Hi, I’m Michael H Cohen, I am founding attorney of Cohen Healthcare Law Group.  Today, I’m talking about coaching and legal issues around developing not just a coaching practice, but a multi-state coaching business. What do you need to know?

So, first of all, you need to know about this line between coaching and medicine or psychology. At first glance, it might seem obvious: don’t use any Latin medical sounding diagnosis. But it gets a little bit more subtle when it comes to psychology because the legal definition of psychology is pretty much anything that has to do with the mind or behavior. So, how do you steer around that?

So, again, watch out for words, even words like “anxiety.” We had a client that went into a state and help people with eating issues, and that sounds like “eating disorders.” So, you have to have every part of the language that you use on your website, all of your branding and promises reviewed by legal Counsel to make sure that you don’t cross the line into unlicensed practice.

Secondly, you’re going to want to have a very clear coaching agreement. And the reason is: you want to take this, again, out of medical services. You want to take it out of “Licensed Professional Services.” You want to say, “We’re just making this agreement that I’m going to help this person” and you are going to want to say that you’re focusing on very commonplace things, like coaching motivation, habits, goals, regularity of practice, that sort of thing. Because that sounds a lot more like a lifestyle.

When you get into health coaching, lines can become blurred, so, again, that’s why it’s important to have really good, clean language that’s been reviewed and you also want to have that contract that spells out what you’re offering, what the services are, what the training is, what the theory is of the practice.

In some states, like California, you want to be aware of laws like SB577 in California, which talk about what an unlicensed practitioner can and can’t do. And you want your agreement to very specifically fit those parameters.

Lots of people think that everything is going to be fine because coaching is so common. Well, that’s why you have a professional. It would be great if you could plumb your own toilet, right? Probably not. So, you can carry that metaphor ahead on your own mind.

No, we want to have everything clean, tight, language reviewed, and we’ve helped lots and lots of coaching clients just like you – that’s what we do every day.

If you enjoy today’s video and would like to dive deeper into any of the topics, contact us and we’ll arrange for your Legal Strategy Session. In the Legal Strategy Session, we’ll address your specific healthcare legal needs, review your business, and give you concrete recommendations to help you move forward. To get started, click below. We’d love to talk to you.