Life coaching: Help, hype or hustle?

SINGAPORE – About a year ago, logistics professional Felice Neo, 43, came across a Facebook advertisement that caught her attention.

The video featured a bespectacled Chinese woman offering advice on relationships: “When a relationship isn’t working out, don’t be stubborn and keep holding on.”

Intrigued, Ms Neo visited the page Athena’s Truth and watched more videos. At the time, she was struggling with her marriage of 10 years. 

Her husband had wanted to file for divorce, but one month later changed his mind and told her that he wanted to salvage the marriage. Ms Neo was unsure whether to stay or leave, and how to handle custody of their two children.

The woman in the videos was life coach Tan Yan Mei, who also said: “The more you focus on a specific outcome, the more you might be getting it wrong.”

The post invited viewers to join a coaching programme focused on living a fulfilling life and finding true love through the law of attraction. Seeing this as a sign, Ms Neo contacted Ms Tan. Over a Zoom call, she explained her marital issues and the coach explained her services and packages.

Ms Neo signed up for four sessions over six months. “At that time, Yan was the guidance I needed when I was feeling down and unsure about my marriage.”

She also attended family counselling with her husband, but their marriage did not work out in the end.

Ms Neo is among a growing number of Singaporeans engaging life coaches to navigate personal and professional challenges, from relationship troubles to workplace conflicts.

But what exactly is life coaching, and how does it differ from counselling or therapy?

‘Yes, I have a life coach’

The concept of coaching has evolved significantly over the past century. Originally associated with tutoring and athletics, it expanded into the realm of personal development in the early 20th century, influenced by psychoanalysis pioneers like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

By the 1990s, career coaching gained prominence, offering frameworks for personal growth and professional achievement. High-profile technology chief executives, including Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt, were open about seeking guidance from executive coaches like Mr Bill Campbell.

Mr Schmidt met Mr Campbell every week for 15 years and once said in a TV interview: “It became very clear that I could have conversations with him that I could not have with anyone else, in particular on my own hopes and fears.”

The scope of coaching has since broadened to address various personal challenges, giving rise to specialised life coaches focusing on areas such as confidence, divorce, grief and intimacy.

Over the past five years that she has been involved with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the largest non-profit coaching association in the world, life and executive coach Amily Ang has seen awareness and understanding of coaching increase significantly in Singapore. 

Ms Ang, the immediate past president of the Singapore chapter of ICF, attributes this to public figures openly sharing their coaching experiences, Singaporeans’ increasing openness to lifelong learning, and the rise of video-call consultations that connect clients and coaches globally.

Coaching, she says, is no longer just for C-suite executives. It is now relevant to anyone navigating career transitions, work-life balance, or personal challenges. Today, it’s common to hear people say, “I have a life coach.”

She adds: “People turn to coaching at various stages of life, often at a crossroads or moments of uncertainty. In Singapore, it’s slowly catching up.” 

This shift reflects a broader cultural transformation in Singapore, where personal development is increasingly prioritised.

“Coaching isn’t about fixing problems – it’s about maximising potential. As more individuals experience its benefits, this trend is steadily gaining traction,” says Ms Ang.

A booming business 

In 2022, the ICF estimated that the global coaching industry was worth US$4.6 billion, a 60 per cent increase from 2019.

The growth in Asia has been especially robust, with the number of ICF-credentialled coaches increasing by 86 per cent since 2020 to 8,600. The number of coaches is likely to be much higher as there are other accreditation bodies aside from ICF and some coaches operate without certification. 

According to the ICF, the average fee for coaches in Asia in 2022 was US$226 (S$302) an hour.

However, some coaches in Singapore command significantly higher fees.

In 2022, Ms Emma Lee (not her real name) paid a four-figure hourly rate for a life coach she discovered on Instagram, to get help with a persistent workplace conflict.

“She is a public figure, so she probably knows what she is doing. If it is too cheap, you start questioning also,” says Ms Lee, 48, rationalising the high fee.

They met for two one-hour sessions. Sitting side by side outdoors on a bench, the coach helped her compartmentalise her thoughts and used exercises to address her issues.

One exercise involved listing 15 possible reasons why her colleagues might not respond to her e-mails, challenging her initial assumption that they were simply lazy and unreliable. 

“My thought process was, everybody else is flawed. Then, when you actually sit down to list 15 reasons, it’s actually very difficult! I started to view (my colleagues) in a very different light,” Ms Lee says.

Even though her workplace conflict was not resolved, the exercise helped her develop empathy and led her to seek counselling to help her deal with personal issues. She then changed jobs and now feels happier in her new workplace.

She views the coaching as a worthwhile investment in her personal growth.

“You take a break, you go on holiday, you buy a branded bag, you come back, you still feel the same. It’s expensive, no doubt. But I see that money as a lifelong investment. I think of it as an internal holiday,” says Ms Lee, who still uses tools her coach taught her when dealing with stressful situations today. 

The role of life coaches

Despite its growing popularity, the role of a life coach remains somewhat mysterious to many.

Life coaches often position themselves as forward-focused guides who help clients achieve specific goals or overcome challenges. Unlike therapists who delve into past traumas or psychiatrists who treat mental health conditions, coaches focus on actionable strategies.

Ms Tan, the coach who worked with Ms Neo, says: “I think it’s still a very new thing to many people in Singapore. A lot of my friends still don’t know what a life coach does.” 

The former theatre professional, who is now pursuing a graduate diploma in professional life coaching at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), adds: “I became a life coach because of my personal experience. I actually went through depression for about 10 years.”

Ms Tan describes her approach as combining positive psychology with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques, although she is quick to clarify that she is not a licensed therapist. 

Positive psychology is the study of the positive aspects of the human experience, and includes tasks like writing a gratitude journal and focusing on personal strengths over weaknesses, while CBT helps clients recognise negative thought and behaviour patterns, which they then actively work to change. 

Most of Ms Tan’s clients are women facing relationship problems. At any one time, she has around 20 clients who have signed up for six-month-long programmes with her. Each package includes 12 one-hour video sessions and costs approximately $2,500.

Other coaches have carved out niches addressing specific needs. Fertility coach Tina Padia works with women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation treatments to manage stress and anxiety through mindfulness techniques and neurolinguistic programming.

Break-up coach Ambra Liew helps women regain confidence after heartbreak by teaching them how to untangle their self-worth from external validation.

“Coaching isn’t about giving advice,” she says. “It’s about offering different perspectives.” 

The accreditation divide

The rise of coaching has not been without its critics. Some question its scientific validity and raise concerns about the lack of regulation in the industry here. Unlike psychiatrists, who are regulated by the Singapore Medical Council, coaches do not have to get accredited or certified and are not bound by ethical guidelines. 

Other mental health practitioners such as psychologists and counsellors are also not regulated by the law. But professional bodies such as the Singapore Psychological Society and Singapore Association for Counselling provide guidance on the professional and ethical conduct of their members.

In 2024, Ms Sylvia Chan, the co-founder and former chief executive of the now-defunct YouTube channel and production company Night Owl Cinematics, faced criticism after announcing her entry into the life coaching industry. 

Four years ago, she made headlines for allegedly abusing her staff. In May 2023, she returned to the spotlight when she revealed that she had been studying to become a life coach and was taking on clients.

In promoting her coaching services on Instagram, Ms Chan wrote: “What can you expect? Me using all my life experience, work experience, divorce experience, saga experience, consultant experience, entrepreneur experience, creator experience – I’m utilising all my knowledge plus my new life coach training to help you with your issue on hand!” 

She identified herself then as a “student life coach” who would complete her training in July 2023. However, her coaching website makes no mention of her credentials.

In August 2024, Ms Chan appeared on CNA’s Talking Point, where she conducted a live coaching session for the show’s host, Ms Charmaine Tan, who broke down while discussing her self-esteem and body dysmorphia issues.

Ms Tan left the session looking emotionally spent, calling the experience “intense”. She added that “it almost felt like a therapy session”.

Numerous comments on the YouTube video of the episode, however, were critical of Ms Chan’s coaching methods.

Ms Tan had shared that her mother may have body-shamed her to protect her from being bullied over her weight, to which Ms Chan retorted: “So, she bullied you instead?” 

A viewer commented: “Is this for real? Anyone who has been for even a short para-counselling course would know not to say such leading statements.” Another said the episode highlighted “how dodgy life coaches are”. 

Ms Chan declined to comment when contacted by The Straits Times.

While accreditation is not legally required in Singapore, many coaches choose programmes accredited by global bodies like the ICF, the International Association of Coaching Institutes, or the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

These organisations offer varying levels of credentials, each based on different methodologies and philosophies. The ICF, for instance, requires candidates for its Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential to complete 60 hours of training, log 100 hours of coaching practice, and pass a rigorous multiple-choice exam. Successful candidates are listed in an online registry.

In Singapore, ICF-accredited Collective Change Institute (CCI) offers a six-month programme costing around $8,500. The curriculum includes live in-person training, supervised sessions, coaching practices, one-to-one mentoring, assessments, and coaching evaluations.

According to CCI’s director of training Lin Tan, most participants are mid- to senior-level professionals looking to enhance their careers. She says: “Accreditation is not just a professional badge that proves legitimacy and expertise… It signals to clients and organisations that you’ve met the highest global coaching standards.”

The SUSS graduate diploma in professional life coaching that life coach Tan Yan Mei is pursuing is a one-year programme open to university degree holders. Students must complete 30 credit units across six core courses.

Less rigorous training programmes raise concerns about the industry’s credibility.

For example, one online institute offers a “three-day intensive online life coach” programme for about US$1,300. Upon completion, students will receive an e-certificate recognising them as “Certified Life Coaches” and other “support”, such as a step-by-step marketing and business plan to start their life coaching business.

Another academy offers an online ICF-accredited “2-Day Fast Track Program” for about US$800. The programme claims to “include everything needed to complete one’s certification”. 

Adolescent psychologist Nicholas Gabriel Lim, who leads the graduate diploma in professional life coaching at SUSS, describes the coaching landscape in Singapore as a “cowboy town”. 

He warns that individuals who call themselves coaches after minimal training may lack the skills to handle sensitive client issues. Untrained coaches, he adds, may fail to recognise clinical problems, potentially causing more harm than good. 

Mrs Ruchi Parekh, an ICF-credentialled coach with over a decade of experience, argues that untrained coaches can cause significant harm by projecting their own experiences onto clients.

“When coaches are not trained, they don’t realise how much damage they can do,” she says, warning that imposing personal values or beliefs on clients can erode their self-confidence and even lead to mental health issues.

Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists tell ST that while coaching can be a valuable tool for personal growth, it is different from psychotherapy. 

Psychiatrist Lim Boon Leng says: “Unlike psychiatry or clinical psychology, life coaching is not a medical intervention and is not designed to treat mental illnesses or pathological mental states.” 

Dr Kimberly Chew, a clinical psychologist, agrees. Individuals struggling with trauma, mental health concerns, or emotional regulation should see a licensed mental health professional instead of turning to a life coach, she advises.

“While some coaching techniques, such as motivational interviewing and goal-setting strategies, are inspired by evidence-based practices in psychology, coaching as a discipline is not as extensively studied or regulated as psychotherapy,” she notes.

“The lack of regulation within the coaching industry raises significant concerns, particularly when coaches address trauma or mental health issues without adequate training or oversight,” adds Dr Chew, who has a degree in psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology. She had to complete 1,500 hours of supervised practicum before attending to her first client. 

The lack of regulation in the coaching industry has led to instances of exploitation here. Between Jan 1 and Dec 31, 2024, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) received 19 complaints from customers of life coaches and self-help programme providers. 

According to Case president Melvin Yong, customers of life coaches commonly reported issues such as unfulfilled course commitments and poor customer service. Many of the cases involved an unexpected change in course format from in-person sessions to online classes, contrary to what consumers signed up for. 

Additionally, their refund requests were often ignored by providers. Mr Yong emphasised the need for greater oversight to protect consumers from potential exploitation.

Reflecting on the reactive rather than proactive nature of regulations, Mr Nicholas Gabriel Lim concludes: “It often takes something bad happening for people to realise we may need some regulation.”

• Jessica Novia is a features correspondent at The Straits Times.

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