Life coaching is on the rise, but amid promises of big money, experts say some are running 'certificate mills'

By Nathan Morris, ABC

It wasn't until after she got out that Sara Isbister realised she'd been caught in what she now likens to a "commercial cult".

In late 2017 she was vulnerable and emotionally strained.

The Australian was living in New Zealand with her husband and young family, working as a Pilates instructor.

She'd recently had her second child and was enduring a dark period of post-natal depression.

"I wasn't thinking that I would take my life, I just didn't want to be alive anymore," she said.

Striving to improve and better understand herself, Sara sought out guidance from those around her and started exploring the wellness industry.

"I was spending so much time on the internet finding recipes - a lot of these people who actually wrote these recipes were coaches or some kind of influencers," she said.

"They weave their own kind of ideology into it - over time you get exposed, and you almost get a little bit more radicalised in your own ideas."

Sara said she had always battled a feeling that she wasn't "good" enough.

"It becomes like a little bit of an obsession … almost like a goodness trap," she said.

"I was so stuck in this need to be good and trying to find … almost the cure, like I had this sense of being defective."

In her search for "good" health, Sara enrolled in a health coaching course and became a certified paleo-health coach.

She clicked with one of the teachers and found her advice about changing the way she thought about herself helpful.

Sara didn't know it at the time, but this woman was also trained in neuro-linguistic programming.

The language of the mind

Neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, is a collection of psychological and communication strategies that can be applied to help someone reach a desired outcome.

Dr Heidi Heron is the chair of the Neuro Linguistic Programming Association of Australia (NLPAA) and has a PhD in psychology.

She said NLP is about understanding the language of the mind.

"We've got programs for everything - how we fall asleep, how we fall in love, how we get up, how we get depressed," Heron said.

"When we can understand how some of the interference patterns get started, we can actually enhance them, we can change them, we can create new patterns of emotions, behaviours and thoughts."

Some of the classic NLP techniques include using visualisation to change thought processes and habits, mirroring body language to make connections with people, and using affirmations or incantations to speak aspirations into reality.

NLP has been around since the 1970s when its co-founders, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, first studied the work of therapists like Milton Erickson, Gregory Bateson, Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir.

While NLP is considered a pseudoscience, it is popular among business coaches, sales and marketing executives, high-performance professionals and athletes.

Heron said the reason that NLP is classified as a pseudoscience is because its application is unique for every client, and therefore hard to replicate.

To her, this is what makes NLP more useful to more people - if it became standardised, Heron believes it would only be available to those in psychology or counselling degrees.

She said the majority of people who learn NLP aren't planning to be coaches.

"They're either doing it for their own personal growth, [to] be a better communicator, to get out of their own way, or to know more about how to manage their mind."

But Heron said this has opened up a space for some NLP trainers running short course "certificate mills".

"Unfortunately, a lot of the NLP marketing has turned into what looks like multi-level marketing and get-rich-quick schemes," she said.

And it's this kind of course that Sara Isbister said she was funnelled into. The cognitive scars from the experience are still healing.

The recruitment drive

In late 2017, Sara attended a workshop in Christchurch run by a rising star in the NLP scene: a former school teacher and self-styled "life coach" called Luke Hawkins.

Luke runs what he claims is the "#1 Life Coaching School in Australia".

The ABC did reach out to him for this story, but he declined an interview - more on that later.

Sara has a degree in physical education and a lot of her rehab work was sensory-based, so Luke's ideas made sense.

"I really resonated with a lot of things that he said. The way that he was talking about how we perceive through our senses," Sara said.

"He was talking about visual learning and how we process information, and how we learn. It sounded like to me that that information would be quite useful in my teaching setting."

That first workshop with Luke Hawkins was a turning point.

In the room was this group of people wanting something more. Together they shared their personal stories and vulnerabilities.

It was a powerful experience.

"When you get that dopamine hit, you kind of feel like, 'oh, this is it'," Sara recalls.

This was a low-cost event - essentially a recruitment drive to sign people up for the paid Luke Hawkins NLP course.

In the back of Sara's mind, she knew this too. She went into that day telling herself that she couldn't afford to pay for one of Luke's courses, which cost thousands of dollars.

But it was a convincing sell.

"I got the impression that this is what I needed, or, was told [words] to the effect that I needed this because of whatever limiting beliefs I had," she said.

"I just remember crying, like I was having a full kind of meltdown.

"I remember him … standing right next to me … having people help me sign the contract to do his training."

According to Dr Alexana Stein, this is the exact type of environment that can create a "psychological trap" for someone who's feeling vulnerable.

Stein is a world-leading expert on cults and cult-like groups. She said in these settings, the "charismatic leaders" often tap into the energy generated by a room full of people.

As humans, Stein explains we've evolved to seek close relationships with others, but modern life has become more isolating, which can make people vulnerable.

"So if a group comes along and said, 'we're going to be good to you, we're going to give you love and care and money', you might naturally want to get involved with it," she said.

As Sara discovered, once that connection is established, it can be very difficult to unravel.

Coaching coaches, to coach coaches

After signing up for Luke Hawkins's paid NLP program, Sara began committing tens of thousands of dollars to his courses.

She didn't have the money, but Luke and his team helped her sign up to a payment plan.

"I didn't know how I was going to pay for it at the time, but they [told me], 'don't worry about that'," she said.

Sara started attending expensive multi-day training events, which involved leaving her family and flying to Sydney.

Sara felt like she was taking action and giving herself new tools to be a better health practitioner.

By March 2020, she messaged Luke showing interest in paying to join his "Inner Circle" program.

Sara said she cringes now looking back at the messages where she told Luke she was "blown away with so much love, appreciation and respect" for him and his business.

With several others, Sara joined Luke's top-tier service. It cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, and participants were promised ultimate access to one-on-one "business" support from Luke.

Being a diligent student, Sara was already trying to implement her new NLP certification and skills as part of her Pilates business. But from the start, something felt a bit off.

"The big red flag … was when I finally had a one-on-one business planning session with Luke, Luke told me I was going to be a business coach," she said.

This wasn't her plan.

"I said I didn't want to be a business coach, nor had experience or background to do so, and he told me that was my limiting belief," Sara said.

Stein said within cult-like groups, expressions of doubt or criticism are often thrown back at the people asking questions.

Rather than answering the question or addressing the doubt, those in power "turn it around" on the person who's asking and make it seem like the problem lies with them, not the group.

She said cult-like environments always discourage independent, critical thinking.

"Because once you do that, that is starting to engage that frontal cortex," Stein said.

"You're thinking, is this good for me, is this a sensible thing for me to be doing?

"They don't want you doing that. They want you to come to the next meeting, get that collective effervescence, consider yourself not good enough, and [believe] you need transforming."

The magic fades

Armed with her new NLP skills, Sara had remade her Pilates practice and was getting ready to launch her renewed business.

Sara was beginning to have doubts about the business coaching, but she justified to herself at the time that she just needed to persist.

The message from her coach was to treat her investment in coaching like any other business investment.

"Pretty much every successful business that exists today, the owner had to take on some form of risk or borrow some amount of money to make it work," Luke Hawkins writes in his "Business Blueprint" NLP manual.

He likens the process to the founding of McDonalds and retells anecdotes about how Jeff Bezos started Amazon and Sam Walton "borrowed $20k to start WalMart and how that decision made him the richest man in America".

"You have to be willing to invest and sometimes that requires borrowing. So who could you borrow it from?" Luke writes.

Less than two weeks after signing up, Sara felt she wasn't getting what she had been paying for. She started reaching out to friends for advice on the best way to approach it with Luke and decided to message him to discuss the issue.

"Hey Luke, I don't feel I'm receiving the level and type of support I have invested in," she wrote.

She wanted to go into the conversation with a gracious, non-confrontational tone, adding "I appreciate how hard you are working".

In her message, Sara told Luke most of the "support" she was relying on for her new "business" was content she already had access to.

"What I paid for was to be coached by you," she wrote.

A few hours later, Luke replied asking if she had a couple of minutes to chat.

She messaged him back and told him she was thinking about cancelling her Inner Circle membership.

Luke set up a meeting.

Two days later, they spoke on Zoom. Luke did his best to convince Sara not to leave.

But her resolve only hardened. Luke stopped replying to her messages, and refused to refund the more than A$12,000 (NZ$13,290) she said she already paid for the Inner Circle membership.

In an email sent by Luke's management team, Sara was told she was not entitled to a refund: "Our legal team have informed me that you are not entitled to a ceasing of your payments or a refund for changing your mind about the Inner Circle program. You have been a valued member of the Inner Circle and we are committed to continuing to provide our services to you."

By this stage, Sara had paid off her previous payment plan and had paid the $12,000 plus for the Inner Circle program in cash.

She never got her money back.

Life coach still offering 'neuro transformational therapy'

The ABC approached Luke Hawkins for an interview, but he declined. In a statement, he said "participant wellbeing is of [the] utmost importance" to his business.

"If anyone feels they were pressured, I encourage them to reach out so we can understand their experience and address any concerns," the statement said.

Luke confirmed that he was not a qualified psychologist, relationship counsellor or mental healthcare professional. He explained that to ensure the well-being of his clients, he employs "trained professionals".

"I am committed to maintaining professional integrity, ensuring that my services are delivered ethically and effectively," his statement said.

"We follow strict ethical guidelines to ensure respectful and positive interactions at all times."

As Australia's largest independent NLP body, the NLPAA pledges to "uphold rigorous standards and ensure integrity within NLP" and offers training for practitioners, requiring its paid members to adhere to a code of ethics.

Luke Hawkins Coaching is not accredited with the NLPAA.

The organisation said this is because the company does not meet its minimum requirements for NLP certification training.

According to Luke Hawkins's website, the last NLP course was offered in 2019.

He is now offering courses styled as "neuro transformational therapy", which promises to provide "the greatest tools on earth" to "unlock the neurological pathways in your brain to create change in your life and the world around you".

NLPAA chair Heron said in her view, this appears to be a loosely repackaged version of NLP.

"After appealing to the NLP Association of Australia to recognise courses that did not meet the requirements, he [Luke Hawkins] then renamed what he does to NTT," she said.

"I see shiny marketing without a lot of substance."

Luke Hawkins said NTT is a "unique methodology" that he developed, that draws on "principles from various coaching techniques, including NLP, but expanding beyond it".

He likens practising NLP to yoga, business coaching and personal training.

"While some NLP practitioners choose to register with associations like the NLP Association of Australia, it is entirely voluntary and not a requirement to practice," Luke told the ABC in a statement.

"The effectiveness of a methodology should ultimately be measured by the results it delivers, not solely by membership in an optional association."

While Luke Hawkins's company does not list prices for courses on its website, it does offer potential clients a "guarantee" to earn up to $10,000 a month as a certified life coach.

He told the ABC in a statement that the earning potential was based on "the successes of past clients", and noted his company offered "flexible payment plans to make our programs accessible to those who are committed but may need financial assistance".

Life after life coaching

Luke Hawkins is far from the only life coach running large group NLP training, marketing themselves heavily on social media and making earnings claims.

The true value and size of the industry is hard to determine because it is largely unregulated.

But the International Coaching Federation reports that globally, the industry generated $US4.56 billion in 2022.

The ABC contacted dozens of other participants who attended Luke Hawkins's training, most of whom did not respond.

Others say Luke changed their lives for the better.

His Facebook page has over 375 reviews with a 98 percent approval rating, and of the 236 reviews on Google, he has a 4.9 out of 5-star rating.

Mazona Shahar is among Luke's former clients who say they benefited from his training.

She's a clairvoyant medium specialising in trauma, who also entered the Inner Circle program.

Mazona and Sara are friends, but her experience with Luke was different.

She said the skills she learnt from his training have boosted both her personal and business growth, and the tens of thousands she spent on the coaching was "100 percent" worth it.

But Mazona knows it may not be the same for others, and can see how some people might be lured by the marketing, and prospect of making money.

"So you're going to go to an event, you've got thousands of people, they're all getting revved up. You're going to want to be the person on the stage," she said.

"We want to be something that we're not, to escape from something … or move to something that we could be, but also without doing the work in the middle."

While her experience has been positive, Mazona has also supported people who have felt aggrieved by the coaching industry. She said she helps them de-tangle the marketing of some coaches.

"I always say: 'Well, if your business coach has had a business and has done really well at that business, then they can coach you on how to do a business.'

"But if that business coach is just a business coach, and their only business is persuading you that they're a business coach, really, you're just buying their marketing story."

Five years later, Sara is now studying health and safety in an effort to use her experience to help and inform others.

"There's no safeguards for people out there being exposed to this stuff," she said.

"I didn't want to be an advocate… but the only way that I could deal with it or grapple with was… I have to stand up."

Stein said the messaging from these groups is often focused around personal transformation, in pursuit of the "best" version of you.

But she's firm in her criticism on this front.

"You know, we are good enough," she said.

"We might need a little tweaking around the edges, but we don't want to completely transform ourselves."

- ABC

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