With so many coaching variations, how do you know whether to trust someone to help you set goals?
Two clients we spoke to said they found coaches through word of mouth or networking.
Trish Stone met In2U Coaching owner Lietta Powell through a business group. Mrs Stone lives in Rotorua, works in business development and also runs an aromatherapy business.
She said she and Ms Powell talk via Skype up to four times per week. Mrs Stone said of her coach, "she does what's called 'core coaching'. You need to go back a little bit to deal with issues in your past and accept those issues to be able to move forward. It does quite often feel like you're being counselled. But it's not counselling - it's guiding you to find a better person within yourself."
Mary Hodson, a counsellor and occupational therapist with Achieve Health and Education Consultants in Tauranga said: "Consumers should look for counsellors and life coaches who are also currently registered professionals, such as psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses and social workers. This is because they are required by law to maintain rigorous professional development in order to re-register each year and have undergone substantial, full-time training of at least three years."
Mrs Hodson said consumers can complain to the office of the Health and Disability Commissioner about any person providing a health care service.
"In NZ, counselling and coaching are included in that category."
Counsellors and coaches are not state-regulated as health care professionals.
In 2013, a New Plymouth life coach was convicted of defrauding a client out of $200,000.
NZ has no registration requirements for life coaches. Anyone can call themselves a coach, and many do after two months' training. Some life coaching websites tout the profession as the "second-fastest growing industry in the world".
NZ Association of Counsellors president Robyn McGill said potential coaching clients should ask the coach for evidence of qualifications, experience as a practitioner and whether there's a complaints process. Ms McGill said without a NZ professional association for coaches, it's unlikely there's a code of ethics and other agreed professional standards.
"It is a situation of client, buyer beware."
Bay Momentum Life Coaching trainer and coach Sarah Lanigan said her business is aligned with the International Coach Federation, something she encourages consumers to seek in a coach. "It's quite dangerous in the sense that essentially anybody could set themselves up as a coach, but it's important when people are looking for a reputable coach they do look for one aligned with ICF. It means they've been trained by an approved provider and they coach in accordance with 70 core competencies as well as a code of ethics."
Ms Powell, who was a hairdresser before earning a diploma in youth work and working for a social service agency, said she hasn't looked into joining a coaching organisation. She said her clients include doctors, lawyers and IT professionals.
"People think there has to be something wrong to have a coach, but the people I work with are already successful, already achieving. They just need to work out what that next level will be."
Coaching fees vary from around $80 per hour with a Tauranga-based coach, to $345 for a two-hour "wealth coaching" session via Skype with an Auckland-based coach. Many coaches package their services. Ms Powell offers a 12-week package for $3450, 24 weeks for $6900 and 52 weeks for $14,950.
Want to become a life coach? Sixty hours of training at Bay Momentum (which claims to be the area's only face-to-face coach training school) costs around $3000, plus GST.
Mrs Stone, who would like to become a business coach herself, said two months of coaching have already paid off, as she has overcome her fear of cold-calling. "Lietta challenges me to challenge myself. It's kind of like delving inside yourself to get to know yourself better and feel more confident."
