Life Coach

Counseling vs. Coaching: What Does A Life Coach Do?

Life Coaching  focuses on the present and future. In life coaching, we want to discover and utilize practical strategies to meet life goals, such as excelling in your career, forming relationships or rewiring the brain. A coach can offer you emotional support while you forge and follow a new life path, however they don’t “treat” mental health disorders, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Psychotherapy is a legal designation of services provided by people who hold a masters or a doctorate degree in psychology. They diagnose mental health disorders and treat those disorders. While I am still a licensed psychotherapist, I no longer provide psychotherapy services. Read here for more information on why.  

Therapy is a tricky word as is can be short for psychotherapy or can refer to a variety of therapeutic modalities, some which require licensing (e.g. massage therapy, physical therapy) some which do not (e.g. spiritual therapy, sound healing therapy). While the work I do is therapeutic, I no longer provide psychotherapy.

Counseling is another word that can mean different things. It can be a licensable term – for example I still hold a license in mental health counseling in Colorado. However, Spiritual Counseling, the kind of counseling I provide, holds no required licenses (though I am registered as a Reverand). Spiritual counseling looks at the past, present and future to help you heal emotional and spiritual wounding and discover joy, peace and purpose. A counselor helps you gain insight into the unconscious beliefs that influence behaviors and transform them, from the inside out. Spritual counseling’s main premise is that our wounding cannot be addressed at just the psychological level because we are also spiritual beings. So while spiritual counseling addresses a wide variety of issues including lonelinessoverwhelmrelationship issuesanxietydepression and challenging moods ; spiritual counselors do not “treat” mental health illnesses like posttraumatic stress disorder because we do not pathologies normal human reactions to challenging life experiences.

The Counseling & Coaching Process

If you know that you have pain, trauma and/or dysfunctional patterns that you want to process, you are likely searching for counseling. If you are looking for a life mentor to help you clarify goals, provide tools for reaching those goals and hold you accountable every step of the way, you are likely looking for coaching. Coaching can be extremely valuable and productive on its own. However, through the process of setting and achieving goals, many people discover that something from their history is preventing them from claiming the future they want. This is when the narrow focus of coaching broadens into counseling.

My Approach To Counseling And Coaching

There are many ways to build the life you want. I offer both coaching and counseling to help you at every stage of your unique journey toward happiness. I integrate these practices to educate, encourage, help make behavioral changes, create deep healing as well as emotional, and spiritual growth. And ultimately, to heal wounding, let go of old coping mechanisms and connect you more deeply to your Authentic Self.

My career as an Empowerment Coach began when I was working as a Human Resources director. I found deep fulfilment in helping people identify and overcome challenges in their careers. That’s when I discovered I wanted to help people live more purposeful lives, and not just at their day jobs. In my coaching work today, I am goal-oriented and linear. My aim is to help you identify manageable, practical steps toward your ideal outcome. Once we collaboratively agree on a plan of action, I will offer you tools and strategies to help you fulfill your dreams.

In my practice, coaching and counseling often go hand-in-hand. For example, many people struggle to communicate effectively. We often don’t know how to listen well or express our needs. When couples come in to see me, they are often looking for practical tools to navigate conflict and overcome disconnect. I often say that I don’t offer couples counseling — I offer couples coaching.

However, most unhealthy relationship patterns were developed in childhood and are ingrained. When attempts at communication are prone to escalate into arguments or collapse into emotional shutdown, there are usually deeper emotions and core beliefs at play. Usually, both partners are carrying neglect, abandonment, invalidation, instability and/or abuse from past relationships. This combination of attachment wounding and relationship issues calls for both individual spiritual counseling and couples coaching.

No matter what you’re struggling with, you don’t have to worry about what counts as coaching and what counts as counseling. It’s my job to navigate those details. As an insightful, empathetic counselor and coach, I am dedicated to attuning to your needs, inviting your authentic expression and guiding you toward the life you want.

Coach vs. Psychotherapist: An Important Note

Legal regulations around psychotherapy are fierce. To receive a license to practice, psychotherapists must earn a master’s degree from an accredited school and complete 3,000 supervised clinical hours after graduation. Ethics are a critical part of every licensed psychotherapist’s initial and ongoing training. Each year, psychotherapists are required to complete continuing education courses in their field, along with several hours dedicated to ethics. This keeps psychotherapists up-to-date on the latest research and most effective forms of treatment.

A life coach is not legally bound to the same ethical, legal or educational standards. In fact, in most states  there are no legal training requirements or regulations for coaches. Anyone can become a coach…including psychotherapists who have had their licenses taken away for unethical behavior. 

It’s important to find someone with the training and experience necessary to support you and your journey. You deserve to work with someone who is qualified to clean up your past so that you can thrive in your future. You are worth it. Your future is worth it. Your happiness is worth it.

Take The First Step Toward Change      

If you’re interested in Life Coaching or Counseling, contact us to schedule a free phone consultation to see if one of our coaches/counselors is a fit for your needs.

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