When Did Life Coaches Become So Popular?

OMG you noticed this too?
Yah, what the hell?
Everyone, most everyone goes around calling themselves a life coach now.
They are not, a "psychologist" or anything like that. And do not have a college degree or licensing as a Psychologist or Therapist. But apparently they take classes on "how" to be a Life Coach, then they set up shop.
I know someone who has now recently become, one.
Eeek.
Seems like some multilevel marketing gimmick, like those MLM sales things.
Yah, I'll call myself one too.
Sheesh, everyday I give my opinion.

Hey, I will call myself a Booboo Fafa and you pay me money to tell you things, okay?

Same deal, just a name to make them sound more trendy and important. They tell you important nuggets of wisdom like falling down steps hurt.

So far as goal setting for students it is as varied as the students themselves. My readers digest for my kids is set your goal above what you want to achieve then the worst that comes of failing is you reached your goal, if you succeed, gravy. This works for my kids, the neighbors kids, maybe not.

Life coaching became popular when people realized they could avoid the actual work of going to school to learn about psychology! They are in no way therapists.

Usually, they are people who do tend to have that motivational speaker type personality, and they believe they have ways to help people reach their goals. I think they have good intentions, and feel that they have a 'gift' and can help others.

But without the foundation of psychology, it's tricky. They could easily miss an underlying mental health diagnosis in a client.

If someone needed a cheerleader to move them forward, I think it's fine. For someone dealing with more serious issues, probably not a good idea.

My perspective:

1) States started requiring degrees (in psych, socialwork, counseling) instead of just the $30 license fee to be a certified counselor.
+
2) 40,000,000+ without health insurance, and double that underinsured (no mental health benefits, or deductibles so high that there's no way to pay them).
=
3) Degreed & Licensed therapists run $100-$200 per hour... And "short term" therapy usually lasts for several months. More average time = 1-2 years. Without health insurance that's an average cost of 5,000-10,000 per year. Meanwhile a "life coach" is usually only a couple weeks, by an untrained / uneducated person (who may be brilliant at what they do, but nonetheless is missing 7 years of focused study, and 1-2 years of supervision, and ongoing education mandatory for maintaining their licensure). Grand total $500-$1000

AND

1) Increasing secularizing of the nation (where in the past many people would have been counseled by their priests/rabbi/etc.), secular folk don't have that resource available to them.

AND

1) Loss of time. Aka most families are dual income. Both for dual income families and working singles... Work days are longer, flexible schedules are rare. Not a lot of time for Friendships NOR Regular Weekly Counseling.

2) People who generally have many deep/close friendships rarely need counseling or sideline cheering... Because those things are fulfilled by their friends. Not always the case (sometimes things are outside of the scope of knowledge of their friends), just often the case.

AND

1) Cultural emphasis on the "quick fix". Be it get rich quick, get thin quick, get healthy quick, etc. Life coaching is the definition of a quick fix.

_____

This all may sound very negative towards life coaching. That's not my intent. All someone may need is a cheerleader, a different perspective, etc., and they're good to go. And that's awesome. Insta-friend for the short period of time one needs them for. It also gets enthusiastic & helpful people PAID. Molto Bene. But I personally see the explosion of life coaches as a symptom of several much larger problems. Life coaching itself not being the problem, the opposite, in fact. ANY finger in the dam as better than none! The underlying causes, however... Especially anorexic mental health care, I see as a HUGE problem.

I'd say they became popular around 2005 or so. It's all part of hyper capitalism and disciplines of the self.

another gimmick with a catchy name. Life Coaches do not have to be certified by any agency where therapists are state licensed.

My husband is my best life coach..and cheerleader.(without the skirt and pom poms!!)

Not sure when the "life coach" profession became so popular. To me they sound like personal motivational speakers. Seems like everyone is in therapy and counseling nowadays. Some definitely need it...some think they need it because it is "trendy".

Personally, my life coaches give me free consultation...that is what good friends are for....and family members. I get great "therapy" just going on walks with my best lady friends.

I try to surround myself with great friends and close family members that desire the best for me and it is natural to want to be a better person. I think attending church regularly helps too. Giving service to others as part of an organization or doing good deeds on your own gives you great life perspective too.

I'm 38 and I remember life coaches from when I was around 10 years old. They've been around for ages.

I remember them back in 2004 or so. It's not really "therapy" although that's kinda part of it a bit. It's more ACTION oriented. Seeing where you are, where you want to be, what's in your way, and what to do to get where you want to go. Kinda what Mama W said, but with an actual plan or steps or actions.

Now, if you have a good friend or friend network, you can kinda do this with them, and have 1 or 2 of them be an "accountability partner". This is someone you meet with regularly - usually weekly - to report to on what you have done toward achieving your goals. It's harder to not do something when you have to tell someone you didn't do what you said you would.

Some therapy is talk only, some therapy has you doing things.

I think it's kind of a crock, Mom. Several years ago, one mom came on here upset because her cousin called herself a "life coach" and was belittling her because she "wasted her money to go to college" because she became a SAH mom. Her cousin was 21 years old. HELLO! 21 year olds haven't lived long enough to be life coaches to anyone except 9 year olds.

You can imagine how THAT thread went...

If I were going to pay a life coach to work with me, they had BETTER have a chock full resume and be in their late 40's or early 50's.

Oh, btw, I don't think that they have to have a certificate, much less a diploma. A therapist has to actually have credentials...

Dawn

This is the new term for a Mentor!

I think that once people started realizing they had lost their way and could not seem to find "normal" anymore they needed someone to come in their home and give them some assistance to just do normal stuff like learning how to clean the house in an orderly fashion. How to manage stress and kids and sports and dance and classes and and and and....

They are less than a therapist or psychologist as far as their training and methods and more like having a really organized friend that is giving you some help getting back on track. Not like therapy or medical treatment.