Install Findmino as an app for the best experience!
(Personal Development Coach, Life Mentor, Personal Development Counsellor, Wellbeing Coach)
Health & Social Care
Salary
€28,000 - €75,000/yr
Level
Professional
Outlook
Growing
Sector
Health & Social Care
As a Life Coach you work with individual clients to help them clarify their personal and professional goals, overcome obstacles, and build actionable plans for positive change. Your day-to-day work involves one-to-one coaching sessions — conducted in person, by phone, or via video call — during which you listen, question, and guide clients through challenges such as career transitions, confidence building, and work-life balance. You may maintain progress notes, set structured homework tasks between sessions, and regularly review milestones with each client. Life coaches in Ireland often work on a self-employed basis, though some are employed within corporate wellness programmes, HR departments, or wellness centres. You may specialise in areas such as executive coaching, relationship coaching, or health and wellbeing.
Listen: a day as a Life Coach
You start at 8:30 a.m. at your home office in Limerick, where you work on a self-employed basis. Before your first client call, you spend twenty minutes reviewing your session notes from the previous week, stored in a simple CRM spreadsheet, and drafting the reflection questions you plan to use today. You also check two pending invoice payments through your accounting software — chasing late payments is an unglamorous but necessary part of running your own practice. At 9:00 a.m. your first client joins a video call. She is a woman in her late thirties navigating a career change from retail management into HR. You use a structured goal-setting framework, working through what has blocked her progress since your last session and agreeing two concrete actions she will take before you meet again in a fortnight. The hour passes quickly, and you spend ten minutes writing brief progress notes immediately afterwards while the detail is fresh.
There is no single mandatory qualification to become a life coach in Ireland, as the sector is largely unregulated; however, holding a recognised qualification significantly improves your credibility with clients. A QQI Level 6 Certificate in Coaching or a related field such as Psychology, Counselling, or Business is a common starting point, available through Colleges of Further Education on PLC routes. Many practitioners complete dedicated coach training programmes accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), or the Association for Coaching, which can sit at NFQ Level 6 to Level 8 equivalent. A Level 7 or Level 8 degree in Psychology, Social Science, or Business from a technological university or university can strengthen your foundation, particularly if you plan to work in corporate or executive coaching. While no statutory registration body currently regulates life coaches in Ireland, voluntary accreditation through ICF Ireland or the EMCC is widely regarded as the professional standard. Continuing professional development, supervision, and mentoring are expected of practising coaches throughout their careers.
Many people enter life coaching after careers in other fields — such as HR, teaching, nursing, or management — bringing lived professional experience that strengthens their practice. You would typically begin by completing an accredited coaching programme, building a small private client base, and working towards ICF or EMCC accreditation. With experience, you might specialise in a niche area such as executive coaching, career coaching, or health and wellbeing, or move into delivering group workshops and corporate training programmes. Established coaches in Ireland often build online coaching businesses, write books or create digital courses, or progress into leadership development and organisational consultancy roles.
AI-powered coaching apps and chatbots are emerging as low-cost alternatives for goal tracking and motivational prompts, which may reduce demand for basic, transactional coaching services. However, the deeply human, relational nature of life coaching — built on trust, empathy, and nuanced conversation — means that skilled human coaches are difficult to replicate with technology. AI tools can assist life coaches with session scheduling, note-taking, progress tracking, and even suggesting frameworks or resources between sessions. Coaches who embrace these tools to improve efficiency and client experience are likely to be better positioned than those who resist change.
→ Life Coach (Current role)
Organisations in Ireland that employ people in this occupation.
Dublin 2
One-to-one life and personal development coaching for clients
Nationwide
Coaching staff and service users through wellbeing and change programmes
Dublin 2 and Nationwide
Supporting individuals with goal-setting and positive mental wellbeing
Belfast and Nationwide
Delivering coaching and personal development within mental health services
Dublin, Nationwide
Life coaching sessions for employees referred through workplace EAP schemes
Thurles, Co. Tipperary
Coaching students and athletes on performance and personal development goals
Dublin 2 and Nationwide
Providing executive and life coaching to member organisations and employees
Dublin 2
Internal coaching roles supporting employee career transitions and wellbeing
Dublin 1
Life and wellness coaching delivered to corporate clients across Ireland
Cork and Dublin
Coaching services embedded in member wellbeing and lifestyle support programmes
We don't know whether these employers currently have vacancies — always check their own website. And if there's somewhere you'd really love to work, it can be worth applying anyway, even without an open vacancy.
Our tools can help you with that:
We use functional cookies and — with your consent — cookies for preferences, statistics and marketing.