If you hear someone say they are a Therapist, the Vice President of Marketing, or a Human Resources Generalist, there is a level of reverence and respect. If you hear someone say they are a psychic, a reiki provider, or a Life Coach, your ‘oh, that’s nice’ mechanism might kick in and you look for the exit.

With so many licensed wellness professionals out there, the field of Life Coaching seems like a scam. It’s not federally regulated, and anyone can call themselves a life coach, with absolutely no credentials whatsoever. Those coaches who do opt for certification get to choose from a myriad of options ranging from $50-$10,000, but in the end all they walk away with is a piece of paper from that company stating they completed their custom-designed course. Just like psychics or alternative medicine providers, it can seem like a fraud, or a ploy to con people out of money.

The field is not legally recognized or protected by the same confidentiality or other rules that govern fields like therapists, psychologists, or doctors, further confirming this suspicion. I even feel like I’m pitching a scam when I tell people what I do, because it sounds too simple, and like I’m not going to do anything at all. I won’t give advice. Often times the power of coaching conversations hits a few days, or even weeks, after we talk. All I’m going to do is ask you questions. In our modern society with pitches, schemes, and marketing on every corner, we’ve come to recognize these words as meaning ‘scam.’

Part of this stigma is because coaching is a pretty new field. In fact, it only emerged in the 1980s. This is compared to the field of psychology which has been around since the late 1800s. Combine the additional 100 years of existence with the refinement of the medical model as we know it today and pharmacological revolutions, and historical events that pinpointed a focus on a certain need (such as wars and the struggles of returning soldiers), the field of mental health has been pigeonholed into a very specific focus, and it’s so far down the rabbit hole that it’s difficult to turn back and integrate additional views.

When you consider the myriad of discoveries that were at first rejected by who were, at the time, modern day experts on the subject, it normalizes the perspective of Life Coaching as it’s perceived today. For example, it took centuries for society to accept the concept that the world was round, and not flat. A similar story exists for the idea that the earth revolves around the sun, and the fact that diseases are spread by germs. It didn’t fit well into the current understanding of how things worked, therefor it was rejected (and often it’s creator discredited or made a laughing stock.)

This is why as a whole, newly emerged fields like Life Coaching have no place in academic study or accreditation. Anyone who is an early adopter of the theories then have no choices but to do as Aristotle and Galileo’s supporters did, and learn through mentorship of the people who introduced these ideas. As a result, no one has any credibility available in a form we are familiar with in modern society. As technology advances and the internet provides endless information and services, we’ve grown increasingly more weary of self-made professionals. Unable to parse out the facts from the frauds, everyone gets lumped into the same ‘scam’ bucket.

So, are Life Coaches a scam? In a way, I suppose they are. They’re scamming the medical system out of making people believe they are broken and have no way to self-heal. They’re scamming clients out of years of comfortable, but meaningless lives in exchange for intentional effort to build the life they’ve always wanted. But are they duping people into a get-rich-quick scheme? Not the good ones.

Since the field of Life Coaching isn’t regulated, it is incredibly important for anyone interested in coaching services to do their own due diligence and ensure the coach they’ve found has spent sufficient time studying under the mentorship of field experts. Not every coach is. But that doesn’t mean they all lack the knowledge needed to successfully guide people beyond their current lives into their desired ones.

I did a lot of research before selecting the certification program I chose for my Life Coaching career. It was based not only on the qualifications of the people who created and lead it, but also my instinct for the approach that resonated with me most. JRNI Coaching Certification was established by a licensed Therapist who saw the need for and power of coaching and transitioned from a therapist to a life coach, and a woman with a Ph.D in psychology. Instructors in the program includes multiple Ph. D holders, Therapists, trauma experts, and established coaches. The information is grounded in scientific studies of Applied Positive Psychology, brain science, and established coaching frameworks created by the pioneers of the field.

So, before you write Life Coaching off as a scam, I have a request of you. Give it a try. Experience just one Life Coaching session with a qualified, passionate life coach like myself. Even if you decide it isn’t for you, you’ll probably see the field a little differently. Who knows, maybe it’ll even help lift a weight from your shoulders you didn’t even realize you were carrying.