New law aims to crack down on unlicensed life coaches practicing mental health therapy

SALT LAKE CITY — A new law allows the state to crack down on unlicensed coaches offering services only a therapist can.

SB48 expands the scope of practice for mental health therapists and gives the state resources to investigate life coaches who may be acting unlawfully.

As the life coaching industry in Utah grows, so does concern over bad actors in the business.

Last year, a life coaching regulation bill was proposed. It came after Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were charged and convicted of child abuse. The women gave parenting and relationship advice online through ConneXions Classroom. Hildebrandt's therapist license was revoked in May 2024.

The state decided to do more homework on the occupation and what regulations could look like, called a sunrise review, before proceeding with legislation.

The Department of Commerce's Office of Professional Licensure Review spent about three months surveying licensed mental health therapists in Utah. It spoke with stakeholders, did an extensive online search of life coaches in Utah, and reached out to national groups and experts on life coaching.

"The biggest finding is that life coaching is just all over the place," director Jeff Shumway said. "It's highly variable. There's some really great life coaches, some with very little qualification. There are a lot of really good ethical life coaches and some who are less competent, less ethical bad actors."

He said about 4,000 of Utah's approximately 16,000 licensed therapists responded to the survey.

"The types of harms they pointed to were a life coach who was unlicensed, diagnosing someone with a mental health diagnosis," Shumway said. "They cited a lot of dual relationships, and that's code for someone who's having a client relationship with someone and also a romantic or a sexual relationship."

Shumway said there were also reports of life coaches giving clients instruction on prescription medications and offering services for specific diagnoses, which they are not qualified to do.

"There are often folks that used to be licensed who had their license revoked, who are now doing something like life coaching," Shumway said.

He said there was also evidence of effective and ethical coaching, something practicing licensed marriage and family therapist Sarah Stroup has seen as well.

"There are absolutely great life coaches out there who are able to stay in their lane," she said. "They're ethical. They know when to refer out. "

She said this bill isn't designed to get rid of life coaches; rather, it's meant to ensure both therapists and life coaches are acting ethically.

"We are passionate about preventing bad actors from doing life coaching when it's also really mental health treatment," Stroup said.

She said she sees the negative impacts in her own practice.

"Unfortunately, we have also had many, many clients, some who worked with Jodi Hildebrandt, who were seriously harmed by the lack of training that these people have who are providing mental health services," Stroup said.

Instead of regulating life coaching, the Office of Professional Licensure Review recommended providing more resources for investigations of coaches who are potentially in the wrong. The new state law, effective May 7, 2025, will allow them to do so.

"DOPL (Utah Division of Professional Licensing) is not resourced to go after everything it sees," Shumway said. "It is complaint driven. What this bill would allow them to do is proactively go after those who are, again, advertising or holding themselves out for providing services that are clearly in a protected scope of practice."

Life coaches can continue to exist unlicensed. Shumway said coaches can be helpful when they're well-qualified and responsible. He and Stroup emphasize how important it is for consumers to check qualifications.

"The answer is really to be an informed consumer, to ask the hard questions about someone's background," Shumway said.

On the Division of Professional Licensing website, users can search coaches and therapists by name to see if there are any citations on their record. They recommend people read life coaches' reviews, check references, and report anything they suspect or know is unethical.

Stroup recommends consumers check a life coach's website or platforms for evidence of education and legitimate training.

"I would look at the website, and first, do they have training and certifications," Stroup said. "I have seen some life coach websites that say their only certification in training is life."

Related topics