Choose well the coach who will guide you

Choose well the coach who will guide you

I've seen a proliferation of the “coaching profession” in the country. About four years ago, everyone wanted to be a real estate agent, but now the “trend” seems to be “being a coach”.

I highly value good coaches and recommend some who really are top coaches, such as Márcio Micheli, Paulo Vieira and Bette Maria, but I've noticed that there are people out there (sometimes “even well-intentioned”) who are doing more harm than good, partly due to a lack of common sense and partly due to inadequate training.

My tip, therefore, is that you choose very carefully who is going to guide you, after all, a good coach “messes” with your brain, your mind, your beliefs, behaviors, feelings, relationships, habits and, for all that, with your present and future!

For example, some common mistakes made by “not so good” coaches (in my humble opinion):

• Not focusing on promoting healthy lifestyle habits. If it is the health of the body that sustains that of the brain, and the brain is fundamental for the proper functioning and expression of the mind, how can we stop caring about what is fundamental for the body? Those who don't provide what is necessary for the body to function will rarely be able to achieve and maintain adequate psycho-emotional functioning. This is because when the brain is forced to operate without nutrients or intoxication, it becomes disturbed, anxious, depressed or irritable.

Some “professionals” even subject their “students” to many hours without water, food or a bathroom break, claiming that they have to develop “mastery over their bodies”. Absurd: is this training to optimize life or to fight a war?

• At times, some professionals “open up” mental-emotional processes, addressing deep issues in the psyche and past of the people they serve, but they don't provide adequate “closure”. This can lead to outbreaks and acute disorders which, unfortunately, often lead patients to decompensated psychiatric conditions.

• Express “training” courses of a few hours over a mere weekend: can anyone really advise or guide another person properly through what they have learned in such a short time?

• Spreading the word (or even trying to do so) that they are a substitute for psychologists, psychiatrists or other professionals, especially health professionals: each one has their own importance and experience in specific areas that can rarely be replaced by “someone from outside”. The idea is that multidisciplinarity, with respect for individual competencies, is used through collaboration for the benefit of the patient and not to serve the interests of individual egos. It is clear, however, that a well-guided person, who follows the tips they have received, improves their lifestyle habits and uses the tools they have learned well, can “single-handedly” solve many problems in their life, but this is not an absolute rule.

Is that clear?

Here's the warning. This should help even more: https://icaro.med.br/?s=escolha%20profissional