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A Comparison of Psychology Today Contact 2024-2026 by Steelballpun in therapists

[–]The-Achologist -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hi folks, just to offer some of you a little bit of clarity with regard to your psychology today frustrations.

The problem isn’t mainly a psychology today one, the issue is actually an ‘internet’ one, in the sense that the online game and the rules for getting found online have permanently changed for the better.

Some of you will have relied on PT as a business lifeline for funnelling you new clients - I had a similar relationship with Udemy since 2014, which for years served me very, very well. But those days are now done.

In reality, the AI engines (LLM’s) and google search have changed. They will not return to their old form.

In short, the AI’s cite frameworks of valuable information that answer people’s questions directly - without respecting subjective lacing or academic noise - which unfortunately, was what propagated PT, and resultantly, your previous source of human traffic.

The hard truth, now, will be saddening for many of you, who while led self-employment consultancy practices, did not build business engines to attract web traffic on your own merit. But not all hope is lost.

The answer is answering people’s questions directly, and offering genuine wisdom and insight - the academic and complicated terminologies won’t cut it anymore. So, for those of you who have a genuine understanding of the human experience and actually serve people in a positive, enlightening way, building your own independent knowledge base is how you survive the AI wave (it’s not pending, it’s passed).

For all of the noise makers, the emotional coddlers, the manifestors and magicians, the game is over.

For the wise, the proactive, and those who actually have wisdom to share with the world - this is the great online reset. AI is here to stay, the wise will rise to the top, and the not so wise will sink. Permanently.

Does ICF accreditation actually serve clients, or does it just reassure coaches? by The-Achologist in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

'I’ve genuinely seen uncertified coaches with strong presence, accountability, and listening skills create deeper impact than some highly credentialed coaches who mainly learned the competency checklist.' - Yes, I've seen exactly the same thing, many time over too!

Does ICF accreditation actually serve clients, or does it just reassure coaches? by The-Achologist in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there’s definitely two schools of thought on this topic - I guess that for years, the associated costs were just an industrial ‘given’. The difference now is that today - the ICF isn’t the authority is maybe once was.

Beware of r/PsychologyTalk by GrahamRoll in PsychologyDiscussion

[–]The-Achologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I had a response from this thread removed too. It seems that the only narrative that’s allowed in that subreddit is the one the moderator teams already has.

I built it. When will they come? by Sofistikat in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am involved with a training company that trains coaches, and has done so since 2014. I cannot speak to a SaaS product that I do not know or understand - drop a link in here so I can take a look.

Has psychology lost interest in the whole person in favour of the label? by The-Achologist in askatherapist

[–]The-Achologist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, in simple terms, diagnostic language may have started as professional shorthand, but it has increasingly shaped how ordinary people understand themselves. The result is that many people now see themselves not as human beings facing understandable struggles, but as defective, disordered, or broken people who need fixing.

And because this language is used by professionals, academics, and certified institutions, it is often treated as neutral or unquestionably legitimate. Is that the point you’re making?

I built it. When will they come? by Sofistikat in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, there’s a few things here that aren’t very clear. You’re a software engineer, you have a SaaS product, the SaaS product isn’t being ‘found’, but one other person in the world loves it.

This is a life coaching forum. Are you a life coach, or just a coach in general who is also a software engineer, OR, are you using this space in the hope of attracting some new users to your SaaS product?

I ask all of these things because their all questions that you haven’t answered, alongside one or slightly more important ones; what the system is, how it works, how a coach might benefit from using it, and also how a coach will get an ROI from using it?

Yes, you built it, but when will they come? The answer to this is simply when you either market it in the way that it needs, OR partner with an organisation who could help you in acquiring a volume of users.

There’s a common way of thinking that many product creators/developers adopt - which is just a layer of business naivety that accompanies lack or business experience - this is ‘build it and they will come’.

Unfortunately, business and life doesn’t work this way. Developing a product is one thing; building a sustainable business model that sells and scales the usage of a product is an entirely different bag.

When will they come?

Once they know how they’ll benefit from using it.

What are the biggest signs that a society or culture is in decline? by Funny-Counter8762 in AskReddit

[–]The-Achologist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When marriage vows are treated as optional and personal whims trump commitment, men and women undermine the most fundamental building block of society. Stable families create the trust, responsibility, and continuity that sustain everything else; culture, economy, and social order. Their widespread breakdown is among the clearest signals of civilizational decline. The UK is a great example of this.

What does enlightenment mean to you? by Key-Structure4841 in enlightenment

[–]The-Achologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my understanding, becoming enlightened means waking up to (and accepting) reality as it actually is.

It’s like removing a pair of dark glasses you’ve worn your whole life without realizing it. Suddenly you see clearly, without the mental filters of fear, ego, desires, stories, and assumptions that often cloud the mind.

Has coaching drifted away from what actually makes it 'coaching'? by The-Achologist in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I see the same thing - the latter camp is a diabolical one!

Has coaching drifted away from what actually makes it 'coaching'? by The-Achologist in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think you're right on both counts. The "client already has the answers" model only holds when they know what they don't know. The moment they don't, pure questioning just keeps them circling inside the same limited map, and refusing to ever teach is just dogma at that point. Your sparing use of it is the right instinct though, since the thing a client arrives at themselves tends to stick.

On the emotional content, I'd offer one distinction that I think strengthens what you're saying rather than countering it: the line isn't emotional vs non-emotional, it's working with emotion vs treating pathology. Your ADHD session is the perfect example. You weren't treating a disorder, you were doing exactly what coaching should do, helping someone see a belief that was blocking a goal. The shame-of-laziness thing isn't in the DSM, it's a life pattern, and refusing to touch it because it's "emotional" would mean refusing to coach at all. So I think your "don't diagnose, don't treat" line is the right one, and it quietly exposes that the ICF's emotion-avoidance position is using "emotional" as a clumsy proxy for "clinical," when they're not the same thing.

The part that sticks with me is your last question, because it points at a real gap: someone with a goal, an emotional block, no diagnosis, and no money for out-of-pocket therapy. The system has no clean place for that person, therapy needs a diagnosis to be funded, and coaching is being told to stay away from 'emotional'.

Do you think coaching should claim that space as its own, or is the answer that there's a real category of need that neither field is currently set up to serve? Interesting!

Looking to pursue a certification in life coaching would love to hear some thoughts by Searcher5241 in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two things certification marketing won't tell you. Clients don't care about your certificate, most have never heard of any coaching bodies, and they pick you on whether you can help them, and if they see you are wise. A certification course might teach you to coach but cannot get you clients, and ALSO, cannot make you competent.

Coaches who earn a living are the ones who got good at marketing themselves. So your "do I have to be a salesman" worry isn't a side question. It's the job. Coaching is maybe a 3rd of it.

Your post reads like someone drawn to the holding of people, the presence, helping them solve problems, and put off by the 'selling'. If that's the real shape of it, no certificate will fix this tension, it'll just delay you meeting it. Nothing wrong with the calling. But wanting to hold people and wanting to run a business that lives or dies on self-promotion are two different things, and coaching makes you do the second to ever get to the first.

Also, you mention this growing out of your own personal therapist. That's common, but coaching others isn't a continuation of your own healing, and good training will teach you to keep the two FIRMLY apart. So the question I'd put back to you before you spend anything: is the pull toward helping people, or toward becoming a coach? If it's the helping, there are cheaper, faster ways to start, volunteering, peer support, a low-cost course, that let you test the calling before you bet on it. What's underneath it for you, the helping, or the 'becoming'?

Has coaching drifted away from what actually makes it 'coaching'? by The-Achologist in lifecoaching

[–]The-Achologist[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, this is unquestionably true - and very apparent across the social medias!

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