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Comment by DebtDeflation | Hacker News Reader

>Life coaching is a sprawling, multi-faceted industry that can include career coaches, financial coaches, happiness coaches and empowerment coaches.

Seems like the word "coach" is being used to avoid any sort of formal credential requirement. You need to be licensed to hang up a shingle as a therapist, but anyone can be a life coach. You need to be licensed to be a financial advisor but anyone can be a financial coach. Etc.

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There's also a bit of marketing and psychology involved. A lot of people, especially men, would be embarrassed to say they're "going to see their therapist," but have no problem saying "I'm getting counseling from my coach."

Having taken training in the past for professional coaching (not this life coaching nonsense), it is made very clear that you are NOT anything close to a licensed therapist and you can get in Very Big Trouble doing something close to practicing without a license. The proper response is to cut that line of questioning off and tell the person to hire a therapist.

Generally coaching is intended to be forward-looking with an intent to solve a specific problem or question, specifically so as not to encroach on what a therapist does helping someone unpack their baggage from the past.

This is just another one of those sexist memes that needs to be forgotten. A person can have a therapist; a parody of an insecure man can have counseling from a coach.

Reminds me of when Dove tried to sell a "man scrubbing tool" because someone in marketing thought men were too stupid to buy loofahs.

I'm a man and I appreciate you saying this but it's not really a sexist meme in my experience. The vast vast majority of men i've ever spoken to about this have an aversion to therapy. I actually think any pro-therapy people wanting to reach more men would benefit a lot from rebranding it from therapy

I think that poster was saying that the meme of men having an aversion to therapy, ie "that men have an aversion to therapy," is a meme that needs to die. That most men have an aversion to something branded "therapy" is in itself a sexist meme that directly affects most men, and men would be better off if they stopped having this aversion.

Obligatory Peep Show clip: https://youtu.be/LMFBLJY9eW8?si=8uMPnYH3QH0OV8dp

I'm sure there are plenty of good arguments against life coaching, but not being a part of the credentialcrats and government licensed businesses isn't one of them.

I've actually seen quite a few (never used any though) who specifically say they're "certified life coaches," which generally seems to be some sort of credential given to them by a for-profit "academy."

The flipside is I know quite a few social work grads, especially with masters degrees, who have pivoted into the field because of how lucrative it can be.

I did a free become a life coach weekend course. I could probably say I'm certified now. The bar doesn't have to be very high.

Let's not forget the health coaches. Those are the ones who can, and sometimes do, kill.

There are formal credentials, they're issued by the International Coaching Federation, and they include an ethical component. Although this is geared more towards professional coaching, not the woo-woo life coaching crap.

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