Unauthorized practice of psychology

[voyeurofthemind]

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I searched in my home town out of curiosity and see several life coaches with no formal training or license in social work or psychology claiming to treat anxiety, phobia, smoking etc.

They offer "coaching services" and / or hypnotherapy. Is there any recourse that, we, as professional have to protect our field. It doesn't seem quite right that I earn a bachelor's, master's, doctorate and undergo countless supervised training hours only to have someone hang a shingle who has never gone through the same hoops.

What can be done about this? Don't we as a field need to police this more?

 

[Psychadelic2012]

It depends on the state. It's not necessarily out of their scope. There are many certificates that can be earned that allow someone to use coaching or hypnosis skills, as long as they are clear to their clients that they are not licensed and not doing psychotherapy, get referrals/permission from a licensed person to work with an obvious diagnosis or pathology (medical or psychiatric), and are clear that their services are working with healthy people with specific problems of a non-psychiatric nature if they work alone (such as habits, etc.).

I have a similar certification, worked from it for several years, and I honestly don't think people like this are in competition with psychologists or therapists. They accept cash only and work a very different market.

 

[PHD12]

I searched in my home town out of curiosity and see several life coaches with no formal training or license in social work or psychology claiming to treat anxiety, phobia, smoking etc.

They offer "coaching services" and / or hypnotherapy. Is there any recourse that, we, as professional have to protect our field. It doesn't seem quite right that I earn a bachelor's, master's, doctorate and undergo countless supervised training hours only to have someone hang a shingle who has never gone through the same hoops.

What can be done about this? Doesn't we as a field need to police this more?

What is worse to me is that in hospital settings, RN's, NP's, and BA level addiction counselors are all doing therapy without much formal training.