Dear Debbie,

I've been thinking of employing the services of a life coach to help me sort out some goals and get some direction in my life. My sister reckons that life coaching is a bit of a con and that I would be wasting money that could be better spent on something else. What can I expect from a lifecoach, and how much are the sessions likely to cost?

Thanks,
Gemma

UKTV Style's Agony Aunt replies:

Dear Gemma,

Life coaching has never been so popular and I suspect the reasons for that are obvious. Basically, people in the western world have so much choice, we don't know which way to turn. We believe that we can be or do anything we want - and in many ways that gets in the way of just being happy.

In less developed parts of the world, I suspect life coaching wouldn't have much appeal. People are too busy trying to stay alive. But here, it's become something of a status symbol - much like having a personal trainer. How much value it has is really up to the individual and how much cash they are prepared to throw at their personal development, but I do find myself slightly agreeing with your sister - that there are probably better ways of spending your money.

The average cost of a life coach is around £75 per hour. Most coaches would recommend a 90 minute session to start and then hourly meetings on a weekly or monthly basis after that until your 'goals' are identified or achieved. As with much 'naval gazing' therapy, I suspect it is rather difficult to put a ceiling on how many sessions you need - it's rather 'how long is a piece of string'?