When Catherine handed over $2,000 to a life coach promising a "fully transformative experience", she was hopeful.
It was in the middle of the pandemic and the 28-year-old from Sydney was feeling overwhelmed.
Catherine, who asked we withhold her surname for privacy, often saw a psychologist, but wait times were long.
The life coach she found through Instagram was offering "a new outlook" and the "ability to understand herself more".
"It was a time when I was particularly vulnerable … I was just trying to find meaning in a very difficult time," she says.
Catherine's enthusiasm waned over the three-month online experience as she realised her coach lacked credibility and expertise.
"The offering was very vague and hyperbolic, and in the end was just a lot of words that didn't really mean anything," she says.
"It was basically rubbish. I felt stupid."
Dr Sean O'Connor is a lecturer and director of the coaching psychology unit at the University of Sydney — the first unit of its kind, offering the highest level of academic achievement in coaching psychology, including executive and life coaching.
He says when done right, life coaching can help people achieve goals and improve wellbeing.
But as an unregulated industry, anyone can wake up tomorrow and call themselves a coach — whether they are trained and experienced or not.
What is life coaching and why is it seemingly exploding?
The explosion of "girl bosses" and mindset mentors talking about "containers" and "masterclasses" on social media might not be doing the industry any favours.
At its core, Dr O'Connor says life coaching is an "evidence-based approach" that "uses psychological principles" to help people meet their desired goals, adding credible life coaches "aren't people who promise to completely transform your life with six sessions before they even know what your circumstances are."
Dr O'Connor says we are seeing unqualified coaches basing their brand on lived experience.
"This boom in life coaching from the perspective of someone's lived experience is partly in-line with the boom of social media and the emergence of influencers.
"This approach of 'I did this so therefore so can you' does not really sit well with the individualistic approach required to help people with their own complex history."
Most importantly, life coaching is not designed to deal with mental health, says Dr Catriona Davis-McCabe, a counselling psychologist and president of the Australian Psychological Society.
Why engaging an untrained life coach can be dangerous
While the life coaching industry itself isn't a scam, some of the people operating within it are.
But even those with good intentions can cause harm, Dr O'Connor explains.
Research has found between 25 to 50 per cent of people signing up for a voluntary life coaching program have significant psychological support needs.
Dr O'Connor says qualified life coaches often have a background in psychology and are trained to identify mental health concerns and make necessary referrals.
Someone without the right training may be "out of their depth" and fail to recognise when someone needs more support, he says.
"Some training courses have very little nuance and depth required to meet the needs of a person given their background that might be involved."
You only have to scroll Instagram to see the number of coaches using therapy speak without understanding the impact that could have.
For example, Dr Davis-McCabe says it can be very anxiety-provoking for a person to be told they have a "trauma response" if they are not able to understand and explore the meaning of that like they would with a psychologist.
Red flags when considering a life coach
So how do you identify the good from the not-so-good when it comes to life coaches?
Dr O'Connor says red flags might include:
- Advertising based only on their own recovery or experience
- No clear and formal contract that outlines what is involved for the coach and the coachee
- Offering to cure ailments in the psychology space
- No training, or short-term training
- Failure to outline limitations and how they will handle certain issues if they arise
- Unable to provide details of what continuing development they engage in, as well as ongoing professional supervision
- Feeling pressured or manipulated
- Lack of clarity around fees and charges
- No appropriate insurance
- Unable to show a code of ethics they abide by
- Unable to provide examples of previous coaching experience
- Unable to answer what underpinning evidence or science informs the approach they take and methods they use.
"If they can't explain what they do, run a mile," Dr O'Connor says.
Dr Davis-McCabe acknowledges with long wait times for psychologists it can be tempting to seek alternatives.
"Think about how you are feeling and think about what the problems you want to get help for.
"If you identify that you are facing mental health issues or have a general lack of purpose or meaning in life, then a psychologist will be better placed to help than a life coach."
'I was really taken advantage of'
Catherine says her coach was never prepared for the zoom sessions or able to remember what had been previously discussed.
"I'm very privileged to be able to make a $2,000 mistake and come out the other side with only a bit of embarrassment."
Recently she came across the same coach offering business advice, promising to help people make thousands of dollars in one day.
Which is not surprising given the alignment some people in the industry have with pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing, but that's a story for another day.
"That's so gross. I was really taken advantage of," Catherine says.
Dr O'Connor says working with an unqualified life coach won't necessarily end badly.
"Sometimes you can do the simplest stuff and it helps, because all you really needed was someone to talk to.
"But when the rubber hits the road and serious change is required, those basic methods aren't going to work."
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