Are Coaches Crossing the Line? Exploring the grey area between coaching and therapy

An Exploration of Roles, Borders & Boundaries (Carley Sime & Yannick Jacob at the 3rd AICTP Conference for Integrative Coach-Therapy Practice 2019)

Over the years I’ve heard hundreds of people ask: “Are coaches crossing the line?”

Students and experienced coaches alike are trying to figure out how far they can take this coaching thing, and many clients are keen on delving deeper and deeper into their personal growth and development, often beyond traditional boundaries of coaching. Perhaps before we ask whether coaches are crossing a line, we first need to ask what the line is; how do coaches identify it, work with it and navigate it in their day to day practice?

in 2016 I had the privilege to supervise Carley Sime’s research and in this video we share our findings with you alongside a few other important questions. Essentially we were curious how Master Certified Coaches acccredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF MCCs) perceive and define the boundaries and borders of their work and discuss the ethical implications this may have on training and practice as well as what it means for the future of integration.

This was presented at the 3rd annual AICTP Conference for Integrative Coach-Therapy Practice, London, UK, 9th February 2019. In this talk we present our research, which was published in the International Coaching Psychology Review 13(2), 2018.

AICTP Conference for Integrative Coach-Therapy Practice, Yannick Jacob, Carley Sime

This grounded theory research explored International Coaching Federation (ICF) Master Certified Coaches’ perception of their role as a coach, when and how they switched roles and how they experienced and understood borders and boundaries to coaching practice.

If you’re interested in integration or perhaps are already practicing it, we urge to seek regular supervision (if you’re not already engaging in the process). I offer 1:1 and group supervision and would be happy to discuss how we can make this work for you during a free consultation.


And if you can’t get enough of the topic, feel free to dig into some of the other talks I gave on the subject: