Anyone Can Be a Coach

- But should they?

One of the things that frustrated me while I searched for the best possible training and education program to become a sex coach was this:

Coaching, and therefore also sex coaching (even though it is technically a derivative of the field of sexology and not of coaching), is not a regulated profession. (In Germany) you need a three year training to become a baker or a hairdresser and even more to become a barrister, teacher or accountant. However, you literally need no proof of training to work as a coach. What does this mean? What's the message this sends? People shouldn't trust someone to cut their hair or bake their bread without the proper training and state approved certifications but are left to simply chose a coach based on trust, based on their mere claim to be a coach? Anyone can claim to be a coach, print some business cards, set up an instagram account and hunt for clients. I would love to see further regulation in the field that acknowledges the responsibility coaches take on fully and that helps clients in their search for a trustworthy and qualified coach. The many associations in the field are a starting point, of course, but I would like to see more regulation as the profession grows.

Further reading: Check out WAS, the World Association of Sexual Health and WASC, the World Association of Sex Coaches or the list of educational institutions accredited by the American College of Sexologists International to dig deeper.

I am a firm believer of accredited education. Before I was entrusted with leadership roles in the MarTech & Financial Services arena, I had walked the classic university path with the appropriate undergrad business studies followed by an MBA. It's a straightforward way to evaluate a professionals knowledge base. Coaches (life coaches, business coaches, sex coaches, etc) take on such a huge responsibility working with real life human beings, guiding their journeys, and being entrusted with their work/love/sex lives. And even though the coach - coachee relationship is non-hierarchial in its nature (as opposed to a classic therapist-patient relationship), I still appreciate the subtle influence coaches may - even if unintentional- gain over the thoughts, ideas and pathways of their coachee. This is why I completed a 6 year, fully accredited Bachelor study in Psychology in part time with Fernuniversität Hagen and why I enrolled at SCU for further specification and training in the field of sex coaching. This is why I invested course fees similar to European MBA study programs to get trained in clinical sexology and this is also why I hold on any 1-0-1 coaching sessions until my training is complete. I want to take this responsibility seriously. I want to be educated in the most suitable way, learn as much as I can, follow current research and be coached and trained by pioneers and key opinion leaders in the field to become a sex coach myself before I join you on your journeys. I believe anyone looking for a coach deserves exactly this.