A breakup is no doubt a painful experience for anyone, with some being so invested in the relationship that they’d do anything to mend things.
Unfortunately, this vulnerability is being taken advantage of so-called “relationship coaches” in China who advertise coaching plans to grieving women hoping to get back together with their partner.
Forbidden to have contact with ex
According to South China Morning Post, a 28-year-old woman named Wan said she paid a “relationship coach” who claimed to have a 90% success rate 3,500 yuan (approx. RM2,100) for a month of 24/7 coaching after her previous relationship left her devastated.
As part of the coaching plan, Wan was instructed to not have any contact with her ex for 21 days, change her appearance and share posts on her social media to show him she was “improving”.
Gets blocked
To Wan’s dismay, her ex ended up blocking her on the chat app despite following the coach’s instructions.
When she confronted the coach, she was instead offered a “higher-grade package with a more experienced mentor” for 9,800 yuan (approx. RM5,900).
Although Wan now fully accepts the reality, she said she was in “unbearable pain” following the breakup and desperately longed for companionship as she couldn’t find a better man than her ex at the time.
Another client, who also subscribed to the coaching plan, reportedly spent 20,000 yuan (approx. RM12,000) to reconcile with her ex-husband.
Growing trend
SCMP reported that societal pressures have led to explosion of “relationship coaches” online, with hashtags like #getbacktogether supercharging the service.
This had caused the number of psychological counselling companies in China to skyrocket from 18,000 in 2016 to 160,000 in 2026. However, it has also led to a storm of complaints, with over 3,000 complaints being made so far.
Despite this bleak outlook, a psychological counsellor said more clients are focusing more on themselves and identifying what they could achieve from the relationship.
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