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Life coach to help jobless Londoners
Ruth Bloomfield27 Apr 2009
Unemployed Londoners are to be assigned a free "life coach" to help them find work.
In the first scheme of its kind in Britain, people claiming benefits and living in social housing will be offered free therapy courses to improve their confidence and motivation to find a job.
The Kensington and Chelsea council scheme, costing £1,780 a head, shows how the public sector is increasingly turning to expensive counselling services typically offered to high-flying City workers considering a career change.
It comes after the Standard revealed that the NHS is offering life coaches to overweight children in east London and Mayor Boris Johnson is offering "mind gym" sessions to staff at City Hall.
A report into the "mentors for job seekers" project said: "The intention is to help residents work toward realising their ambitions and goals, and in so doing to improve their physical, emotional and economic wellbeing.
"The pilot will test the practical value of this concept."
The council said there was no firm evidence that life coaching can help the unemployed but it cites a "good deal of anecdotal information reporting positive results from life coaching".
The report concludes: "This type of coaching is usually provided to professionals in a corporate setting or purchased by individuals at considerable cost.
"The Launchpad scheme is therefore a form of publicly subsidised self-help."
Participants will be given 10 hours of one-to-one "treatment", which starts with a taster session where they agree a series of goals. All participants will have follow-up interviews three and six months after their courses have finished to assess whether the course helped.
Critics accused the council of wasting money. Mark Wallace, campaign director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said people struggling to find work "need real-world help, not mumbo jumbo".
Reader views (12)
Hmm. The UK government have chose Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as the number one choice for NHS psychotherapy provision. And are setting up CBT centres to link with jobcentres. This is practical fast intervention proven therapy for emotional health. And has NOTHING to do with 'life-coaching'. Might this journalist have gotten the wrong end of the stick ??!
- Veronica, Ireland, 18/01/2010 17:26
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To the careers 'expert',
Some of us have spent 20K above getting our professional qualifications. We're not all two-day start ups. Just because we may not have a government badge or a uni qualification doesn't mean we're not qualified. Stop being so arrogant. Your field had no qualifications either at one time but it didn't stop people being good at what they do.
- Dc, London, 20/10/2009 15:59
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Thats rich, lose a job and find another the next day! Suggest this Labour government should try and stop an oil tanker at sea in its tracks.
Please someone, get this government sorted out before we all sink into total dispair.
- Tony Islander, Herts, 20/10/2009 14:59
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It is difficult for people to motivate themselves if they have been made redundant or are long-term unemployed. The psychological impact often results in low self-esteem and low energy. Employers want someone who is able to deliver results and are less likely to choose someone who is defeated before they start.
I have put together a low-cost turnaround programme for people who are having problems finding the energy to keep searching for work. (www.hartspring.com/attraction)
Well done Kensington & Chelsea for being so supportive and enlightened!
- Theresa Truscott, Croxley Green, 20/10/2009 14:59
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God help us, I must have missed out in life, because when I left school in 1963 my mummy never got me a LIFE-Coach.
- Alex., brighton, 20/10/2009 14:59
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Unemployment is a growth industry; don't spoil it now with life coaches; if they succeed the unemployed will be employed; and the life coaches unemployed.
- Mickyinlondon, london, 20/10/2009 14:59
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Does the life coach also double as a punch bag for venting anger about the amount of your money the local authority are peeing up the wall?
- Bob, Cheam, 20/10/2009 14:59
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Most of these comments are at the least short sighted and the worst heartless.
We have learn an awful lot as humans in the last few years and one of the things we have learnt is that inspiring sefl motivation is far better than just motivation.
If you inspire/coach someone to a point were they are self motivated they will achieve there potential and you cannot ask anymore than that.
So time for me to do some coaching, if can all just get off your high horse you may see that this is a good idea.
- Not Exactly A Looney Lefty!, The real world, 20/10/2009 14:59
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To clarify: coaching is NOT therapy! Neither does it offer treatments of any kind.
A typical session involves the coach asking specific questions and guiding the client to find their own answers.
Redundancy can be traumatic, but can also be a great time to re-evaluate what you really want out of life. This is equally applicable to the long-term jobless. Coaching is a very powerful way to gain clarity on options not previously considered.
As a life coach myself (gbcoach.wordpress.com), I help people to access and realise their strengths, overcome fears or obstacles that hold them back and become motivated to go after what they really want in life. They access their own answers and solutions. Coaches do not need to be experts in the field they are coaching in, as they are not giving advice. Rather helping the clients to access their own inner wisdom - and take action!
Good for Boris bringing mind-gym into County Hall. And well done Kensington & Chelsea for their forward thinking attitude. Most of us would welcome some inspiration in life! Something coaching certainly provides.
Clearly not everyone needs this extra help but all of my clients have benefited from the practical, real life empowerment they have gained as a result.
A great free resource is www.actionpodcast.com A weekly free motivational podcast, providing inspiration on all aspects of life - both career and personal.
- Gina Baksa Life Coaching, London, 20/10/2009 14:59
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Life coaches? Why on earth not instead pay for professionally qualified career guidance professionals? We're properly qualified (postgrad course) are experts on redundancy counselling, the education system,the labour market and giving careers & personality-assesment psychometric tests. Most of us have helped hundreds of clients become practised in job-finding techniques including interview practice.Wer'e all qualified in counselling/interviewing techniques. We cost around £45-£75 per hour, depending on services required & location- a fraction of the £1,000 + quoted in your article.
Find us- we're the real thing- on http://www.icg-uk.org go to Register of Career Guidance practitioners, look for those who specialise in working with adults.
Forget the 'life coaches' - they have no training in career counselling.
- Careersexpert, Colchester, 20/10/2009 14:59
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Mind gyms!!! That discredited load of pseudo science.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/mar/18/comment.badscience
And I thought Red Ken sometimes lost the plot.
- John David, London, 20/10/2009 14:59
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What a load of rubbish when i lost my job i went to all agencys and different areas job centres all over london i was back in work within 3 months
get out your bed early and look hard enough you will find the job
- Terry Chambers, London, 20/10/2009 14:59
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