Relationship Coach Training for Therapists
Easily Expand or Transition Your Clinical Practice as a Relationship Coach
Key Takeaways
- RCI offers relationship coach training for therapists and other mental health professionals, helping them leverage their expertise to expand or transition to coaching.
- Coaching provides a fulfilling alternative to traditional practices and can prevent burnout while allowing for flexible work environments.
- Therapists can work with functional clients, focusing on goals rather than problems, enhancing their impact on individuals.
- RCI’s training is a hands-on approach, allowing you to start coaching your clients almost immediately.
- Relationship coaching offers many benefits, including decreased reliance on insurance, expansion of private pay clientele, and a potential path to retirement.
As a practicing helping professional such as a therapist, coach, counselor, social worker, psychologist, and other mental health professions, you have a wealth of knowledge and experience that you can easily leverage to make a huge difference in your community and with your clients with RCI’s relationship coach training for therapists and other helping professionals.
Coaching is a fun, profitable and fulfilling counter-balance to a clinical practice and many of our graduates from mental health professions (including our founder, see his story below) eventually decided to transition 100% to relationship coaching.
If you’re tired of filling out insurance forms and commuting to an office, coaching is an ideal complement to your clinical practice, provides a path for transitioning your practice, and makes a fantastic retirement profession as you can work as much or as little as you want, from anywhere in the world! Here’s a Short History of the Coaching Profession for Therapists
Meet Lori Davis, MA, CRS
“I am a certified relationship specialist with over 28 years experience as a counselor but had no idea how to start and run my own business. I found RCI was blown away with the amount of training and knowledge they offer. This program is equally beneficial for seasoned professionals and those with no coaching experience. Not only do they teach you what you need to know to be a great coach, they also give you the tools you need to start and run your business. I learned how to create a niche, how to sell programs instead of sessions, how to market my business, and much more. They are very professional and knowledgeable. The growth you can experience with them is unlimited. This is the best investment I have made in my professional career. I am blessed to have found them and to be a part of this organization.”
Here’s our Top Five Reasons to Consider Coaching for Practicing Helping Professionals:
- Cure or prevent burnout
Helping others is a fulfilling profession, but after awhile, most of us need a change of pace to keep us energized and motivated. - Work with functional clients
Most helping professionals work with people experiencing serious, challenging problems. Helping functional people achieve their most important goals (instead of fixing problems) is a positive, inspiring and personally fulfilling way to make the difference you’re called to make in the world. - Expand your helping toolbox
Many clients who seek professional help can benefit from a positive, goal-oriented coaching approach to their challenges. And, success is therapeutic! - Build a portable practice
Most helping professionals must see their clients in an office, while you can coach your clients from anywhere! - Transition to retirement
Most of us will need to continue working to fund our retirement years and coaching is a perfect way to work as much or as little as you wish during your retirement years.
Other reasons for helping professionals to consider coaching include decreasing your dependence upon third party reimbursement (e.g. insurance, etc.), expanding your private pay clientele, transitioning from a job to private practice, flexible hours, decreased overhead, being able to work from anywhere with clients from anywhere, and adding group services such as classes, workshops, and coaching groups.
Have we left anything out? How would becoming a coach change your business and your life?
From Therapist to Coach: The Birth of RCI
In 1996 I was burning out as a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in helping couples on the verge of divorce. After 15 years of full time private practice I realized that most couples seek help when it's too late and at least one partner has already decided they want a divorce, but since they almost never reveal that in session, my work was doomed before it started.
Eureka! I discovered the emergence of a brand new helping profession of "coaching," and while initially skeptical, upon investigation it seemed to be exactly what I wanted to do- help individuals and couples achieve their dreams and goals instead of doing "couples therapy" and other mental health approaches to helping my clients.
Long story short, I sought training and within 90 days of graduating I was able to transition my practice to 100% coaching and had a full calendar plus a waiting list. At that time, in 1997, I wanted to share coaching with my colleagues and published an article- Professional Coaching and the Marriage and Family Therapist to explain coaching and eventually gave in to their requests to train them in Relationship Coaching, which was the birth of Relationship Coaching Institute, the first and largest relationship coach training organization, now in its 30th year.
Eventually my story caught the attention of John Wiley & Sons, the largest trade publisher for helping professionals and they asked me to write a book for therapists about coaching. Of course I said YES!
The result is From Therapist to Coach: How to Leverage your Clinical Expertise to Build a Thriving Coaching Practice
Frequently Asked Questions
I already "coach" my therapy clients. Do I really need additional training?
Yes. Professional coaching is a distinct methodology very different from any other helping profession. While most of clinicians strongly value personal growth, most are trained to diagnose and treat mental, emotional, and psychological disorders, not help functional people. For example, coaches are trained to help their clients without giving advice or “professional opinions,” as our clients typically know what they need to do they just have tremendous challenges to doing it. Being directive and giving advice as an “expert” actually disempowers our clients when our goal is to empower them. So how do you help your clients without giving advice? That is the art and science of coaching.
How soon after I join can I start coaching my clients?
As soon as you want to! We strongly advocate a “Learning by Doing” approach to training and our self study programs make it easy to start coaching almost immediately after joining RCI. You’ll have access to our mentors and trainers even before you start live training so you get get started as soon as you wish knowing that your support system is in place. Many of our trainees prefer to complete their training before marketing their coaching services, but you can get started as soon as you wish.
Will self-study courses work for me or will I need to take the live training?
Self study is not “training,” which requires mentoring and supervised practice. Knowing how to coach by reading books or viewing video programs is not the same as learning coaching skills to help real coaching clients. We strongly recommend live training, but it is up to you to decide if you can learn a whole new helping methodology via self study or not. You can always start with self study and add live training later if needed.
