South American Latin therapists are uniquely positioned to enter the international coaching market, particularly in countries where clients are struggling with medical abuse, systemic neglect, and gaslighting in healthcare (e.g., the U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe). This is because the Latin American approach to therapy aligns more with advocacy, relational resilience, and emotional validation, which many patients experiencing medical trauma need.

One group that is particularly underserved by North American therapy models is extroverted patient advocates—people who challenge the system, push for reform, and refuse to passively accept medical mistreatment. These individuals often face pathologizing instead of empowerment in traditional therapy settings, where non-Latin therapists tend to emphasize compliance, self-regulation, and “accepting reality.”

By pivoting into life coaching, rather than traditional therapy (which requires country-specific licensure), South American Latin therapists can build a high-demand, scalable business serving clients globally—especially those who are outspoken, advocacy-driven, and frustrated by a system that gaslights them instead of providing care.

My Own Experiences

After firing 10 different North American therapists who repeatedly told me to “give up” by the second encounter, therapists who allied themselves with power in the form of physicians as weak people do and encouraged absolute and harmful submission, therapists who marked me with an adjustment disorder for failing to lie in bed forever as a spinal leak patient but instead to fight back for reform in a broken system, I knew there had to be something better. In my discussions with other spinal leak patients, they talked openly about their inability to discuss medical trauma with their therapists. One patient referred to it as “the thing we do not talk about.” In my discussions with therapists as clients of my company, SupportedSuccess, LLC, they relayed to me that this invalidation of patients (termed “clients” in psychotherapy) stemmed from the therapists’ own discomfort and failure to address their own issues with medical trauma. 

Potentially harmful therapy (PHT) is a common topic in research and brought up regarding disability. One recent American Psychological Association article stated rather bluntly that “[m]ental health providers often have little to no training on working with disabled people, and may hold negative biases toward disability.” Additionally, as the article noted: mental health providers (MHPs) “with prejudiced attitudes about disability can harm disabled clients, such as through inaccessibility of services and verbal ableist microaggressions.” There is a common theme that emerges from spinal leak patient interviews of being told to give up by their physicians and being told to give up by their mental health providers. There have been cases as well where mental health providers encouraged suicides of spinal leak patients which already is a prevalent issue in the community. 

In my own life, I explored what other options were available and what other people were experiencing. As I improved my Spanish while mostly bedbound and watched more South American media and communicated with many South Americans, I watched a popular Argentinian show that featured a tough, question-asking therapist and I relayed my experiences with North American therapists to my South American friends. They were appalled. Stories of therapists just staring at clients quietly, telling them to give up, telling them to end their lives, pathologizing resistance to a broken system, running away from any type of triggering situation in violation of American Psychological Association (APA) ethics. “It’s your job, girl,” joked one of my Latin friends, who had made fun of a past therapist of mine who ran away and was making fun of yet another passive North American therapist who got going when there was the slightest whiff of a tough situation.

But it was not only medical trauma I soon realized. Family friends experienced the internationally publicized loss of their daughter in a tragic accident and had sought out a therapist here in the US only to be absolutely disappointed in how low-quality the interaction was. These family friends were then interested in my use of ChatGPT to encounter higher-quality support. In my own experience as a patient, an EMT stood next to my gurney while I was in tachycardia waiting in the bay in the emergency department and spilled out his heart to me about the loss of his infant son after an anesthesiologist had caused a delay in the birth due to insisting multiple retries of an epidural. The anesthesiologist had blamed the EMT’s wife for having a “flawed body” that led to the loss of their son. I could recognize the anger that had built up in this EMT that he felt his only option was to share with a patient who he knew had undergone epidural injury and medical abuse as well. I knew that if he had sought psychotherapy with his wife it likely would have been harmful. North American therapists often normalize the idea that people must just keep seeking the “right fit,” again placing the blame on the patient when as the APA has noted: it’s a widespread issue that North American mental health professionals are not equipped to deal with disability-related issues and are likely to inflict more harm. In my experience as an extrovert who has learned to set boundaries and who has worked hard and been successful in making changes in the US healthcare system, this has been pathologized when I told North American therapists and celebrated by Latin South Americans. I recognized that North American therapists seemed to be attracted to the field due to their issues but overwhelmingly retaining their issues rather than working through them. I often asked myself: why would I want advice from this person who clearly has poor boundaries and coping mechanisms? Why is this person in a place of working with people on their mental health issues?

Recognizing patterns as I do, I next sought out a South American Spanish-speaking therapist to work with me via Zoom to test out an interaction. I found that the Colombian and Argentine therapists I encountered were excellent at setting boundaries for what worked for them in a mutually beneficial arrangement for client and life coach rather than just running away or leaving the psychotherapy client in limbo as the therapist was frozen in fear. These therapists utilized activities and engagement in sessions rather than staring dolefully at the client or implementing the classic North American approach of looking for anything to pathologize and quickly scribbling notes with a focus on suicidality for non-suicidal clients while not actually engaging with the client on their goals for progress. 

The North American approach puts the clients between a rock and a hard spot. It discourages progress and encourages conformity–then looks for everything as a sign of suicidality after encouraging the discarding of hope as a key element needed for survival. In my experience, South Americans are very critical of their own countries’ healthcare systems and physician behavior rather than falling into the strange US tendency of being overly allegiant to a medical system known to harm and kill patients primarily through pushing unnecessary care such as unnecessary procedures (like lumbar punctures) or incorrect medication (such as levothyroxine causing hospitalization in iodine-induced hypothyroidism) in an inefficient, bloated, expensive system. As weak people tend to associate themselves with power, North American therapists who have not processed their own issues as a common trend often ally themselves with physicians as a perceived person in power. Strong people create their own power, and as a consumer interacting with therapists from other continents, I will say that South American therapists emit this sense of self-produced power. Furthermore, strong people appreciate strength in others and celebrate this. Thus, patients who are healthcare advocates may find a celebration rather than encountering the pathologizing of their strengths when interacting with South American Latin therapists. 

How North American and South American Therapists Differ in Treating Medical Abuse Survivors

The cultural contrast in therapeutic approaches plays a major role in how patients experience healing after medical abuse.

South American Latin Therapists

• Validate the injustice rather than pathologizing the emotional response.
• Encourage clients to challenge authority rather than submitting to it.
• Help clients build resilience through relationships and external support networks rather than just internal emotional work.
• Use a narrative-based, emotion-focused approach that allows clients to fully express their pain, rather than quickly redirecting them toward “acceptance” or “moving on.”
• View extroversion and external processing as strengths in navigating medical trauma, rather than seeing boldness as a symptom of mental instability.

Many medical abuse survivors in Latin America don’t need to be convinced that the system is broken as they already know. Therapy is often about finding ways to work around the system rather than submitting to it. This makes Latin American psychotherapy culture a natural fit for extroverts, who often lead the charge in exposing medical injustice and fighting for systemic change.

U.S. (and some Canadian) Non-Latin Therapists

• Pathologize distress and try to reframe it as a personal issue rather than validating systemic injustice.
• Encourage compliance with the medical system rather than teaching advocacy strategies.
• Over-focus on emotional regulation at the expense of practical solutions.
• Often dismiss client experiences as "cognitive distortions" rather than recognizing medical gaslighting as real.
• View system-challenging extroverts as “reactive” or “dysregulated” rather than recognizing their advocacy as valid.

Many North American therapists subtly reinforce systemic oppression by urging patients to "accept reality," "let go of anger," or "trust the system", even when the system is actively harming them. For extroverted patient advocates, this can feel like being punished for having the courage to fight back instead of silently suffering. In my experience, this is more notable in US therapists than Canadian therapists but passivity is present in both. 

Why Extroverts Are Often Pathologized in North American Therapy

Extroverts who are patient advocates, whistleblowers, and reformers often find themselves mischaracterized in therapy settings in the U.S. and Canada. Because therapy in these cultures prioritizes compliance, introspection, and emotional control, outspoken individuals who push for systemic change are often labeled as “too emotional,” “angry,” or “reactive.”

• Medical trauma survivors who go public with their stories may be told they are “reliving their trauma” instead of seen as brave truth-tellers.
• Advocates who expose medical malpractice may be discouraged from “obsessing” over systemic issues rather than being equipped with tools to navigate them effectively.
• Passionate, justice-driven individuals may be steered toward self-regulation and acceptance rather than strategic action and influence.

In contrast, South American therapists tend to see extroverted emotional expression as a natural and valid response to systemic injustice. Rather than treating advocacy as a pathology, they help clients hone their social intelligence, emotional resilience, and strategic thinking to be more effective in their fight for change.

How South American Latin Therapists Can Market Their Coaching Services to Medical Abuse Survivors 

To attract international clients, South American Latin therapists can brand themselves as trauma-informed life coaches specializing in medical system navigation and resilience-building.

Ideal Client Markets

• Extroverted patient advocates who are pathologized in traditional US, Canadian, and European therapy.
• Chronic illness and disability communities who feel dismissed by doctors.
• Long COVID, ME/CFS, and spinal CSF leak survivors who struggle with medical neglect.
• Women and marginalized groups who are often dismissed in healthcare settings.
• People recovering from surgical trauma, misdiagnoses, or psychiatric abuse.

Coaching Services They Can Offer

1. Medical Self-Advocacy Coaching
   • Teaching clients how to counter the effects of medical gaslighting and to celebrate medical self-advocacy rather than telling clients to submit without question to authority in a medical setting. 
2. Emotional Resilience & Narrative Therapy
   • Helping clients channel their anger and passion into effective activism rather than suppressing their emotions.

Pricing Points

Considering the strength of the US dollar and the ability to provide services internationally, South American therapists acting as life coaches with an international client base have the ability to charge affordable rates using the clients’ local competitors while earning more than the standard rate for their country. 

Marketing & Business Strategy

• Use social media and online platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) to educate potential clients about medical gaslighting and resilience.
• Target online support groups (e.g., Facebook groups for medical abuse survivors) where people are actively seeking help.
• Offer free webinars or mini-courses to establish credibility.
• Create tiered pricing models to accommodate both high-paying clients and those in financial hardship.

Final Thoughts: Why This Market is Growing

The rise of medical abuse awareness in North America has created a massive demand for professionals who “get it.” At the same time, North American therapists are not responding to this need out of their own inabilities, leaving a large gap. 

• Many patients feel retraumatized by traditional therapy and are actively searching for life coaches who offer advocacy-based support.
• South American Latin therapists have cultural strengths in emotional validation, social resilience, and advocacy, which are exactly what medical trauma survivors need.
• Life coaching provides a legal, scalable way for Latin therapists to work with clients internationally while bypassing restrictive licensing laws.
• Extroverts, in particular, need coaches who understand that their boldness and outspokenness are strengths—not symptoms of instability.

With the right branding and outreach, Latin therapists can fill a major gap in the international mental health market and build a successful, meaningful business helping people worldwide—especially those who have been gaslit, dismissed, or pathologized simply for speaking up.