Do You Need A Life Coach
Ten years ago, life coaching was seen as a fringe, New Age fad with just a few thousand practitioners. Today life coaches are represented by a trade group, the International Coach Federation, that claims more than 15,000 members. Work issues? A coach can help. Marriage difficulties? Let them reduce the conflict. Writer's block? They'll tap your inner poet. Even as the field grows, critics point out that there is no licensing system, standardized credentialing, or academic discipline behind this. "To me, it's like going to a psychic," says Dr. Marilyn Puder-York, a clinical psychologist who has coached executives for more than 30 years and who managed Citigroup's in-house Employee Assistance Program. "If you're lucky, you might find someone really good."
Life coaching has become the Wild West of the career-development and therapeutic world. Part psychotherapy, part Oprah, and part common sense, coaches often bill themselves as listeners and cheerleaders who help clients figure out how to move their lives in a particular direction. They are typically not trained social workers or doctors. Usually, they charge by the hour with sessions in major cities costing from $75 to $300 per hour. The industry is not regulated or governed by a code of ethics, like the legal or medical professions. At its best, life coaching can help clients change behavior or reinvent themselves. At its worst, life coaching can prey on Americans' growing anxiety about the future and their jobs.
During the last recession, in 2001, 48-year-old Karen Underhill turned to a life coach for advice. Underhill disliked her job as a computer-network administrator, but she was unsure how to switch careers without a college degree. Her coach helped her map out a plan to return to school, secure financial aid, and find internships in communications and education. "The coaching helped me get motivated," Underhill says. "My coach made me think forward and visualize what I want."
