This article was prepared for the local propublica reporting network in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Sign up for sending To get such stories as soon as they are published.
Utah’s state legislators aimed at the life coaches who harm mental health to its customers, but the law that the governor signed on Wednesday stops from the appointment of minimum standards or ethical recommendations for the development of the profession.
Anyone can call themselves a life coach, who, unlike mental health, requires no education, learning and license.
In Utah, one state agency found out that Dozens of life coaches advertise their ability to treat mental health problems, although the vast majority are not trained and are not allowed to work as therapists. Public licenses say they on average one month on life coaches.
The new law strengthens the existing rules that prohibit anyone who is not a licensed therapist, treat mental health conditions. Definely determining what only therapists can do, licenses can more easily lead and coaches with the excellent life who are mental health, according to state senator Mike Mackel, sponsor of the bill.
But the new law does not mean any money to immediately hire more investigators to verify possible problems.
Investigation last year The Salt Lake Tribune and PROPUBLICA showed that about Third of 43 Utah therapists whose licenses have been canceled or denied since 2010Either anyone allowed their dismissed licenses, it seems to have continued to work in mental health. Some rebrands as “life coaches”.
Mckel said the new law was aimed at the life coaches who lost the therapist’s licenses as the state found them dangerous to work with patients.
Yutan fought for mental health assistance, mainly because of the lack of available therapists, reports A recent report From the health coalition in Utah.
In this rupture of life training appeared as an unregulated alternative, reports the Utto’s professional license. At the request of the legislators, the public service studied the training in life and whether it should be licensed, and found that coaches in Utah’s life are advertised using more than 100 titles, including “Executive Coach”, “specialist In November 2024 Report.
State researchers approximately reviewed the Internet. 220 coaches on the life of Utah And he came to the conclusion that about 40% could offer therapy. These coaches say they specialize in the resolution of the fight against mental health, finding the state, some state the ability to “win” the conditions of their client’s mental health.
Within the framework of the review, the public service also interviewed therapists, trying to better understand the potential risks related to life coaches. Of the more than 3,500 replied, the third said they had at least one client who told them that they had harmed the life coach.
The state report quoted one unnamed therapist who described the treatment of patients who hired life coaches: “All 5 reported about life coaches made them” deeply immersed “into their injury, which sent them into an emotional spiral, and then did not give them the skills to cope with emotional.
Sarah Strup, a licensed therapist, which is in the legislative committee of the Association of Marriage and Family therapy of Utah, said the new law is a starting point “in ensuring that Jutan receives ethical assistance.”
“From the very beginning, our goal was to advocate a fence so that life coaches did not ensure mental health treatment,” she said, “and the therapists who lost their license could not continue under the guise of training. “
A loud case of abuse
Mental health professionals and some legislators pushed to tighter control over life coaches in Utah after the high -profile conviction of 2023 Jodi Hildebrandt, who is in prison for Abuse of their life coaching business.
Hildabrandt was a licensed clinical mental health advisor, but she removed the links to become a therapist from her site and instead sold herself as a life coach before her condemnation. One of her former customers previously spoke of Tribune and Propublica that Hildebrandt said she became a life coach as a way to bypass the ethical rules to follow the therapists who must follow. (Hildebrandt’s lawyer did not respond to comment requests.)
Kevin Franke, the father of children who rape Hildebrandt and his ex -wife, advocated more than supervision of life coaches Ever since two women were sent to jail. He said he believed that there should be a state register in which the public could see whether the coach on their life, or if they are disciplined, and hopes that the state eventually order standards for life coaches, including the Ethical Code.
Credit:
Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
“I am particularly concerned about life coaches who effectively represent themselves for the therapist or represent themselves as a cheap alternative to licensed mental health specialists,” he said.
While the legislators of Utah, last year, floated the idea to demand license coaches – that no other staff in the country did – the new law does this step. A professional license management in Utah has shown that life licensing coaches would be difficult, given the extensive services they offer, and the ambiguity of the headlines they use.
The new law, however, clarifies that only licensed therapists can present themselves to skills, experience and training to resolve mental illness and “emotional disorders”.
Mckel, a Republican who sponsored the legislation, said that, determining the state legislation that he can make a therapist, he hopes that licenses can easier to punish life coaches who hurt their customers.
“Instead of trying to create rules for life training, I paint this fence around mental health and what makes mental health professionals when all the rest is off,” McCall said.
But some question how effective the new law can be, given the small amount of money that will probably be allocated for effort.
The law creates a forced execution fund, which will be collected from fines, which state licensing departments ask anyone who practices mental medical therapy without a license. McCles said the fund signals the licensers that the legislation wants them to perceive this issue seriously.
But previous Tribune and PROPUBLICA reports show that these types of quotes are rare and are unlikely to make a significant profit: over the last decade, The Licensing Department refers to only 25 people for “unauthorized practice” in mental healthAccording to a review of quotes and other records. These quotes amounted to just over $ 10,000.
And last year, while the licensers referred to nearly 1000 people, no new quotation was provided to anyone who decided as a mental health work, according to a review of quotes on a monthly basis.
Melanie Hall, a press -secretary of the professional licensing department, acknowledged that the law did not guarantee the flow of resources, but said that even a small amount of money could help finance companies in social media to encourage society to report bad behavior. When the fund is increasing, it said the money could be used to conduct additional investigations or expert payment to weigh difficult cases with high damage in society.
At the same time, some coaches on Utah’s life say the bill has already gone too far and can limit their ability to help customers.
Heather Fraser, who advertises his experience as a teenage coach, ”-said On a public hearing What limits the treatment of “interpersonal dysfunction” just the therapist, risks depriving life coaches. Life coaches can help combat clients who do not have a diagnosed mental illness, learn to better communicate with family members, she said.
“Without training, they will have to turn to the therapist who is already overloaded, the overloaded part of our state,” Fraser said.
