LIFE COACHING VS THERAPY
WHY CHOOSE COACHING?
Coaching is about change and action. As a Positive Psychology coach, our sessions put equal importance on your well-being, performance and goal attainment. While counselling is aiming to fix or repair, coaching focuses mainly on growth, achievement and development.
We may look at how the past may be impacting the ‘here and now’, but coaching does not primarily focus on understanding the past or overcoming traumatic events.
What is therapy?
DEFINITION: Therapy is prescribed to help someone when they are deemed as mentally unwell, dysfunctional or suffering from a disorder.
Therapy, also called counseling or psychotherapy, is a long-term process in which a client works with a healthcare professional to diagnose and resolve problematic beliefs, and behaviours. Therapy focuses on past traumas to change self-destructive habits, repair and work through painful feelings. In this sense, therapy focuses on the past, introspection and analysis, with the hope of resolving past issues and creating a happier, more stable future.
What does a life coach do?
DEFINITION: A life coach is a type of wellness professional who helps people make progress towards greater fulfillment in their lives. They are professionally trained to help you maximise your full potential and reach your desired results.
In life coaching, a client works with a coach to clarify goals, identify obstacles and understand problematic behaviour. Life coaches aim to motivate, offer emotional support and create confidence in their clients, enabling them to achieve their goals.
Coaching helps you to unleash your full potential, supporting you in taking control of your life. This may range from improving your psychological well-being, to making tangible changes to your lifestyle.
While psychotherapy and counselling may focus fully on the past, coaching may touch on the past in sessions to help you progress with your current goals. Coaching is past, present and future based.
Discussions about the past are not limited to difficult situations or feelings. In coaching, combining the past, present and future may give a more solid foundation for understanding habits, patterns, learning strategies, values and motivations.
Coaching aims to make change happen, but this process may start with looking at patterns, beliefs or relationship dynamics that may be holding you back from reaching your full potential.