I’ve found myself in quite a few conversations lately about the differences between coaching and therapy.
I’ve been incorporating coaching into my therapy for many years, but clients are coming to me with different needs now, which is a distinction between the two approaches.
Many of you know I am expanding into coaching, particularly with women who are moving ahead in their careers, becoming leaders, or building a business.
What’s the difference, anyway?
This is hard to sum up without simplifying it such that it isn’t accurate, but here goes.
Generally, people seek out therapy to work through emotional stuff.
Ok, so we all have emotional stuff, baggage, turmoil, stuckness, etc., at times. When there are difficult or highly troublesome family of origin dynamics or thought/emotional/relational patterns that repeatedly get in the way of a joyous life, therapy is useful. When you have trauma or an extremely tough situation such as divorce which requires specialized expertise or time focused on support and processing grief/emotions, therapy is a good place to turn. That said, therapy is NOT only meant for these issues or major mental health concerns, trauma, and other complex human experiences. It can certainly be helpful with personal growth and navigating life’s circumstances.
Enter the amorphous world of coaching, where well meaning people want to help clients with all areas of life.
Generally, people utilize coaching for advancing their career, business or personal development.
Well, that’s kinda broad, isn’t it? Just as therapy is used for many reasons, so is coaching.
Coaching began as a future oriented, goal and work focused way of helping people. Think sports - you want to improve your tennis skills, hire a coach to get you there. The field fairly quickly broadened and now includes, as far as I can tell, almost every issue under the sun, with coaches now able to become certified in traditionally therapeutic approaches like hypnosis or CBT, without getting a Masters or PhD.
Still, partnering with a coach is optimal for someone who is sufficiently ready and able to create work and personal growth through action while (hopefully) diving into who they are. I say this because you can't work on what you are doing without looking at who you are being.
In coaching, more time is spent on where you are headed than on where you have been. AND, and this is a big AND… a great coach understands that we must incorporate ALL of you in order to create deep and lasting transformation.
To this end, I’ve added a phenomenal tool, The Enneagram, into my work with clients, both in therapy and coaching. Hence, a perfect example of how the two fields are different in very nuanced ways.
I started in the field of psychology right out of high school fascinated with the why of human nature. Rather than being a personality typing tool that puts you in a box, The Enneagram is an in-depth map of your motivations or your why’s, offers tremendous insights and strategies for growth which allows you to deeply understand yourself, and also change behavioral patterns which no longer serve you.
Have I sufficiently confused you or have I helped clarify the comparison between therapy and coaching?
If you have questions about whether therapy or coaching is the best growth tool for you, please reach out: coachellielane@gmail.com
Interested in the Enneagram? Let’s chat. I do offer stand alone Enneagram reviews, which can compliment other personal growth work you are doing.
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