treatment ceases when the symptoms cease or become maneageable for the client. Analysis is another type of therapy. It is long term, and works at uncovering the roots of issues—understanding the client's emotional history and possible past psychological trauma—in order to enable the client to move forward. Thus, there are a wide variety of theraputic options, ranging from quick and narrowly focused to long and broad-scoped and everything in between, but all are regulated. A therapist will also have malpractice insurance, whereas a life coach, in most cases, does not.

Coaches come from many different professional backgrounds, and mental health professionals are transitioning into coaching. There are coaches training programs that specialize in working with clinicians.. Often, these clinician coaches maintain their licensure status as mental health providers, yet establish clear boundaries and expectations with either their counseling or coaching clients as to what the nature of their work together will (and will not) be.

It's very important to remember that anyone can coach and indeed the roots of life coaching as a profession lie in good business management and personal development coaching skills.

[edit] Controversy

There is some controversy surrounding life coaching, primarily because of its current unregulated, unstandardized nature. Critics assert that the practice of life coaching amounts to little more than a method of practicing psychotherapy without any restrictions, oversight, or regulation.

However, the legislatures of Colorado have ceased to pursue this kind of a request after a hearings on the matter,[8] asserting that coaching is unlike therapy in that it does not focus on examining nor diagnosing the past, instead focusing on effecting change in a client's current and future behavior.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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