The Difference Between Life Coaching and Therapy
As we move along in the world today, mental health and self care have become more important than they ever have been before. Over the last two or so generations, the idea of taking care of ourselves psychologically has become incredibly important. More people are seeking therapy and life coaching to put themselves on the right track towards their mental health goals. But if you were to ask someone what the difference is between life coaching and therapy, they might have a hard time answering that question. So I am here today to illuminate the distinction between these two incredibly important services.
Let’s begin with therapy, as more people are familiar with how therapy works. Therapists utilize various psychological models and techniques to work with their clients on a variety of issues. This can mean unraveling trauma, working through current internal biases, diagnosing mental illnesses and disorders, and more. Therapists are also trained and licensed to work with clients on these sensitive issues. Generally speaking, therapy is about looking back into the past in order to redirect a client’s present.
Life coaching operates in a different way. Firstly, the coaching industry is not as heavily regulated as the therapy industry is. Just about anybody can proclaim themselves to be a coach with little consequence. However, as the industry is becoming more regulated, coach education programs affiliated with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) are becoming more and more prevalent. In future, all coaches will have to get credentialed from one of these accredited programs. A wonderful example of such a program is the Academy of Creative Coaching, from which I am an alumnus.
Secondly, life coaching offers a different perspective from therapy. While therapy usually operates by looking back to the past to better navigate the present, coaching begins in the present and works towards the future. Life coaches, like myself, work with our clients in a very goal-oriented way. The purpose of life coaching is less about working through past trauma and events and more about using clients’ present actions to affect their futures. While therapy tends to be more self-reflective, life coaching is more focused on making actionable goals and following through on the process to achieve them. Of course, life coaching can also be self-reflective, as part of the process can include reevaluating thought patterns that are hindering clients from reaching their goals.
Life coaching and therapy can look pretty similar in terms of how sessions are constructed. Both therapy and life coaching involve a very conversational atmosphere where clients are urged to share their honest thoughts and feelings, free of judgement. Life coaches are tasked with asking powerful questions to help clients see things from different angles and perhaps discover things about themselves they didn’t know prior to the session. Life coaches are also what I like to call “professional accountability buddies.” Once a goal is set with a client, it is a life coach’s job to assist the client in creating a detailed action plan and sticking to it. This is extremely helpful in clients who suffer from executive dysfunction or have a hard time with follow through, providing they commit themselves to the coaching process.
Both therapy and life coaching are beneficial services for people who are on a journey to better mental health and improved self care. Therapy assists clients by digging in with them about past experiences that still affect them to this day, whereas life coaching helps clients project themselves into their own futures through goal setting and bias deconstruction. As a coach and as someone who sees a therapist regularly, I believe that having both a life coach and a therapist is a wonderful way to take care of yourself psychologically, rather like seeing both a nutritionist and a personal trainer to take care of your physical health. While they each take care of different aspects of health, both are invaluable resources worthy of investment.