Coach, Therapist, or Both? 3 Questions to Help You Find A Practitioner
/Ultimately, it’s about finding a match in chemistry with someone who’ll hold you through vulnerable and tender moments.
As the need for mental wellness increases in these times of social unrest, the amount of services and resources available for support has also increased. With online companies that provide easy access and almost on-demand support like BetterHelp or TalkSpace, beginning the search for the right practitioner can be overwhelming. Taking intentional time to trully reflect on what your self-development needs are can clear up some fog and help you see precisely who you’re looking for and where to find them.
Ultimately, the decision and investment to work with someone who is there to hold some of the most intimate moments and tender parts of you depends so much on the chemistry and overall vibe you receive when interviewing them for their services. So, before you start the “matching” game for your support person, let’s get clear on what kind of support might be more aligned with your needs and preferences for self-development and healing.
In this post, I wanted to share the specific distinctions between a coach and a therapist because I often get asked what the differences are by prospective clients, especially those who haven’t worked with a coach before or only worked with one for a very specific and short-term purpose related to the workplace. I want to offer some key questions to reflect on so you can get clear on who the right practitioner may be for you, and then begin your search.
I’ve never been a therapist, but I have had therapists before. So I can’t speak to that skill set or its requirements to be in practice. I can only let you know how I see coaching as different from therapy based on my perspective as a coach.
Image from nature-based coaching essentials workbooks. Rinoconsultingsolutions©️
First, coaching is often viewed as focused on a person’s career path and navigation toward higher leadership or productivity. No doubt, coaching is not as well known as therapy as a form of private support because the industry really began in corporate America. If you ask people what coaching is, more often than not, you’ll get vague answers or something to the effect of being a counselor or mentor to be a better worker/leader., I won’t get into the weeds of the differences between the roles of counselor or mentor, but they are different.
First, I’ll name what each practice is
Coaching often centers on a specific profession or industry for a certain period of time, or until you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve; a higher position, create a new business, etc. You can have coaches specific to building a business, developing speaking skills, helping you write a book, or like me supporting you in cultivating healing-centered empowered leadership. The industry of coaching isn’t highly regulated and most coaches don’t have to be certified to call themselves a coach. Doing your research and interviewing each one is highly advised.
Therapists are clinicians and often have to comply as such, like only providing service to the state they live in. So going through specific training/licensure and rigorous levels of certification and regulation are required because these clinicians are tied to the Western medical and clinical lens of addressing disease, disorders, or rehabilitation and such. They treat patients and can prescribe medications or identify diagnoses.
I believe both practices are beneficial in their own ways, based on what support a person needs. What I appreciate about being a coach is that I get to blend different modalities and frameworks of healing without the restrictions of licensure. I blend my life experiences, ecology and science education, and leadership development with my spiritual connection to nature. A therapist might have the flexibility to create a particular niche of therapy, but they are also required to avoid the risk of non-compliance. One simple example of a licensure limit is that depending on the state, a psychotherapist cannot provide services to clients living outside of the state they are licensed.
As a coach location doesn’t matter and I can also include things like dream interpretation, ancestral healing, or other psychotherapy frameworks and approaches. I have more flexibility and autonomy to blend, shapeshift, or adapt to my client's needs for healing. And because my journey to becoming a coach was heavily influenced by my identity and needing to find effective ways to support diverse leaders, I created my own framework of healing! My Radical Nature Framework grounds my practice in core principles of nature.
Now, I’m not here to sway you in one direction or another. I believe the right kind of support should go to the person based on their specific needs. So, personally an ideal situation for my mental and spiritual wellness needs would be hafing both a coach and a therapist.
So let’s start parsing out the types of support and what some main differences I can share so you can better discern what kind of support will be the most beneficial on your healing journey:
Here are three prompts you can reflect on:
What motivates you?
Thinking about what your wellness needs mean by thinking about how you want things to be different and who you want to be by the time you finish receiving support. As a coach, I need to hear goals or aspirations so that I know where I’ll be guiding you towards. A therapist may not ask you what the future of your time together can look like because the focus is on what you present each session and healing from the past, primarily.
Is accountability important to you?
Designing action steps and providing accountability for your growth and development is central to the coaching practice. I’m thinking about the shifts you want to make, what’s in the way of achieving that, and cheering you on as you approach those milestones. In my experience, a therapist isn’t so much tied to the outcomes but rather can be that supportive practitioner to help you see and name the things that may be coming up in your thought processes and behaviors. I think both can include accountability, but in coaching it’s essential. In therapy, it may be optional.
Where are you starting? Where’s your trailhead?
This is an important one to be able to speak on. As I mentioned, coaches aren’t regulated and therapists are clinicians. Because my industry isn’t regulated I need to be on my toes about the ethics of coaching. That’s why I went through (recommended) certification. If you feel that your mental health needs may exceed professional support and you’re not sure if there may be a clinical diagnosis to consider, start by talking to a therapist. If you feel ready to put some action behind your self-discovery and healing journey, you may be primed for working with a coach who can stretch or challenge you to do things outside of your comfort zone. Are you starting this work feeling extremely raw or tender? Consider a therapist. Or are you raw and tender and feel a burning desire to get proactive about changing how things are right now? You may be ready for coaching.
Other expectations:
These are a given, but are worth mentioning.
Unfortunately in our society, individual support services are expensive and often NOT subsidized by the government or your employer. So, many people go underserved and our society’s mental health needs progress slower than a snail’s pace. But I’m someone who lives my life with the value of self-determination. So, I believe we all can get free and those of us privileged to know how to do that can to share that!
Here are some other tips for making this important work of self-development arrive in your life:
Get serious about your wellness in the form of financial wellness because our money wealth is a mirror of our sense of self-worth and value. So start building that personal wellness fund and work out installment plans or barter with practitioners who are in the position to. Don’t be afraid to ask your community to pitch in. We need you at your best!
Believe there are those out there who can truly love and support you and won’t hurt or abandon you during your process. That’s why interviews and referrals are key in deciding who to work with. And always, always check the vibe (in your gut) and trust that! Let practitioners know that you’ve been hurt before and/or what’s not going to work for you when you’re in a sacred space with them. If you’ve given them notice up front, you’ve already won by advocating for yourself!
If you’re ready to step into a program with me, don’t hesitate to book a quick consultation with me to see if we’re a good match!
You can also find out more about organizations I’ve coached for or which community-based directories I’m on!
LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics)