Life coaching has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with coaches popping up to help us improve our eating habits, find love, achieve our goals — and even provide 24/7 "sober coaching".
Troubled Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen, who was briefly hospitalised last month after causing a drunken disturbance in a hotel room, has now hired a sobriety coach to keep him away from drugs and alcohol, MSNBC reported.
Sheen's sober coach has even reportedly moved into his house, providing around-the-clock monitoring to ensure that Sheen abstains from drugs and alcohol.
"The coach needs to act as a barrier," said celebrity sober coach Doug Caine, "sometimes a physical barrier between a client and a bag of dope, and a client and a bottle of booze."
But is coaching enough to help Sheen battle his drug addiction? The experts are doubtful.
"He's got a pretty serious addiction," said addiction specialist Dr Julie Holland. "He needs a lot of help. He needs the full spectrum of addiction treatment."
According to the Life Coaching Institute of Australia, coaching is "a professional relationship between a trained coach and a client. Coaches assist and empower people, organisations or teams through a structured and professional process, to achieve a desired goal or outcome."
The International Coach Federation (ICF), which has 16,000 members in 100 countries, says that while coach training programs are popping everywhere, they have only approved 150 coach-training programs to date.
As there is no regulation of the industry, it's possible for anyone to practise as a "life coach" without certification, which psychologist and New York-based executive coach Dr Marilyn Puder-York warns can give life coaches a bad name.
"The problem is there are sociopaths and charlatans in this business who can take advantage of the unsuspecting," she said. "It's like the whole field got corrupted because there is money to be made."
"Sometimes I think people ask their hairdressers more questions about qualification," Dr Puder-York said. "That's too bad because a qualified coach can help you achieve your potential."
Love coach Carolin Dahlman told Health & Wellbeing that coaching is a great tool for anyone wanting to achieve their goal or overcome their past — as long as you find the right coach.
"Life coaching builds self confidence, raises happiness and makes people stronger," she said.
"As a coach, I set people free from their old values, thoughts and ways of seeing life and themselves. I listen to their words, sense their energy and guide them into using new ways of expressing themselves.
"By making them aware of how toxic their thinking is, and giving them alternative ways of seeing things, you can create fast change. It can be a revelation that sets them on a new path forever, instead of being trapped in a wheel of misfortune. "
Have your say: have you been helped by a life coach?
Related video: Sheen on rumoured binge
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