Hunted
On 1 January 2013, there were 478 lifestyle coaches in the Netherlands. In 2021 there were more than 5,000. The number of coaches over all increased by 60% in the past five years. Apparently people need a helping hand. Do you have your hands in the hair for a while, you only have to google your problem (‘I feel so rushed’) and before you know it, the social media algorithm is flooding you with the solution: HSP/run coach Karin can you can relieve your stress while running in ten sessions.
Smoothly
You don’t need any training to become a coach. If you have managed to drill your child who sleeps badly with iron discipline in a perfect day and night rhythm, then you can register with the Chamber of Commerce without any problems and start a practice in sleep coaching. If you have experienced a period of extreme stress yourself and discovered that running gave you relaxation, you can offer this relatively simple solution to others in exchange for a lot of money.
Revenue
You can already taste it a bit from my somewhat sour words; I don’t like coaches that much. Fifteen years ago, if I interviewed someone, they had a job that we could all imagine. lab technician. Pedagogical employee. Business manager in a supermarket. Physiotherapist. Nowadays I can set the clock: half of them are coaches. Or they do it ‘on the side’. Mental coaches, walking coaches, women’s coaches, burnout coaches, leisure coaches; you name it, I spoke to them. Each time I tended to ask about their turnover. Because what does that pay off, an hour of holistic lifestyle coaching?
Dangerous
There are 100%, without a doubt, a lot of undeniably super good coaches around who can still somewhat compensate for the major shortages in mental health care. But because you don’t have to be able to do anything on paper, there are just as many coaches around who do more harm than good. I find that worrying. The fact that you have experienced depression yourself does not make you an expert. In fact; without knowledge you are rather dangerous with your colored view of the matter.
hobbies
And what I also find so miserable: all those often pointless coaching practices can be used so much better. Teachers who stop in education to start a children’s coaching practice. Nurses who hang up their white suits to start lifestyle coaching. Isn’t coaching usually just a disguised form of a bit of hobby and especially not participating in the real labor market?
No financial independence
Behind many female coaches is, let’s be honest, a man with a whopping income. The practice does not offer financial independence, at most a few hours of work a week. Or it offers a huge amount of hot air with a dollop of whipped cream on top; In such a situation a coach will not tell you anything that you could not have concluded with a little thought and common sense.
hype
But it all sounds so fun, so deliciously interesting. It sounds much better than a teacher or nurse of course, ‘running your own practice’. In the meantime, we have never needed those coaches all through the last century and they are not needed at all now. We think so at most. The really important vacancies remain unfilled with all the consequences that entails. Hopefully the hype will dissipate soon. We can do without most coaches like a toothache and use them very well elsewhere.
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