How to Choose a Life Coach in Melbourne, and What to Ask First
Anyone in Australia can call themselves a life coach. How to tell a good one from a confident one, and what to ask before you pay.
You have typed it into your phone three times this week. Life coach Melbourne. The results all look much the same: a smiling headshot, a word like unstoppable, a free call, and a price you have to email to find out.
You are not short of options. You are short of a way to tell them apart.
Anyone Can Use the Title
Life coaching is not a regulated profession in Australia. There is no national register, no required qualification, and nothing stopping someone who finished a weekend course, or no course at all, from calling themselves a coach. Many good coaches came to it after years in another field. Some people with very large followings never trained at all.
That is not a reason to avoid coaching. It is a reason to ask a few plain questions before you hand over your Thursday evenings and your money.
What a Credential Actually Tells You
The most widely recognised credential comes from the International Coaching Federation, usually shortened to ICF. It has three levels. An Associate Certified Coach (ACC) has completed at least 60 hours of coach training and 100 hours of coaching clients. A Professional Certified Coach (PCC) has 125 hours of training and 500 hours of coaching. A Master Certified Coach (MCC) has 200 hours of training and 2,500 hours of coaching.
Each level also involves a recorded session assessed against a set of skills, an exam, and a code of ethics the coach agrees to work within. You can check whether someone holds a credential in the ICF's own directory, which is worth thirty seconds of your time.
A credential will not tell you whether someone is right for you. It tells you they have been trained, watched at work, and held to a standard. In a field anyone can enter, that is a meaningful floor.
Does Coaching Actually Work?
Better than its marketing would suggest, and more modestly. Anthony Grant, an Australian psychologist who set up the world's first coaching psychology unit, ran some of the earliest controlled trials. People were randomly given either a stretch of coaching or a place on a waiting list. Those who were coached made more progress on their goals and reported better wellbeing than those who waited.
Notice what those trials measured: progress on goals people chose for themselves. Coaching is good at helping you move on something you already want. It is not designed to treat anxiety, grief, or a pattern that keeps dragging you back to the same place.
Coaching helps you move toward something. Counselling helps when something keeps pulling you back.
When You Might Need a Counsellor Instead
Sometimes what looks like a motivation problem is something else. You keep setting the goal and keep not starting. Your chest tightens every time you open the document. Every plan for the future runs into the same old grief or the same old fear.
A good coach will notice this and say so. Ask any coach you are considering what they do when the work turns out to need counselling. If the answer is vague, or they say they handle everything, keep looking.
This is one reason I hold both qualifications. As a PACFA registered counsellor and an ICF ACC coach, I can move between the two without you having to start again with someone new. It is not the only good arrangement, but it is worth knowing it exists.
Questions to Ask Before You Book
- What training and credential do you hold, and where can I check it?
- Who do you usually work with? A coach who mostly works with startup founders may not be the right fit for a career change at 45.
- What does a session actually look like? You want a clear answer, not a philosophy.
- How many sessions do people usually have with you, and how will we know if it is working?
- What do you do if something comes up that coaching is not right for?
- What does it cost, including any packages, and what is your cancellation policy?
Pay attention to how the answers feel as well as what they say. You are going to tell this person what you want and what is in the way. You should feel able to do that out loud.
Try it now · 30 seconds
Before you contact anyone, write one sentence about what you want to be different in six months. Plain enough that a stranger would understand it. Then read it back and notice whether it sounds more like a goal or more like something that hurts. That is a useful clue to whether you are looking for a coach or a counsellor first.
What It Costs in Melbourne
Fees vary widely, and many coaches do not publish them, which is itself a small piece of information. Some price by the session, others sell three or six month packages. I charge $160 for a 60-minute session, with 6 and 8 session packs. Coaching is not covered by Medicare or by private health insurance, so whatever the fee, you will be paying all of it.
A Realistic Expectation
A good coach will not change your life in one session, and anyone who promises that should worry you a little. What coaching usually offers is steady traction: a clearer goal, a few commitments you actually keep, and someone who notices when you drift. Over a couple of months, that adds up to more than it sounds like.
None of this is a diagnosis, and it is not a substitute for individual assessment. If you would like to talk about whether coaching fits what you are working on, a free 15-minute call is a good place to start. Stabilise is available in Carlton, Melbourne and online.
Free resources
Two free guides. Spot the signs of nervous system dysregulation, and settle your body in under 90 seconds.
Work with Leah
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