Photo By: Kristin Burke/Peter Baker Studios

Kathy Caprino, a personal and professional coach and a co-founder of Living in Harmony—the Center for Emotional Health in Westport, has been called a personal trainer for the mind, body, and soul. “I love that,” she beams. After an 18-year corporate career, she was laid off and forced to reevaluate her life. “I was weeping in my therapist’s office,” she recalls. But her therapist saw her situation as an opportunity. “He said, ‘I know this seems like a trauma to you, but in my view, this is the first moment going forward that you can create your life the way you want it.’” And she did. Now a psychotherapist and life coach, Caprino’s job is to help clients who are facing similar transitions and crossroads.

Though the growth in this field is undeniable, there are some nay-sayers. For one thing, the field is virtually unregulated. Anybody can set up a website, hang out a shingle, and call himself a life coach. Though Kathy Caprino is both a credentialed coach as well as a certified psychotherapist, there are no credentials or licenses required. “People are still coaching without training, but ICF is taking great strides to ensure that we have the requirements necessary,” Caprino says. The ICF does recommend working with an ICF-credentialed coach to ensure that a coach is experienced, educated, and committed to the profession. Coaches who have an ICF credential have received both coach-specific training and hands-on experience, and they agree to adhere to a code of ethics.

There are also some leery therapists who fear that coaches who are not trained could potentially miss the warning signs of a client who could actually be in need of therapeutic help. Mike Jaffe says that training addresses those issues, teaching coaches the signs to look for, and how to determine if someone is in need of a health professional. “Coaches will refer people out if someone comes to them with a problem that requires therapy,” he says.

Photo By: Kristin Burke/Peter Baker Studios

But some therapists welcome the practice. In fact, more and more therapists are adding coaching to their repertoire, says Jaffe. Kathy Caprino, a certified psychotherapist, is a good example. “Coaching and therapy are two wonderful branches that you can marry,” she says. But they are different, and Caprino notes that she is extra vigilant not to use therapeutic technique when coaching a client. “I do not put on the two hats in one session. It’s not ethical to do it,” she says. According to Caprino, a good coach won’t dig into your past or attempt to heal pain or give you a diagnosis. Cambridge, Massachusetts resident Deb Levy, a former high school counselor who is now training to be a life coach for students in transition, has a similar approach. Though she draws on her experience as a counselor, she stresses equal partnerships with her coaching clients and steers away from acting like a supervisor or therapist during her sessions. “It’s more like professional cheerleading,” she says.

Jaffe agrees that one of the most important roles of a coach is to be an objective cheerleader. “You’re trying to inspire and empower people to own their life; to be responsible and accountable for everything they’re doing, to not use excuses, to not stay complacent. It’s saying, ‘Hey, if you want to make a change, then you have to own that change, but I’m here to help you, and I’m here to hold you accountable to yourself, and to get you out of your own way.’”

Life coaches work with some people who have a clear idea of what they  want—a move, a career transition, a healthier lifestyle—and some who don’t. “Sometimes people tell me, ‘I know what I want, but I don’t know how to get there.’ Sometimes they say, ‘I don’t know what I want, but I know it’s not this.’” According to Jaffe, the job of the life coach is to help someone take the first step to finding what he wants, achieving a goal, or discovering what is lacking in someone’s life. “Part of [the process] is just getting clear about what someone wants; working with them to create a vision with all the fears and limits pushed aside so that they’re free to dream without worrying about how to make it happen.”