Why life coaches need MOT

Published on Monday 18 November 2002 00:00

NOT long ago the life coach was simply another "must-have" for the rich celebrity, to accompany their personal trainer, private chauffeur and bodyguard.

Now everyone from housewives to company directors is queuing up to better themselves.

Life coaches can earn 180 for a one-hour session, face-to-face or over the phone. But while a chartered psychologist trains for seven years before they are qualified to say they understand the human condition, all a life coach needs to do is to adopt the title.

Although the British Medical Association and British Psychological Society have no policy on life coaching, medical professionals are becoming increasingly concerned about these unregistered "trainers of the mind".

Former GP Dr Max Lagnado, medical director of publisher Chameleon Medical Communications, says: "A while back I became interested in the motivation/‘you can change your life’ industry and attended some courses. I derived no benefit from them. Then I started meeting other people who had undergone coaching. A lot of them complained they had got no benefit, or they had got worse.

"As far as I am aware, there is no research to assess the long-term effects of life coaching, so we can’t be sure it doesn’t cause harm. People who see life coaches are usually unhappy with their lot. There’s a huge potential for a person like that to become dependent on their life coach.

"There is a conflict of interests. They purport to want to help an individual - and my guess is, most really do - but the more they see that individual, the more money they make. Who supervises them to ensure their financial interest does not override their professionalism?"

An independent regulatory body would address his concerns. "When you consume a medicine, you can’t say that it’s 100 per cent safe, but it has gone through a process that has shown it can change something specific in your body. Life coaching is also meant to change something, only there’s no quality control, even though these people play with an individual’s mind and life."

Pete MacKeckhnie, Scottish regional director of The UK College of Life Coaching, which is recognised by the National Open College Network, says: "The real problems arise when someone thinks they are a life coach but have not undergone training. Instead of concentrating on an individual’s goals, they might find themselves concentrating on an unresolved issue, and discover their client doesn’t need coaching, but counselling.

"If you have someone who thinks they are good at talking and listening, but then opens up an emotional can of worms they don’t know how to resolve, they can cause a lot of psychological damage."

Students of The UK College of Life Coaching undergo a rigorous training course which works towards an NVQ level three qualification. Pete adds: "We run two courses - a life course and a corporate course - both of which are accredited by an external accreditation agency. We have employed a parliamentary advisor to spur the Government into introducing legislation to license life coaches in the same way counsellors are licensed."

Dawn Breslin, a Leith-based life coach, says the difficulty is in finding an appropriate form of regulation. "The fundamental skill for a life coach is emotional intelligence, not academic intelligence. It’s the way you empathise, the way you relate to people. You can’t learn that - emotional intelligence is something you grow up with and that is nurtured within you by your parents."

Veronica Mawdsley, director of The Personal Development Company Scotland, trained at the Life Coach Academy in London, which requires coaches to follow a strict code of professional ethics. "Coaching is not the same as counselling or therapy," she says. "Psychologists, councillors, and therapists all deal with resolving past emotional issues, the job of a life coach is to facilitate and encourage a person to identify their personal strengths to help them achieve self-defined goals. There is no doubt that people think we can solve all their problems, emotional and otherwise, and there are unscrupulous people who do take advantage of that misconception."

Life Coach Scotland Associates was formed by independent coaches concerned by the issue. Spokesperson Stephen Blakey says: "There are coaches who have done no training as such - simply because when they started there wasn’t any - and yet they are running highly successful practices. At the other end we have a concern that it’s possible to do a brief course which gives you a certificate that says you are a life coach, even if you don’t have terribly good life and people skills."

At the moment, while the association establishes a status of registered

practitioners, anyone can join. Once the status is in place and an industry "standard" has been created members will be required to appear before a panel who will assess whether their training and experience is adequate. The panel is expected to be operating by next October.

So just how do you know you are not handing over your hard-earned cash to someone no more qualified than you are?

Kit Sadgrove, chief executive of the Institute of Life Coaching in Somerset, which is accredited by the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council, says: "It’s important to establish what you want to change. Do you have a concern about your relationship? Money? Job? Find a life coach who can talk about that subject. Find one you get on with, one with whom you have some kind of chemistry."

Unlike Kit, not everyone believes qualifications are needed. Ralph Quinlan Forde, 30, an award-winning entrepreneur, turned to life coaching after careers in modelling and holistic medicine. From his office at Life Coach Edinburgh in Hanover Street, he admits his formal training was a residential weekend in the US, but says: "The things I have got wrong in my own life and the things I got right are my treasure chest of insights.

"It’s those that I share with my clients."