Our epoch is rife with the search for imaginary reference points. It’s the time of coaches, trainers, counsellors, consultants, and personalised guides.
Originating in the field of sports, coaching first extended to business then to personal development. This practice « has its roots in cybernetics (from 1942), the Palo Alto School (from 1953), and the New Age ([…] from 1961), and the observation of therapists such as Milton Erickson. »[1] The aim is to « improve the competences and performance of an individual, group or organisation, through the improvement of knowledge, the optimisation of processes and methods of organisation and control. »[2]
The development of the guidance market occurs against a backdrop of an erasure of the patriarchal norm and the symbolics markers inherent to it. The coaches themselves officially associate this with « the weakening of traditional reference points combined with a greater openness to the world and an increased precariousness. »[3] From now on without a compass, it’s about making sense of one’s life.
Parents don’t escape this offer of service and coaching becomes parental.
The offer is « personalised, » based on the logic of depathologisation. It is formulated as close as possible to the impasse and the necessity of invention : accompanying « on demand » and made-to-measure, the coach « unlike a psychotherapist, […] does not treat a pathology, » but proposes to « resolve everyday situations, » [4] and to look for specific solutions.
But what orients this research ?
Concerning parenting, in order to « succeed and thrive together »[5] and « re-enchant your family life »[6], neuroscience, psycho-education, therapeutic education, positive education, non-violent communication, benevolent parenting, win-win approaches, etc.,[7] are on the agenda. Under the guise of personalisation, normality, success, and good practice are therefore the signifiers that situate the domination of this discourse and want to suture that which exits and escapes control.
The real always call for nodal responses. These responses – if there are of the register of invention, are not outside of the temporality of a society. In the time of the Other that does not exist, and of a symbolic that no longer provides support, reference points are sought elsewhere, giving rise to new knottings. The demand for advice, for solutions that we could believe in, or even be certain of, is the consequence. This is what gives consistency to suggestion, which Freud had precisely set aside in order to trace the path of discourse (discours) that is so singular in psychoanalysis, the only discourse that is not of domination.[8]
The seventh Study Day of the Institut psychanalytique de l’enfant,[9] on the theme linked to that of Pipol 11, will give its full place to this discourse – still relevant in 2023 – so subversive of psychoanalysis, and will testify to its effects for « exasperated parents » and « terrible children », thus opening the way to the question by which Éric Laurent introduces us to Pipol 11 : what can be « the father after patriarchy » ?[10]
Translation: Aurélie Solliec
Review: Caroline Heanue
Picture : © Lucas Castel – https://castellucas.com/projects/
[1] Derderian. J., (2003), « Coaching, » last view on March 5th 2023, available online only in French at: https://www.jnlcoaching.fr/le-coaching. [free translation].
[2] Collective, « Coaching », Wikipédia, French version of February 24th 2023, available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching. For the English Wikipedia « Coaching » last edited on February 21st 2023, please visit the website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching. [free translation]. Note : the content in both languages differs.
[3] D’hoker-Lacour. N., « History and foundations of coaching », view on March 5th 2023, available at : https://www.coaching-au-present.com/. [free translation]
[4] Clatot. P., « What is a parenting coach for? The Key of parenthood », Laurence Pernoud, Becoming parents today, website, view on March 5th 2023, available at : https://www.laurencepernoud.com/enfant-3-6-ans/education-lenfant/a-quoi-sert-coach-parental.html. [free translation].
[5] Happy Parents.com, efficient and playful methods to succeed and drive together, website view on March 5th 2023, available at : https://www.happyparents.com/parents/coaching-parental. [free translation]
[6] Goutard. E., « Re-enchant your family life », Elena Goutard, Parenting Coach, website view on March 5th 2023 available at : https://www.elena-goutard.com/. [free translation]
[7] « Parent coaching », Higher School of coaching, website view on March 5th 2023, available at : https://ecole.evolution-perspectives.com/fr/haute-ecole-coaching/formations/specialisations/coaching-parental. « Our expertise/specialisation is registered at the RNCP Level 6, […]. It is recognised by the State, as a token of quality and professionalism for you », [free translation; In French : « Notre spécialisation est inscrite au RNCP Niveau 6, Fiche 29397, référence BC02. Elle est reconnue par l’Etat, un gage de qualité et de professionnalisme pour vous. »]
[8] Lacan. J., « There are Four Discourses », Transfer to Saint Denis? Lacan is for Vincennes!, Culture/Clinic 1: Applied Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Ed. by J.-A. Miller, Marie Jaanus, Minneapolis/London, University of Minnesota Press, 2013, pg. 3. « There are four discourses. Each one thinks it is the truth. The only exception is the analytic discourse. […] in point of fact this discourse excludes domination; in other words it teaches nothing. »
[9] Seventh Study Day of the Institut psychanalytique de l’enfant, which takes place on18th March 2023 at Issy-les-Moulineaux Congress Palace, https://institut-enfant.fr/.
[10] Laurent. É., « The Father after Patriarchy », Blog Nobodaddy for Pipol 11, posted on February 26th 2023, available www.pipol11.eu/en/2023/02/16/le-pere-apres-le-patriarcat-eric-laurent/.
