Have you tried a Life Coach?

beehappy

Active Member
I am curious if anyone here has tried a Life Coach? I have started to research a few different ones. How do you think they compare to a Psychiatrist or group therapy? - TIA
 
It depends on what you are expecting to get out of it. A Psychiatrist is medically trained and can prescribe medications. A Psychologist is University trained in behaviour analysis but is not medically trained and cannot prescribe medications. Group therapy is normally run by psychologists, think group grief counselling or alcoholics anonymous. Life Coaches are usually not medically trained or even University trained. Many of them have completed training through other Life Coaches. I have had experience with all three.

If you are wanting to improve some aspect of your life, maybe get some motivation and constructive feedback then a Life Coach can be useful. If you need to work on something that is occurring due to some deeper behavioural root then you will probably need a psychologist. For example, unrealistic expectations of yourself and perfectionism is likely more suited to a psychologist than a Life Coach. I used Life Coaching to help me out with my career, I had one coach who was really good, another one that was OK and one that was horrible. You really need to get someone who you can relate to. One of my coaches was quite aggressive and her style just didn't suit me. She also seemed to be more about making money than actually helping people. Another one I went to was just starting out in Life Coaching and was a bit inexperienced. The good one was more experienced and provided guidance and constructive feedback. This is when I was transitioning to a more managerial position and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the new role. She helped me realise that climbing the managerial ladder in an organisation was not what I wanted in life. I have now been happily self-employed for 10 years.

A good Life Coach is like a good friend who is willing to listen, not judge, but with some added tools and techniques to help guide you to improvement.
 
It depends on what you are expecting to get out of it. A Psychiatrist is medically trained and can prescribe medications. A Psychologist is University trained in behaviour analysis but is not medically trained and cannot prescribe medications. Group therapy is normally run by psychologists, think group grief counselling or alcoholics anonymous. Life Coaches are usually not medically trained or even University trained. Many of them have completed training through other Life Coaches. I have had experience with all three.

If you are wanting to improve some aspect of your life, maybe get some motivation and constructive feedback then a Life Coach can be useful. If you need to work on something that is occurring due to some deeper behavioural root then you will probably need a psychologist. For example, unrealistic expectations of yourself and perfectionism is likely more suited to a psychologist than a Life Coach. I used Life Coaching to help me out with my career, I had one coach who was really good, another one that was OK and one that was horrible. You really need to get someone who you can relate to. One of my coaches was quite aggressive and her style just didn't suit me. She also seemed to be more about making money than actually helping people. Another one I went to was just starting out in Life Coaching and was a bit inexperienced. The good one was more experienced and provided guidance and constructive feedback. This is when I was transitioning to a more managerial position and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the new role. She helped me realise that climbing the managerial ladder in an organisation was not what I wanted in life. I have now been happily self-employed for 10 years.

A good Life Coach is like a good friend who is willing to listen, not judge, but with some added tools and techniques to help guide you to improvement.

Like Hazlady, I have used all 3 types of "coaching". She has summarized the differences extremely well. Depends on what your goals are. In all cases, try to choose someone whom you can relate to, positively!
 
It depends on what you are expecting to get out of it. A Psychiatrist is medically trained and can prescribe medications. A Psychologist is University trained in behaviour analysis but is not medically trained and cannot prescribe medications. Group therapy is normally run by psychologists, think group grief counselling or alcoholics anonymous. Life Coaches are usually not medically trained or even University trained. Many of them have completed training through other Life Coaches. I have had experience with all three.

If you are wanting to improve some aspect of your life, maybe get some motivation and constructive feedback then a Life Coach can be useful. If you need to work on something that is occurring due to some deeper behavioural root then you will probably need a psychologist. For example, unrealistic expectations of yourself and perfectionism is likely more suited to a psychologist than a Life Coach. I used Life Coaching to help me out with my career, I had one coach who was really good, another one that was OK and one that was horrible. You really need to get someone who you can relate to. One of my coaches was quite aggressive and her style just didn't suit me. She also seemed to be more about making money than actually helping people. Another one I went to was just starting out in Life Coaching and was a bit inexperienced. The good one was more experienced and provided guidance and constructive feedback. This is when I was transitioning to a more managerial position and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the new role. She helped me realise that climbing the managerial ladder in an organisation was not what I wanted in life. I have now been happily self-employed for 10 years.

A good Life Coach is like a good friend who is willing to listen, not judge, but with some added tools and techniques to help guide you to improvement.
Thank you so much for your thorough feedback, very helpful and appreciated!
 
Like Hazlady, I have used all 3 types of "coaching". She has summarized the differences extremely well. Depends on what your goals are. In all cases, try to choose someone whom you can relate to, positively!
Thanks laurawd, much-apprecaited feedback!
 

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