Cognition of Coaching, Counselling, and Coronavirus

We need to understand the reality of coaches and counselors because it will be extremely unfortunate for anyone having any mental health issues to “fall into” the wrong hands

The coronavirus pandemic and the related lockdown has brought about new as well as numerous challenges for all of us. Almost everyone is facing economic, financial, personal, or professional issues besides a lot of anxiety about one's own well-being and well-being of families and friends. There is a lot of fear about the future also. A lot of people are developing a high degree of negative energy by seeing the misery of people around us. Simultaneously, the constant bombardment of information, data, advice, and magic solutions through social media are leaving many of us confused, worried, and helpless.

Under the circumstances, it is natural for us to seek help from experts. This has resulted in another serious issue which is the proliferation of life coaches and budding counselors. We need to understand the reality of coaches and counselors because it will be extremely unfortunate for anyone having any mental health issues to “fall into” the wrong hands.

Here are a few facts which we must know. A life coach is essentially a certified professional who is trained in coaching his/her clients on different issues that could relate to personal growth, business expansion, professional growth, and personality development. In general, a professional life coach would typically help a client understand his/her current situation, set up short/medium/long-term goals, and push the client towards the achievement of these goals. The work of a life coach revolves around showing the path of progress, setting milestones, and providing positive cues to the clients. However, a typical life coach cannot and does not have the ability to handle mental health issues of the clients. While a life coach can also be a certified professional in the field of psychology (as two separate streams of professional qualifications), most of the life coaches operate based on their own professional training and experience.

On the other hand, a clinical psychologist is a professional who is qualified in the field of psychology with at least a master's degree. An online certification in Psychology doesn’t make one a psychologist. A psychologist is specifically trained to deal with emotional and mental health issues of the patients where the diagnosis is completely clinical in nature. The psychologist assesses the patient and his/her situation (including state of mind) from an independent perspective and based on this clinical assessment, a line of therapy is specifically devised for the patients so as to cure the mental health issues entailed therein. Through this therapy, the psychologist aims to bring about a change in the cognition and behavioral patterns of the patient so that he/she is healed out of the ailment.

The reason for writing this blog is not to discriminate between the two categories of professionals or make any value judgment about the utility of the two professionals. The objective here is to create awareness regarding the fact that the two professionals are supposed to deal with completely different situations and it may be risky for an unaware person to mix up the two.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of persons claiming to be coaches and counselors, often without the required qualification and training, have mushroomed intending to encash the opportunity provided by the lockdown.

We sincerely advise you to seek professional help from only certified experts for the mental health and emotional issues pertaining to yourself and your loved ones. Please do not seek help on these matters from any self-styled life coach and counselor who is not a certified expert in the field of psychology.