Do I need a coach or a therapist? I hear this often, folks wondering what’s the difference between coaching and therapy? Which one is a better fit for me? My not so simple answer is, yes. It’s not an “either/or” it’s a “both/and.”
Let’s get back to basics for a moment and start at the beginning.
What is therapy?
According to Psychology Today, the leading site to find a therapist, therapy is “a form of treatment aimed at relieving emotional distress and mental health problems.” Therapy is provided by licensed mental health professionals. These can be social workers (like me!), psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors. We go through rigorous training, lots of school and take part in continuing education every year to maintain our license and stay in good standing. We adhere to a code of ethics designed to set boundaries to how we do our work.
When you take part in therapy you are often given a diagnosis, like generalized anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder (just to name a few), to help guide your treatment plan. Therapy can be ongoing and is often recognized as a medical treatment covered by insurance.
What is coaching?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF), the go-to hub for all things coaching, defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” Anyone can call themselves a coach. However, those certified through ICF have extensive coaching education and adhere to a Code of Ethics.
Coaching is focused on potential. I like to think of coaching as being more forward looking and action-focused. In coaching, we examine the present to move towards your desired future. Your coach is a partner. Your coach helps you learn to implement strategies and create lasting change to achieve your personal best.
In coaching:
- you identify an outcome you want to achieve
- build a plan to get there
- ultimately put your plan into action
- you learn behaviors that are going to help you achieve your desired outcome
Your coach will help get you thinking by asking questions and keeping you focused on your end result. We focus on how you can take action now.
Coaching is often more structured than therapy because you are focused on achieving specific, immediate goals, in a set time frame. Your coach isn’t here to “fix” you, she’s here to help you access the resources you already possess.
Coaching and therapy go well together.
Therapy is an opportunity to look at the past to help us understand our present. In therapy you unpack childhood trauma, grief and many other (often suppressed) emotions and events. Generally, doing this helps you untangle why you have recurring patterns and make the choices you do.
Knowing can help provide you with a roadmap forward. Understanding how our past impacts our present can help us make better choices as we move forward. However, knowing and figuring out what to do next can be a challenge.
Awareness is only half the story. Once you have the awareness, it may be difficult discovering how to implement and integrate these new insights so you’ll have lasting change. This is where coaching comes into play.
With therapy shining a light on how your past influences your current; coaching can be used to highlight your present to achieve your best future.
One is not better than the other.
Because I am a social worker, I’m able to bring a human behavior lens to our coaching work together.
A coach is a collaborator and solution-seeker in helping you reach your goals. As your coach, you can count on me to help stimulate growth and tap into your strengths.
Through transformational coaching with a clinician, we can tap into the deeper emotional work of uncovering the underlying beliefs, values, and attitudes to create lasting change. As a therapist, I have extensive training and have honed how to ask questions. This helps you shift your perspective to better understand yourself and your behaviors. The behavior changes you make in coaching have a better chance of becoming part of you to truly transform your life.
Ready to transform your life? You can sign up for a FREE Clarity Call with me to see if we might be a good fit!