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Life Coaching is emerging as a distinct Career Field. To
date, there is no professional license available to regulate
competency. In short, since coaching is an unregulated
field, everyone can hang out a shingle declaring that they
are coaches! The professional licensing boards in some
states have determined that many coaching activities,
particularly those offered as "personal" or "career"
coaching, fall under the state statutes regulating mental
health practice. Individuals who offer coaching and do not
have a professional mental health license are being
required, in some cases, to register with those states as
"unlicensed mental health practitioners."
In other cases, different measures are being taken to
protect consumers through disclosure statements and limits
on the services provided by coaches who are not licensed as
mental health practitioners. (Activities typically offered
as business coaching do not appear to be considered as
mental health practice at this time.) You are encouraged to
check with your state for the latest update on regulations
pertaining to coaching.
As a skill, coaching has long been practiced by some
professions (aside from sports) as a technique or method of
producing learning and change through motivation, support,
and formal knowledge of human behavior. Business managers,
consultants, mentors, mental health professionals, and
educators are well known as key professionals whose academic
training and experience is applicable to the skill of
coaching. The two main types of Life Coaching are
Personal and Business/Executive/corporate;
however, there are numerous subcategories.
Teachers: Certified Teachers have an excellent
academic background and experience to prepare them for
coaching. As motivational and learning experts with an
emphasis on behavior objectives, teachers also are
academically trained in human development and behavior.
Educators can adapt their professional skills to
coaching, and may add coach training and mental health
education.
Mental Health Professionals: The
Mental Health profession (Licensed Marital & Family
Therapists, Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and
Psychologists) has been dealing with the issues of
change and personal development for nearly a hundred
years. The core coaching competencies/masteries of
ethical professional behavior, a supportive
relationship, effective communication, and behavioral
objectives represent only a portion of the core
competencies required for the Mental Health profession.
In addition to ongoing mastery of the core competencies
of coaching, the mental health field includes competency
in psychology, sociology, group dynamics, cognition,
motivational theory, human development, evaluation,
assessment, and other academic and experiential areas.
Coaching is only one of the many therapeutic
modalities of mental health. Consequently, many mental
health professionals routinely engage in coaching, while
others may offer coaching as a distinct service or
transition a mental health practice exclusively into
coaching. In addition to the ongoing required
professional continuing education, mental health
professionals who coach may also elect to complete
additional training specific to coaching.
Business Coaching is not new. Top executives and
corporations have long utilized support and counsel from
psychologists and consultants. Business Managers and
Consultants have provided mentoring functions and can
use a coaching style to convey business principles and
expertise. Additionally, academic degree programs in
business, including the M.B.A., are also relevant
professional degrees which can provide an almost
seamless transition to a Business/Executive/Corporate
coaching career.
Once again, a number of individuals may also complete
one or several training courses specifically related to
coaching, mental health education, or other relevant
classes in addition to their coaching
qualifications/credentials from their business education
programs and experience.
There are individuals who aspire to become
coaches but their education, background, and experience
are unrelated to Coaching. Numerous coach specific
training programs, generally requiring 6 months to 2
years and costing thousands of dollars on average to
complete, are available to provide a non-academic
certificate in coaching to help these individuals gain
coaching skills and get started in the field. A select
few offer the added value of earning academic credit for
similar or lower tuition. Click on www.HireCoach.org to
see training offered by HireCoach.
As indicated, skilled and qualified coaching
professionals from business, education, mental health,
and other professions may elect to add a coaching
certificate, while others take selected coaching courses
of interest as a supplement along with other relevant
professional continuing education classes available
through their respective disciplines.
A coaching certificate or certification is an
optional process that is not regulated by state statute
or any professional board at this time. Check for the
current status of coaching certificates/certification in
your state.
At HireCoach we offer what few coaching
organizations can: Expertise in business and personal
coaching under one umbrella. Both Darrel Hollinger,
M.Ed., M.B.A., and Patt Hollinger Pickett, L.M.F.T.,
Ph.D., are committed to practicing coaching only within
the scopes of their respective expertise. Expect the
coach you choose to demonstrate the same. Patt and
Darrel are also Certified Professional Coaches and
beginning in the summer of 2007, will present a coach
training workshop.
We further believe that optimum coaching benefits
will be obtained with a coach who has both an advanced
academic degree in a field relevant to coaching and a
lengthy track record of experience coaching clients
toward goals in your targeted domain, business or
personal. These credentials document the broad knowledge
base and skills critical for effective coaching.
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So How Do I Select a Coach?
1. Decide if you are seeking
Personal , Business, Executive/Corporate or a combination of
coaching.
2. Find out for how
many years and the number of clients the coach has helped to
get motivated, learn, take action and improve in your
selected goal
area(s).
3. Contact the
professional/business licensing boards in your state for
information about the status of coaching regulation and
mental health
practice.
4. Learn what formal
academic degree(s)/professional license(s) and professional
certificate (s) she/he has earned and how they are related
to coaching and state
requirements.
5. Determine if
the coach is a member of a coaching association and is
guided by a professional set of
ethics.
6. Find out whether
he/she has completed coaching courses, a coaching
certificate, or other relevant professional continuing
education
classes.
7. Interview the 2 or
3 most suited coaches by phone or in person to get a
true feel for how you "fit." Or, take advantage of
the "free" session some coaches
may offer.
8. Ask if the
coach maintains professional liability
insurance.
9. And finally, if
you consider cost as a factor, compare fees with education,
credentials, and experience to get the best return
on your investment.
10. Assess all of
the above nine factors to determine who is most
qualified to coach you.
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