SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Franke, the former husband of Ruby Franke, has been collaborating on legislation to put more regulations on life coaches.
Senate Bill 251 would establish a registration and renewal process for a life coach.
It would also require the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) to grant a life coach registration under certain conditions. It would also allow DOPL to refuse and revoke registration.
The bill was heard in the Business and Labor Committee of the Utah State Senate on Monday.
Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, read a letter on Kevin's behalf.
"My life has been turned upside down, my marriage ended, my family destroyed, and my children tortured because of a dangerous mental health professional who believed that she could act outside the ethical bounds of her profession by labeling herself as a “life coach,"" Kevin wrote.
Sen. Hinkins continued to read the letter.
"Numerous life coaches today are free to offer the same services provided by licensed mental health professionals, but carry none of responsibilities of care or liabilities associated with that profession," Kevin wrote.
This comes a week after YouTube "mommy blogger" Rube Franke and her co-host Jodi Hildebrandt, a former professionally licensed therapist and life coach, were sentenced for child abuse. Both Franke and Hildebrandt received the same sentence of four 1-15 year terms in prison to be served consecutively for each of the four counts of child abuse, to which they both pleaded guilty.
FOX 13 News spoke with Kristin Sokol, a dating coach, on Tuesday.
We asked her if she had any rules or regulations that she had to follow for the state.
"No, nobody is regulating me whatsoever," said Sokol.
Sokol says it's rare to even get asked about her credentials.
"I don't have to report them anywhere, I'm not required to get continuing education, and you know, I think that's to the detriment of society as a whole," said Sokol.
Sarah Stroup is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She is also on the legislative committee for the Utah Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
"This means that consumers have recourse if harm is done it allows for training opportunities for life coaches who might not be acting in the best interests of their patients or participants, and so this increases safety," said Stroup.
Stroup and Jessica Black, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, spoke in front of the committee on Monday, both in support of the bill moving forward.
"We don't actually know how many complaints for life coaches there have been because there's no tracking of that, and with this bill, we would be able to track that," said Black.
Stroup told FOX 13 News that the bill was recommended for an interim study. She says the leg work and research for that study would take place over the summer. The hope is to have a finished bill to resubmit in January of next year.
