Counseling vs Coaching.
What’s the difference and which one is a better fit for me?
A life coach and a therapist both work to help individuals improve their lives, but they do so in different ways. They have different educational and licensing requirements and work from a different framework.
Counseling Credentials:
- have a Master’s or Doctorate in counseling or a counseling-related field from an accredited program
- pass the National Counseling Exam (NCE) or the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE) administered by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC).
- complete 3,000 or more hours of supervised practice
On average, it takes a therapist 9 - 10 years of education and training to become a fully licensed Professional Counselor.
Coaching Credentials:
- Life coaches may have certifications from coaching organizations but are not required to have formal mental health training or licensure.
- Coaches come from various backgrounds and bring varying levels of skills to their practice.
Counseling Objectives:
Therapists address mental health issues, emotional challenges, and psychological disorders.
Therapy often involves exploring past experiences and how they affect current behavior and mental health and the goal of therapy is to help clients heal from trauma, understand their emotions, and develop coping mechanisms. Therapists utilize evidence-based treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
Coaching Objectives:
Life coaches primarily focus on helping clients set and achieve specific goals, whether personal or professional. In coaching, the emphasis is on the present and future, with a focus on achieving desired outcomes and making improvements in various aspects of life. Life coaches often provide encouragement and motivation, and hold clients accountable for their actions and progress. Coaches utilize techniques from positive psychology and self-improvement strategies and sessions focus on setting goals, creating plans, and overcoming obstacles.
A key difference between a therapist and a life coach is that a life coach cannot diagnose a mental health disorder. A mental health therapist is trained to diagnose and treat mental health disorders.
Summary:
- Therapists: Suitable for individuals dealing with mental health concerns, emotional distress, or psychological disorders that require diagnosis, treatment, and healing.
- Life Coaches: Ideal for individuals looking to improve specific areas of their life, achieve goals, and enhance personal or professional development without necessarily having underlying mental health issues.
A simple analogy would be the difference between a Physical Therapist and a Personal Trainer.
A physical therapist is qualified to evaluate, diagnose, and treat movement and pain issues, and to design a personalized recovery program for each patient. A physical therapist, like a Mental Health Therapist, must have a graduate degree, pass a national exam, and maintain licensure.
A personal trainer, like a life coach, has no specific educational requirements although many have professional certifications. Personal trainers cannot diagnose an injury or health condition or prescribe a rehabilitation program.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT LIFE COACH
- Look for a Life Coach with proper training and education. Life coaching is a fairly new industry and therefore is less established and does not require specific training, education, or licensure. As a result, anyone call themselves a life coach. Just because someone has been through a particular life event does not mean they are qualified to coach others. Therefore, you should choose a life coach that has adequate training and relevant education.
- Choose a life coach that specializes in your area of need. whether that is growing your business, improving your marriage, or health and wellness.
- Choose a life coach that asks questions that make you think about things in a new way. Coaches do not just tell their clients what to do. They ask thoughtful, provoking, outside-of-the-box questions to help their clients look at their issues from new angles and find previously undiscovered solutions from within.
- Find a coach who challenges you and holds you accountable, someone who is not afraid of hard conversations. A good coach will encourage and support you to go outside your comfort zone. This is where real growth happens.
- Look for a coach who has great vision, someone who can see a different path and share that vision with you.
Life coaching is not about telling anyone how to be. Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the individual to maximize their potential. The client is the expert in his life. Life coaching does not focus on “fixing” a situation. Life coaching is about empowering you to find your own answers.
Though life coaching and therapy are distinctly different fields, my extensive background allows me to uniquely bring forth various resources, knowledge, and tools to assist individuals in a variety of circumstances through both the counseling model and the life coaching model.
MY QUALIFICATIONS:
- Board Certified Christian Life Coach through the International Board of Christian Life Coaching
- M.A. in Professional Counseling from Amberton University
- 20+ years as a Licensed Professional Counselor
- B.G.S. from Ohio University
- A.A.S. from Hocking College
- 20+ years in management in a medical research-related field in both the academic and corporate sectors
- 5+ years course development and teaching at the college level
Copyright © 2021 Amy Hill Counseling and Coaching. All Rights Reserved.
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