Undercover investigation: Life coaches caught on camera (Marketplace)

This is your Market. Meet Jenny, Andrew and Eric. Jenny is single, anxious and depressed. Eric is battling addiction. Andrew is struggling with his sexuality. That's why they turn to a

life

coach for help. She turns on the microphone. Yeah, how do I sound now? The truth is that they are Marketplace producers. -Hello. -How are you? Fine, thanks. And their stories are made up. How do you feel coming to this today? I'm a little nervous. So what is a

life

coach? That's why a life coach helps you dream big and expand your horizons to create a compelling vision for your life.

There are thousands out there, and one of the most recognizable... Hi, I'm Tony Robbins. Coaching is one of the most valuable tools in the world. It's big business and many

coaches

seem to be making a lot of money. My program is high-end for 7,000. But unlike psychologists and psychiatrists, life

coaches

are not regulated. And most are not qualified to treat mental illnesses. But will they cross that line? That's what we're about to prove. Hidden

camera

s recording. First... Let's bring in life coach Giovanni Maccarone. And today I want to talk to you about depression. Antidepressant medications will not help.

What I do is that if people feel depressed or scared with low self-esteem in 3 to 6 sessions, they can be happy, strong and have high self-esteem. Eric meets with Giovanni at his Toronto office. Behind closed doors, Giovanni does not follow COVID protocols. But then our hidden

camera

s stop working. We continue, only audio. Listening along with us, Lorraine Bennington. She has been a life coach since the 1980s. I want you to take a look at this. Sure. Absolutely dismissive, minimizing. This is something serious. And just saying "I'm going to make you feel good" is, well, dismissive of how deeply this person is going through what they're going through.

Lorena would know. She is also a licensed psychologist and accountable to a governing body. A life coach alone is not a therapist. If someone comes to me and they're depressed or they have anxiety, I'll be able to help them with that because it's part of my training. Do you think part of the problem is that anyone can become a life coach? Yes and yes! They have no skills or understanding about mental illness, they may not even recognize that they shouldn't be there. So how many go there? No regulation means no one keeping score. That's why we're doing this

undercover

inspection.

Next up, life coach Rhonda Gagnon. Her office... the one in Timmy's neighborhood. She charges $150 an hour for this. Eric shares the fake story about him. So far so good, she clearly points out his limitations as a life coach. But then, she flips the script. Now we want to know what training she has to deal with these serious problems. Can't she remember it? We found Rhonda's certification on her site, from "The Life Coach Training Institute." And all it takes to get a certificate from the school is this online exam for about $250. So I'm going to try it while shopping.

Oh, this is nice, okay. I skip the course material, don't study or prep work, and go straight to the multiple choice exam. 65 questions in total. Which one deals with helping people improve? Coaching, consulting, advice, mentoring? And I did it well. Here you have a nice color! I'm on my last question, here we go. I made a mistake. I failed. The good news is that I can take the exam as many times as I want! I pass on my second attempt. It took about an hour. It's dangerous, because people present themselves as experts when they're not. There are some really good training institutes and then there are programs like the one you mentioned, which is not a program at all.

When we tell the Life Coach Training Institute about our trial... We have safeguards in place. They failed when your boys passed. Founder Paul Dabdoub steps forward with this answer. Life coaching is not for people suffering from trauma or mental or emotional disorders, and life coaches are not trained to deal with these conditions. In an email, Rhonda says she can help people because of her life experience and other training. And in a later session with Eric, she offers him some good advice. Back to Giovanni... So I don't help people with anxiety and depression, I help them feel good.

We want to know how much it will cost to "feel good." Most people invest between $5,000 and $10,000 to get results. When should you know? The end of this conversation? Give me some time to think about it. She makes me wonder: Is Eric ready for this? Hmm. But I see some doubts, so now I'm wondering, again, maybe we're not a good fit. The paradox is that I'm not putting pressure on you, so let me put pressure on you. It gives the industry a bad reputation. The sad thing is that there are coaches who are really good at what they do.

When Althea Branton thought about becoming a life coach, she admits that the promise of making big money in the industry was persuasive. And I thought well, yeah, right? Why not? It sounds amazing. But the more I get into this, the more I realize that I really want to help people. You're not a life coach anymore, are you? I am no longer a life coach. Why not? I do believe in coaching. I think it can work. But now it is only marketed as a way to get rich quick. Do I just want to sell, sell, sell? Or do I really want to help someone?

So she kept saying we should continue our sessions and selling me for another session. Amanda got the hard sell and more from her former life coach. She says she had to see a therapist after her traumatic experience. She was in great distress. We are hiding her identity because she fears for her safety. Has she ever threatened you? She said, "You're not allowed to talk bad about me. "And if you ever leave a bad review or anything, I'll come after you." That was a threat. That was absolutely, 100% a threat, yeah. She notices other signs alert, like inappropriate comments.

He would just say how I looked. "You're very sexy," and then he would feel comfortable saying that and I would respond and keep hitting me with questions about where I was. this guy is dangerous and could hurt me Amanda stops seeing her personal advisor, loses almost $3,000 and has nowhere to file a complaint More safeguards in this industry Absolutely yes Well, thanks. Jenny meets our third life coach, Karen Strang Allen, but her training comes at a high cost. -Sales pitch -What do you mean? It works on a limited time basis. is leaving. On her site, Karen says she specializes in empowering single women.

Jenny has her cover story ready. Am I going to be alone forever? And then I sort of spiral and it gets a little dark and I can't get out of bed. I would like you to know not to be in that place and not have to depend on these antidepressants. Remember that most trainers are not qualified to treat mental illnesses. For someone like me, would you recommend going through yourself instead of therapy? Oh my. Oh my. Well. I have a problem with this. What is the problem? You can't make this recommendation that this isn't going to work and there's that salesperson feeling of, "I want you to come see me and not a therapist." Which is a very strange, inaccurate and potentially dangerous statement.

Our covert test is heating up. I don't want to be gay. Our most impressive session. You can't afford to miss your Market. This is your Market. We're

undercover

, testing life coaches. Many trainers can do what looks like therapy even if they say it is not therapy. Our producer Andrew is about to meet American life coach Rich Wyler. Can I open my eyes now? He has clients all over the world, including Canada. But Rich's program is almost entirely dedicated to a discredited and harmful practice. Conversion therapy. Andrew is openly gay. But for this task he pretends to have problems with his sexual identity.

I don't want... to be gay. I don't want to be attracted to men. I just can't believe he hasn't learned from the people he's hurt. Matt Ashcroft warns that this type of personal coaching is life-changing. Ummm... It broke me. I have a lot of PTSD. I wasn't really educated in anything queer related, so I didn't know what I was getting into. How would you describe your experiences with Rich? I remember Rich would be sarcastic and rude. He really bothered me the way he talked about my medication with the other participants. He treated me like trash. And he remembers an incident that torments him.

At Rich's conversion camp in the United States, where he claims a man is asked to reenact his sexual assault. I remember hearing this guy yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs: "Stop! "Stop! Arrest! Arrest! Stop!" I... I still hear her screams every time I go to sleep. It's okay. Take your time. Usually when people deny themselves, they... It comes with a lot of mental illnesses. I tried to overdose on drugs... I just didn't feel like anyone cared about me. Sorry. Do you want to take a break, Matt? It's not an illness. I need to figure it out.

Lorraine Bennington is a licensed life coach and psychologist. It's so disrespectful to the person to tell us that it's an unregulated problem. Try how you respond to signs of mental distress. You know, I've considered hurting myself. So if the potential client says, "I'm thinking about it. "self-harm," all alarm bells should be ringing. And the first time it's mentioned, the next sentence would be, "Tell me about that." What should a coach do when they realize their client needs a mental health professional? See to a psychologist or registered clinical counselor. Instead of trying to get by when they don't have that training.

Andrew brings up self-harm again. I'm wondering if you can help me with my depression, with these thoughts of self-harm. There is no reference yet. I mean, I'm in a bad place. I think sometimes it would be easier to just... take my own life. Finally, after the fourth mention, Rich does what he's supposed to do. Conversion therapy is now illegal in Canada. It happens weeks after our last session with Rich. Matt was instrumental in pushing for a ban. Why are you speaking out against Rich Wyler? Because I'm still living with pain and suffering to this very day, but I also want to try to stop people... ...like Rich... ...from doing this to anyone ever again.

It's time for an intervention. As a life coach, you shouldn't be offering mental health advice. Do you have a story you want us to investigate? Write to us. [email protected]. This is your Market. Our hidden cameras catch life coaches offering potentially harmful advice and big upsells. It's time to approach them. Starting with Giovanni Maccarrone. He will not speak on camera. He tells us in a statement that he deeply regrets what he said and apologizes for any harm he may have caused. We continue with a call. I'm Asha Tomlinson from CBC Marketplace. Now I know in your statement you apologized for everything you said, but what are you specifically apologizing for?

So you don't have an opinion on the fact that, as a life coach, you shouldn't be offering mental health advice? We also called Rich Wyler. We have been contacting you for weeks to get an on-camera interview. Call us, Rico. We would love to hear from you. There is no call back. But we do know that he previously denied what Matt says happened at his camp. I'm still recovering. I still have nightmares about it. Rich says in an email that our hidden camera

investigation

is a "joke." And Karen Strang Allen... Our undercover producer, Jenny, confronts her during a shoot.

I just felt like it was a lot of pressure to make a decision on the spot with a really significant amount of money. So I certainly didn't mean to push, Jennifer. It is intended as an incentive. Karen offers a refund. But when we reveal who we are and ask her opinion on therapy...Karen tells us through her lawyer. She screens for mental illness “to the best of her ability” and refers clients to a mental health professional when necessary. She admits that she could have "better formalized" her advice about whether our producer should seek therapy. And now her website has this disclaimer.

They cannot provide treatment for mental illness or provide medication advice. Meanwhile, Lorraine has some advice when looking for a life coach. Look for years of experience. Seek training, seek experience. It would be helpful if they also had some psychological awareness, because all of this has an impact on success and motivation. ♪ ♪