Should I pay this much for one to one coaching?

[Alacartemenu]

I have completed a group online parenting course for 5 weeks for free. Facilitator was really good and brilliant with advice. He's a life coach of a specific area of self development. He has been doing this for a decade. Have had a chat for private one to one coaching and he's quoted £4000 for a 5 month period of one day a week hour long sessions. I believe this would really help me, but is this price insanely high? or in line with what's available out there for coaching?

You’ve done 5 weeks of sessions - has that helped? If so, can you continue to put what you learned into practice for a few months and see how things go? What more do you expect to get out of one-to-ones?

This, and what another poster has said about applying consistently what I've learnt so far, has been very helpful. Many thanks

Really helpful, many thanks

@Almaya no he's not trained or educated to that level at all.

Like I said in the post above, only qualification seems to be parenting coaching and training other coaches.

I’d want considerably more education than that for £200 a session. I have 13 years of university behind me, two professional qualifications and a Masters specialism and don’t charge half of that. It’s not difficult to get into training others if you’re a good communicator with a bit of knowledge and a good network.

For that kind of money I’d want some impressive qualifications to substantiate his purported experience.

My cousin works in this sort of area (not coaching but a similar set up), mainly does group sessions and international events. He’s often asked to do one to ones, which take up time and he doesn’t really enjoy, so he sets his prices high knowing that most people will be put off, and the few who do go ahead make it worth his while for the background work involved.

Maybe this is a similar situation?

£200 an hour for coaching is pretty standard if it's a trained professional in a speciifc area. I know leadership coaches charge this amount. However, it is what you are willing to pay for a change and whether this will help with what you need it to?

Life coaches I would be weary of as you can do minimal training online and peg yourself as one. Leadership/nutritional coaches have done extensive training with actual qualifications for example.

My qualifications are based on previous employment (20 years) related to working with children and families. Sorry not being specific because I don't want to identify myself.

Basically anyone can call themselves a coach so the important thing is to understand the qualifications and experience of the individual. I would not be a good coach without my experience, there are lots of coaches who's only experience is doing a course and having their own kids. I'm sure some are amazing but it makes me uncomfortable. The hooking people with free courses, particularly a long one like in this instance, doesn't feel right to me.

Ooh yes please. If you send me your bank account details, home address, passport number and mother's maiden name, I'll ping you the first payment.

I agree. That's a dodgy tactic and also expensive for the course giver, so he must be expecting a lot back.

No, I understand that you don’t want to get into specifics for the purposes of anonymity.
I suppose, in a nutshell, you’ve described what my concerns about the rise in all these coaches is.
There are obviously people who have longstanding careers in relevant fields, with professional qualifications (so psychology, social work, health visitor etc). But there are many many more out there who have paid to take a course, run by someone else who has taken a course, they’re good with social media and marketing and they take off as a coach…

It doesn't matter if it's reasonable if people will pay it.

People like you get sucked into thinking they have to pay £1000's to support their child. You don't.

You can get a very competent qualified professional for half that price (not saying you need it, but qualified specialists work for less).

You mentioned you think you/ your DC might be neurodivergent. Have you looked into this at all, spoken to the GP about it? Why not seek out other types of support - there's plenty out there, much of it free or low cost - rather than investing so much in this one person who is clearly milking anxious parents?

Ok, well I am a bit disappointed that his qualifications are so sparse. Let alone no professional experience with children and families. I was hoping that he was someone with a background in the field who had then come to coaching later on.

I’m a trained coach but I don’t practice, for many of the reasons highlighted above. £200 /hr might be reasonable charge for a corporate rate, so a group coaching session. If he is a member of Intentional Coaching Federation his name will be on their website. Very strict ethics with ICF.
i think you should have time to bed in what you have learned already so that you can properly identify ‘gaps’

Also important to note that a coach does not tell or advise, they probe and challenge and don’t need to say much. A mentor might be a better option for you OP.
as to the ND possibility, it’s worth checking charities in the first instance for courses and development! Good luck

*International

I would not be totally freaked out by this man's hourly rate if you could book just one or two sessions and he sent you a summary after each session with links to other resources etc. It's saying that he knows in advance that you will need five months' worth, and wanting you to commit, that bothers me. There's no justification for it, as there would be if he was running a training course and needed all the students to commit to paying for a whole year of classes in order for the course to be viable.
Anyway, you've decided not to go ahead, which seems sensible. All the best with the next stage of this journey.

is he American? That an insane price shocked they don’t offer a group option going forward and a con hooking you in with freebies. I do private parenting work and wouldn’t charge more than £50 an hour for private work.

Does he even have kids?
I know you don't have to. I am a teacher and I don't have kids but I feel this is a bit different. I couldn't advise what to do with a baby screaming at 3am because I don't have the experience but I would talk to other mums and dads

That’s really expensive for not sure what service!
im happy to share some accounts I follow (and have purchased much cheaper products from that have been helpful for parenting such as managing emotions, feeding child etc).

Indeed, he said this many sessions would be necessary for OP to ‘do the work’ she needs to do on herself.

yes, he has a big family and came to parenting coaching when he was struggling with his own challenges. He was coached and turned his life around. He then trained in it himself and is very passionate about what it can do for families.

The thing about being a parent is it teaches you to be an expert parent - to your own children. It doesn't teach you how to be an expert to everyone else's!

It’s top tier for any kind of coaching price wise.

It’s a pricing model that is not typically considered ethical by most ‘support’ type services (physio, counselling, psychology services, accredited coaches).

It has distinct characteristics of preying on the vulnerable. You may not see yourself as vulnerable but if you see your parenting as needing that much work then you quite possibly are.

For £200 a week, week in, week out you could certainly get things that make a bigger difference to your quality of life.

eg. 3 private GP appointments a week, every week.

Or 3 days a week of nursery.

Or 4 hours of cleaning, a PT session and a massage.

Yes - and as a psychologist, it wouldn’t be ethical for me to charge that much up front - you would pay hourly and finish if it wasn’t right for you. I’m very sceptical about the upfront payment and the intro group gateway to huge cost.
I also have to be registered with a body that regulates my profession and holds me to account. “coaches” don’t have this. Please do research on this - get quotes from professionals who have a mandatory body to regulate them and compare.

Thanks for this. I struggle with my teen dc a lot. I struggle to stay calm and deal with things without overreacting or getting overwhelmed. I want to be a better mother and deal with things calmly.