What exactly is Life Coaching? 10 points for more clarity
- ktheresa3
- Feb 24
- 4 min read
Daily life brings challenges and crises but also opportunities for personal development. In such moments, maybe you have already asked yourself whether you have to manage everything by yourself? The short answer: No, you don't.
There are moments in life that call for professional support. A Life Coach can be such a professional help. But what is Life Coaching actually? In this article I answer the 10 most important questions for more clarity.
What is Life Coaching?
Life Coaching is a professional support for inner work and personal development. The motivation to start a Life Coaching can be a crisis or the desire for self-awareness and personal transformation.
What's important to know: The term “coach” is not protected. Anyone can call themselves that, as there are neither uniform quality standards nor legally regulated training for this profession. When choosing your Life Coach, it is important to check their training and qualifications.
What does a Life Coach do?
A Life Coach is a professional guide on the path of personal development. A Life Coach supports people in understanding themselves better, supports them in difficult situations and helps them achieve goals and overcome challenges. Coaching can help increase self-confidence, expand career opportunities, reduce stress and improve overall well-being.
What is the goal of Life Coaching?
Life Coaching opens up a variety of opportunities to achieve goals and receive support in various areas of life — for a more vibrant and authentic life. The focus can range from personal development to professional success to overcoming challenges. The focus of a Life Coaching is on actively shaping your own life and initiating positive changes.
How does life coaching work?
A Life Coaching usually begins with an introductory meeting or call to decide whether the coach and coachee would like to work together.
A Life Coaching usually includes several individual sessions with the Life Coach, each lasting 45 to 90 minutes — depending on what the Life Coach offers. The number of individual sessions and the intervals differ depending on the issues and needs of the client and what the Life Coach offers. Some Life Coaches work with fixed, predefined programs.
In the central phase of the coaching process, the coach and client define clear goals and develop suitable solutions. Through targeted methods, self-reflection is promoted, awareness is raised and the clients' personal responsibility is strengthened in order to support the achivement of the client's individual goal. Which methods are used depends on the specialization of the Life Coach.
When do I need life coaching?
Life Coaching is a professional support in achieving personal goals and/or greater well-being. The motivation to start a Life Coaching can be a crisis or the desire for self-awareness, inner work or personal transformation. A Life Coaching can provide support in various situations, for example:
When the goal is clear, but the path to get there remains unclear.
When a problem exists, but neither a solution nor a goal can be identified.
When the path to the goal becomes challenging and you want to prepare for it.
If you want to initiate a personal development process.
6. When is a Life Coaching not useful?
Life Coaching does not make sense without voluntary participation or a willingness to change. If potential coachees show no interest in the measure or are not prepared to work on their situation in everyday life, the desired personal development cannot be achieved.
How much does an hour of Life Coaching cost?
Prices for Life Coachings vary greatly. Generally, the hourly rates are between 80 and 200 euros, although there are also much more expensive offers.
Is Life Coaching paid for by health insurance?
Life Coaching is not reimbursed by health insurance companies. Therefore, you have to finance these services yourself.
What is the difference between Life Coaching and therapy?
Life Coaching is aimed at healthy people who want to achieve their personal goals/well-being with professional support in inner work and personal development. Therapy is the treatment of a (mental) illness, e.g. depression.
Life Coaching is not a replacement for psychotherapeutic or medical therapy, but can complement other therapeutic processes for people with mental or physical illnesses. In Life Coaching no promises of healing are made. No diagnoses are made and no medical treatments are carried out that affect health or mental illnesses. If you suffer from depression, anxiety or other psychological problems, please contact your doctor, psychotherapist or the psychotherapeutic crisis service in your region.
What makes a good Life Coach?
A good Life Coach is characterized by an adequate training and a high level of emotional intelligence in order to accompany you as a professional counterpart. It can be an advantage if your Life Coach not only has theoretical knowledge, but also has experiential knowledge (i.e. life experience in the areas in question). There are many different types of Life Coaching: Choosing a suitable Life Coach is a very individual and personal decision depending on your challenge at hand and your needs. In addition to reading about the Life Coach's CV and offer an intro-call is a good opportunity to feel into whether the energy is right between you and the Life Coach.
About the author
Theresa Keller is a somatic Life Coach and Yoga teacher in Berlin. She is the founder of within&without berlin, a space of calmth and inner development. Learn more about Theresa here.
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