Self Help

Psychotherapist Life Coach Hiring

Mateja Petje
June 29, 2019

Psychotherapist or Life Coach Hiring

Defining Medical Professional Roles

Researching Holistic Solutions

Psychotherapist or Life Coach hiring. What’s the difference? This blog is called “Psychotherapist or Life Coach Hiring“. First, let’s talk about the root of the problem. Did you know that stress and anxiety are some of the leading causes for seeking professional help? More specifically, more than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety and 20 million suffer from depression. Compounding that nearly one in 10 Americans is on some kind of anti-depressant.* What makes this far worse, in my personal & professional experience, is that people are confused as to where to turn to for help. *(M. Hyman, The Ultramind Solution, p. 11).

Hippocratic Oath

Social media and the internet have enabled us more efficiency-seeking help. Unfortunately, it has also created more possibilities for sub-par professionals. Frankly, these are people who are not properly trained to offer services. They often offer advice that can be misleading and do more damage than good.

Maybe you’ve heard about the “Hippocratic Oath“? The key to everything is not to do harm. The “Hippocratic Oath” is an oath historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear an oath. An oath to/by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards.

The Oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the Western world. Link Wikipedia Hippocratic Oath Wikipedia

Specific Medical Professionals Defined

There are certain specific Professionals that are properly trained to help clients with >mental health. They are Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Counselors, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Marriage Family Therapists. In addition Licensed Mental Health Counselors and several other, mental health professionals, such as Psychiatric Nurses.

But this is definitely NOT something for life coaches! Including “Certified Life Coaches“. They might be able to help clients with “life challenges”. Those that require setting goals, or improving skills. This might be for example changing a career, or finding a romantic partner. But there are limitations. Frankly, most are not even aware of them and render services out of a drive to make a quick buck.

My beautiful home town Ljubljana, Slovenia

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Therapists

As in any other field, there are “good and bad” therapists. There are “good and bad” life coaches. I do know some good life coaches who have ethics and understand limitations. However, more often than not, I’m coming across unqualified and unethical life coaches. Thus far that has been my experience of living in S Fla for over 20 years. Also having been a therapist now for over 15 of those years.

Years ago I wrote and clarified distinctions between each in my previous article. It was entitled “The Difference Between a Psychologist, Psychotherapist, and a Psychiatrist Demystified” in June 2014.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Therapists (cont.)

There is a problem that exists in my opinion. That is the coaching field is not upheld to any high rigorous ethical and legal considerations. Not as it is in the case of licensed mental health professionals. The only regulating body is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Therefore the coaching schools that are following their standards, are more likely to offer quality programs. But unfortunately, it’s still not a guarantee. That’s why ethics and moral obligations to refer clients out when you’re NOT qualified are the keys here.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Experience

Once to my horror, I observed a “healer/life coach’ proudly describe how they treated a client, who was suicidal! First of all, all clients who enter mental health treatment with a licensed clinician, are guaranteed privacy. This includes social media! This also means being HIPPA compliant! So this was already the first violation. Not to mention the fact that this person didn’t have any training whatsoever! That is key in cases like this.

Over the years I have had several incidents with life coaches and their specific approaches. I actually attended 6 months of intense training at a coaching school. This school is accredited by the International Coaching Federation. This is in addition to graduate school and other training over the years.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Life Coaches

I came across one such poorly run life coaching program locally here in S Fla. I actually read on their website that the founder had a criminal and drug history. The website was not created very well by the way! Over the last 30 years of being in education and the psychology field, I have studied many self-help authors. I do believe that people who had to deal with adverse life situations can be one of the best teachers!

Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer & Donna Eden

There are several people that come to mind. For example, Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Donna Eden, and more just to name a few. These are folks that come to my mind when you talk about overcoming enormous adversity. Then in turn sharing that gift with others.

However, they were also very humble people! Moreover, their first priority was not sales but rather SHARING what they had learned with others. They also didn’t cross boundaries when it came to others’ mental health.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Life Coaches (Cont.)

I cannot say that ALL the trainers from this particular program are like the three trainers I had met personally. But this happened in the span of over 10 years. It seemed to me like theirs is a general approach. Their obvious lack of knowledge of how to approach clients remains just the same.

That is also why I can only go by what I had personally experienced. I might have even taken their workshop if I wasn’t so turned off by several things. First their lack of proper interpersonal, communication as well as sales skills. This is in addition to what I saw as a complete lack of knowledge of the basics of human development & psychology. This is something that has happened years ago but it really stands out in my memory.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Life Coaches (cont.)

I came across another life coach and I’ll share that experience too. This happened when I was part of a coaching/self-growth program back in 2004. This was at one of the networking meetings when I had just graduated. However, I was immediately turned off by her aggressive sales pitch. In graduate school, the first thing we learn is UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD for a client.

This means you need to work with people where they are. This person tried to convince me that I desperately needed the help of this particular program. Of course, she happening to be selling it too right at the moment. But I needed to buy it because my life is “such a mess”! She said that “I will not be successful” because my “strategy” was no good. Amazingly she went on to say I had created my own trauma. Basically, everything negative that happened in my life was my fault.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring– Salespeople

This happened on two more occasions over the years with two different coaches from this particular program. Of course the last encounter I just told the person I had no interest in. My only intention to meet with her was social. I had expressed a lack of interest due to my previous experiences with two other coaches from this program. Unfortunately, she even persisted and tried to put me down and shame me as well!

Frankly, the worst thing was that I was in a car accident almost around that time in my life. Unfortunately, I was a victim of road rage. However, she persisted in telling me “I created and attracted this”. When you examine this it tends to sound more like New Age philosophy.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring– Pretense

The worst of all too was this person really didn’t take time to understand my personal situation. She missed the fact that I actually am suffering from mental illness. She blindly kept pushing her agenda.

I couldn’t even respond at the moment because I needed time to reflect on what happened. She was overwhelming to me in those moments. This is awful behavior especially for a “mental health” practitioner or even one pretending to be!

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring – Shaming

I do believe that mindset is key. Any properly trained clinician knows that shaming and putting people down is the last thing you want to do. Especially when you say you want to help that person. This kind of approach could break a person who is struggling. Perhaps because of their exposure for example to previous harshness and criticism.

Here is the bottom line. Even if the program works for some people, their sales pitch clearly shows to me that there is no depth. People who sell this program in most cases have no proper training or credentials. At least the ones I have come across. Specifically, this person only took this course 6 years ago. Prior to this she was in a service industry before and now calls herself a “Master Trainer.”

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Training

Why do I say that? It seemed like it came with a sense of entitlement. I’m very intuitive and sense people’s energy very quickly. In the past, I just didn’t trust myself enough with this “gut feeling” or “intuition”. However, in most cases my gut is right!

I have always been an open-minded person and worked all my life. Honestly, I’ve worked at least for 30 years on healing my own trauma. I’ve earned a Master’s Degree from the highly reputable University of Miami in Coral Gables Fl. I graduated with Honors! To understand this is not the only case I have come across.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Tactics

I had a similar experience with another self-growth program, that will remain nameless! The short version is even though I gained some skills. The way they go about with their sales totally turned me off from further exploring it. They call it enrolling people!

How can you be ethical when you are desperate to make money? Ethically speaking don’t you need to really understand if this person is a match? Or is it just about you and the particular program you happen to be selling?

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Coercion (Cont.)

So my concern is therefore two-fold. First, most of these Life Coaches have no proper training in human psychology and understanding. They can cause serious damage in cases where people have experienced significant life trauma or have an underlying mental illness. This occurs by making them “wrong”, coercing them, and using aggressive tactics.

Fortunately, I have worked on raising my self-esteem which used to be very low. Consequently, many people that are struggling with mental health disorders also have a difficult time asserting themselves. Especially if they were abused, because of the potential for this low self-esteem, predators can and do take advantage!

This taking “advantage” of their client’s innocence and desperation and willingness to try anything to feel better is awful! They do not have proper training. They also are not able to distinguish who is the right candidate for their program. Think about that. It has the potential to make this a really terrible situation.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Cost

Another issue is also the high cost of these programs or coaching sessions. Recently my client told me that his friend is a life coach. His friend offered him and a friend a family discount rate for a coaching session. This discounted rate was $500/hr! Which of course is absurd! Please be observant and do your research!

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring –Questions

Here are some basic questions that might help you when you’re deciding between a licensed clinician/psychotherapist or a life coach.

1. Where did you get your training and what are your credentials? Is your school accredited?

2. How much experience do you have with this particular issue that I am struggling with?

3. Does this issue/disorder that I’m struggling with fall under mental health and therefore needs to be properly diagnosed? More specifically does it instead relate more to certain goals I want to accomplish in life? For example, this might be about getting fit, losing weight, changing careers, or finding a life partner.

Psychotherapist Life Coach hiring- Questions (cont.)

4. Is this person really listening to me? Will they help me even if it means he or she needs to refer me out to a licensed clinician? Unfortunately, is this just another person simply trying to “close the sale”. A person really not interested in my well-being?

5. Trust your intuition if something doesn’t feel right meaning listen to your gut and do more research. Ask for testimonials, credentials, references, and licensing board, if applicable. You are worth it!

Holistic Coaching International Website Launch Blog

Recently, I published a blog called “Holistic Coaching International Website Launch”. I think it would be beneficial for you to read that blog. If you access that information you can have a better understanding of exactly how I operate. You can view more about the services I provide. You can slow down and read about the different modalities such as EFT or NLP that I utilize in sessions. Here is a link directly to that blog.

Click here for Blog- Holistic Coaching International Website Launch

In closing thank you for reading!

*Don’t just blindly follow promises, do your research! Share with anyone who might benefit, please!

Ready to feel better or want more information? Click here to book a session Schedule Session click here