Most of the coaches interviewed for this article participated in some form of training. Several were certified in general coaching or related fields. Brown suggests receiving therapy before consulting a coach is sometimes beneficial. In order to get the most out of coaching, a client has to be ready, willing, and able to proceed. What I mean by that is she has to have some level of clarity of what hasn't worked for her in the past and where she wants to go in the future.
Therapy can be a good first step.
One of the coach's responsibilities is determining if a client is a good candidate for coaching. It's not that unusual for a client to cry or be upset during our first meeting, but if he is still crying by our third, I tell him he may not be ready for coaching and that he should consider seeking the help of a therapist. Sussman says that a coach can be anywhere from the first professional a client has had contact with to the last in a long line, so, occasionally, a client will blur boundaries between coaching and therapy. If that happens, and a client begins to talk about the relationship with his mother, for instance, I will remind him that that is not an issue I can address, but that I can provide him a list of various types of professionals who can help him in that area. A colleague of mine is a baseball coach.