Life Coaches and Mental Illness
As life coaching expands, there are important issues to consider.
Posted February 24, 2014 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
Life coaching is a relatively new service available to people who feel like they need help to make changes in their lives. Coaching first got a foothold in business, with mentorship and supportive services helping people to achieve professional goals in their lives. Motivation enhancement is a key component of many coaches’ repertoire, as they help people to set goals, and then both hold them accountable and cheer them on as the clients make progress towards these goals.
Just a few years ago, life coaches were largely shying away from the complex issues involved with mental health, and recommending that such issues remain the purview of psychology and counseling. No more. A quick Google search for “life coaching mental illness” turns up dozens of online links, with many who now explicitly market coaching services for mental illness issues. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is even now piloting a coaching program for those who live with mental illness.
Recovery Coaching is a new offshoot, where coaches explicitly support individuals who are trying to recover from the effects of behavioral conditions, including mental illness, though most often focused on the broad (overly broad in my opinion) category of addictions. Wellness Coaching is another offshoot, where coaches offer support in areas like weight loss or healthy activities.
As a psychologist, I’m struck by the shift that such coaching signals for the industry of healthcare. By and large, I think this is a positive trend, emerging in response to need. However, there are important issues to consider, as coaching intersects more explicitly with mental illness.
The majority of coaches are paraprofessionals who do not hold licenses or advanced education in the field of mental health. This isn't necessarily bad. Coaches aren’t interested in doing long-term insight-oriented work with a client, but have a primary role of helping a client achieve demonstrable change and results.
Many Recovery Coaches identify as people in recovery themselves. This may come from the model of the “sponsor” in 12-Step programs, where someone who’s worked the steps towards sobriety serves as a mentor, guide and support to people new to the process. “It takes an addict to know an addict,” underlies the approach, and is a principle adopted by Recovery Coaches. This cuts both ways though, as such a subjective focus on one’s own experiences can blind us to the different experiences of others.
Another parallel to coaching is the recent rise of “peer specialist” services, primarily in publicly-funded behavioral health services. There, people in recovery from mental illness or substance addiction receive training and supervision to support their peers in achieving treatment goals. For several years, I’ve been working on a federally-funded project developing a peer specialist model of service for rural LGBT individuals living with mental health issues, as well implementing an Assertive Community Treatment, which utilizes peer specialists. Designing the training and operations of these programs has given me a frontline view of the benefits, and risks, of the coaching/peer specialist model.
Here are a few of the issues where paraprofessionals such as coaches and peer specialists need support as they work with mental health issues. Both coaches and their clients will benefit from clear training, education and supervision in:
If it sounds like I’m against the idea of coaching, let me correct you. I don’t go to the beach and try to stop the tide, and I’m not interested in opposing coaching. With the availability and freedom of the Internet, it’s most likely unstoppable. Plus, I truly think there is tremendous value in coaching, and peer specialist services. Such paraprofessional services offer a cost-effective support in a healthcare system that is cash-strapped and resource-poor. Australia and Great Britain are just two countries that are already exploring the use of a tiered behavioral healthcare system where such paraprofessionals provide easily-accessible low-end services, thus utilizing the higher-level professional services more effectively. However, both systems have tried to protect clients and ensure good outcomes, by setting up certification, monitoring and supervision requirements for the paraprofessionals.
Until such requirements come to pass in the world of coaching, if they ever do, it’s up to the coaches themselves and the informed consumers, to monitor for the above pitfalls. If you are a client seeking coaching, I encourage you to carefully interview a prospective coach, about their boundaries, their liability protections, the effectiveness and reliability of their methods, and make sure there are clear written guidelines around finances and confidentiality.
Coaches may one day want to merge with the developing peer specialist model of care, and be able to seek reimbursement other than cash (and thus serve more people in need). I believe most coaches are well-intended people who want to provide good, effective support to their clients. To do so, I invite them to ensure they are considering these issues in their practice and businesses.
*This article was written at the thoughtful suggestion of my friend and colleague, Craig Perra, coach at Feed The Right Wolf . Craig and I disagree on addiction but agree on the need for good ethics and rules to protect clients.
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David J. Ley, Ph.D. , is a clinical psychologist and the author of Insatiable Wives, Women Who Stray and The Men Who Love Them .
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.