Motivation

Life Coach Schools

Life Coach Schools are a newer hybrid of Executive Coaching and Psychotherapy, both of which have been around for a while.

An Executive Coach generally does not have formal coaching training. Rather, they have extensive experience in the area that they are coaching. A copywriting coach might help new copywriters launch their businesses while a attorney marketing coach might help lawyers get more clients.

A therapist has formal schooling and required licensing.

Life Coaches bring the two disciplines together and thus the life coach schools were born.

Life Coach schools generally operate by distance learning, though some have short residential requirements. Most of the work is self study, but there are frequent telephone group sessions in some programs.

There are three main coaching accreditation bodies. The International Coach Federation (ICF) says that they are the largest coaching body in the country. ICF requires that you hire a coach to explore whether life coaching is for you before you attend any life coach schools. Then you must do a minimum of 125 hours of coach training and have 6 observed coaching sessions before you get the certificate.

There are 48 life coach schools in the ICF network. Most are in the USA, but there are represented schools in foreign countries including Japan and Switzerland. Most of the life coach schools are independent, but some are affiliated with major institutions such as the University of Texas at Dallas.

The International Association of Coaching does not have any life coach schools associated with it. Instead, they list nine areas of mastery. In order to get the certification, you need to submit a tape of coaching sessions you have facilitated and pass two written tests.

The European Coaching Institute is Europe's coaching accreditation body. They currently accredit five life coach school programs and also provide a list of other institutions which are not currently accredited.

However, you don't need to go with one of the Certified Life Coach schools. Since life coaches are unregulated, you can call yourself a life coach without any formal education. However, going through a program will help you develop the skills and business proficiencies you need to make it in this new industry.

Typing in "Life Coach Schools" into a search engine will get you a number of regular and sponsored listings. Some of the big players in Life Coach schools include iCoach Academy, Coach Start, Results Coaches, Tony Robbins Coaching, and the Coach Training Alliance. All of these programs have the benefit of training plus a limited referral network.

If you long to help people and don't want to go through the years of training to be a therapist, you may want to consider the advantages of coaching and attend one of the life coach schools.

Article Published: Monday 17th December 2007