LIFE COACHING
VS
THERAPY
Being unhappy in life is not necessarily the same thing as being severely anxious or depressed (the latter two require professional psychiatric and/or psychological support).
Sometimes we can feel unhappy because we just feel we are not where we want to be in life. We can know deep down there is more to life, that we have unrealized potential and feel unfulfilled and unsatisfied.
Traditionally, life coaching was touted as suitable only for functional high-fliers who wanted to take their life to another leve, while therapy was prescribed if you were dysfunctional or mentally unwell. However, both coaching and therapy have evolved (and overlapped somewhat) since then, especially with more therapists and psychologists offering life coaching as well as therapy.
Why Choose Coaching Over Counselling?
Coaching is about change and action. The core purpose of coaching is to increase self-awareness, to make choices explicit and close the gap between potential and how things are currently.
While counseling is reparative in nature, coaching has a developmental focus. In other words, generally therapy is still more about treating poor mental health and healing, while coaching is more about developing yourself, and reaching and unlocking full potential in a solution-focused way.
Can People with Mental Health Problems Benefit
From Coaching?
People with mental health problems can still benefit from coaching, and coaching can still have therapeutic qualities.
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With the right relationship between coach and client, coaching can certainly be transformative and perhaps even life-changing.
However, if you suffer from mental health conditions such as (but not limited to) severe depression or anxiety or are thinking of harming yourself or others, you need to seek professional medical, psychiatric and/or psychological advice and support in the first instance, rather than coaching.
Therapy And Coaching Can Be Complementary
You can work with both a coach and a therapist at the same time, so long as their approaches are complementary and it is not in violation of any codes of ethics for the practitioners. Plenty of people do both and they can work well together.
The Limitations Of Therapy
Of course, there are limitations to therapy as well as coaching. For example, a therapist will most likely not be able to help you with some entrepreneurial coaching to increase your sales or launch that business you have always wanted to start, career or life coaching to help you find your most meaningful work or get that dream job.
Therapists tend to be much more regulated and constrained by laws, codes of ethics and rules, whereas coaches tend to have more free-reign and autonomy. This can have both its advantages and disadvantages.
The Limitations Of Coaching
A coach will most likely not be able to diagnose or treat mental health disorders, nor should they attempt to, unless they are a dual-trained practitioner of both coaching and therapy and have suitable specialist training and qualifications such as psychotherapy counselling, or in the emerging field of therapeutic coaching.
A coach may however be able to share their lived experience of what has worked for them, provide stress management and resilience techniques, and help you get your emotional needs met, such as meaning and purpose, community and belonging, intimacy and help you make positive changes through taking the right action, as well as help you with personal growth and development.
When To Seek Coaching
Sometimes, you might want or need to get clarity on your career or your life, improve well-being, make tangible changes to your lifestyle or need help unlocking your full potential. Perhaps you may have already done therapy and feel fairly functional, but you just feel “stuck” in life and you are not quite sure why.
As a professional life coach, Staffan is trained in a wide range of modalities including solution-focused coaching and guided imagery and visualisation techniques.
Whether you are suffering from low motivation, low self-confidence or self-esteem, procrastination or whether you want to improve your life, your wellbeing, your relationships, dating or achieve goals, Staffan is well-placed to help you.