A life coach helps people define and achieve their goals. The goals can be career oriented or personal and people generally seek help in areas such as finance, relationships and health. The people that require the services of a life coach are very disparate, but they have one thing in common - the desire to get their life on track.

You will be your client's best friend, mentor, critic and adviser. You communicate regularly with them by phone and together you schedule daily, weekly and monthly tasks that they should fulfil. Tempting though it is, you shouldn't encourage your client to get your shopping, wash your feet or delouse your children. Tasks have to be productive, aimed at helping the client achieve balance and move their life plan forward.

The main job of a life coach is to be constructive yet practical. For example, if your client is thinking of changing jobs, then you will have to make sure that they research all the facts and realities that go with such a step. Could they be happy in their present job if circumstances changed? Have they put their future career to the test with volunteer work to see if they are suited to it? It may be that the client doesn't need a total career change but simply needs to alter something about the way they work, such as their responsibility levels or working environment. It will be your job to help them find out what the problem is and figure out a way to solve it.

Your life-coaching course will teach you how to develop a coaching relationship with your client. You should be friendly and personable but you don't want to end up with your client ringing you up at ten in the evening to ask if they should have the chicken or the fish. It is important to set boundaries when you first enter into a coaching contract.

You will learn practical coaching skills - the art of knowing when to push and when to pull back. Realistically, you won't take on a client for a protracted period of time - they will eventually have to make decisions on their own. One of the intentions of life coaching is to bring about a situation where the client can manage their life successfully, without your help.

It is easy to lump coaching in with other American fads such as Tai Bo and Baywatch Nights. However, it does have genuine benefits and the increasingly high tech, busy Irish people are ready to give it a go. Okay, you mightn't get many farmers from Kerry as clients - "Me cow's not milkin', missus" - but there are plenty of other people who are looking for their own personal Samaritan to help them get their life on track.

So if you want to help people but avoid working with children, then perhaps you should consider a course in life coaching.