Tuesday, August 01, 2023
Coaching Versus Therapy – What’s The Difference?
By Viviane Knight
I am often asked ‘What are the differences between Coaching and Therapy?’
Health Coaching
Client
Works to enable clients to make positive changes in their lives and become more productive
Uses skillful conversation & behavioral science to engage their clients actively and safely in health behavior change
Is present/future focused
Not qualified to treat mental illness
Works with the conscious mind
Focused on actionable behaviors to improve health outcomes
Number of sessions are defined (often <20) with a specific end goal in mind
Guides clients to create their personalized roadmap to health & wellness, respecting values and individuality.
Works primarily over video, phone and text
Follows a structured format, with client determining the agenda of each session
Not covered by insurance (coming)
Not all are professionally accredited (I am)
Therapy
Patient
Works to enable patients to make positive changes in their lives and become more productive
Uses skillful conversation & behavioral science to engage their patients actively and safely in mental and emotional healing
Is present/past focused
Qualified to treat mental illness
Works with the sub-conscious and unconscious mind
Focused on processing unresolved past experiences and emotions
Number of sessions are open-ended with understanding & acceptance as its end goal
Therapist provides clinical textbook solutions, which may or may not be aligned with patient values.
Works primarily out of an office
Unstructured sessions that are guided by the patient as well as the type of therapy
Covered by insurance
Professionally accredited
This table shows some of the similarities & distinctions between the two:
Therapy is about uncovering and recovering, while coaching is about discovering.
The decision to seek out a coach or a therapist is a very personal one indeed. Which should you choose? The answer is the one who will be most helpful for your specific needs at this point in time.
As a metaphor for a significant life change, it might be helpful to imagine yourself desiring to climb Mount Everest base camp. For most of us, this would be an undertaking needing some kind of professional support and direction. Where are you starting from? Generally healthy or have some real health challenges? To continue with the metaphor, you might hire an expert Sherpa(coach)or a doctor(therapist), or possibly both. They are certainly not mutually exclusive and the one(s) you choose will be of most help to you during your specific journey.
A Sherpa(coach) will help you safely reach base camp with climbing strategy, monitoring your progress, accountability, encouraging words, and partnering with you to overcome obstacles along the way.
However, if you have an existing medical issue that maybe made worse by the exertion/altitude, no amount of great Sherpa-ing is going to get you beyond that. Having a doctor(therapist) is the logical action to take to address and manage the mental wellness concerns.
Said another way, a health and wellness coach does not replace the need for or supersede medical professionals – they fill in the support/accountability gaps within the medical field to holistically help people take charge of their personal health.
What can I expect from health coaching?
Coaching resembles talk therapy, because the focus of the sessions is about you and what is happening in your personal life. But unlike talk therapy, the point of health coaching is to co-create an action plan that helps you change your behavior in some area of your life to optimize for a healthy outcome.
Why is the Functional model of health so important?
During the first or second session, your health coach will ask you to describe what is already going well for you healthwise. This is important not only because you already have momentum (a body in motion stays in motion) but also, to identify your unique personal strengths and talents, so as to build upon what is already working. This avenue of inquiry often leads to questions about what is truly meaningful to you, bringing the discussion around to what your ideal health and wellness looks like, and is often referred to as the vision session.
This desirable future vision gives you direction, helps to focus and inspires you to take action to create from it. From this clarity of direction, you will craft a number of long-term and short-term goals to help you achieve that vision.
A long-term goal (LTG) is something you want to achieve further in the future and requires time and planning. They are specific and measurable. Long-term goals take at a minimum, 3 months or longer to achieve. An example of a LTG would be to reduce A1c by 0.5%. Each long-term goal will be broken down into smaller, attainable short-term goals which support the LTG. A short-term goal (STG) is something you can do soon. Soon can mean today, this week, or within the month. Your coach will guide you through the process of making your short-term goal SMART.
Ideally short-term goals should also be as specific as possible. The details really matter because confusion is the enemy of action. An example of a STG that supports the LTG mentioned above would be to incorporate at a minimum 30 minutes of purposeful movement daily, five out of seven days per week.
Why just one?
There are a few scientific reasons for this, but the most relevant is that practicing a new habit requires a lot of mental bandwidth to do it. After a while, however, the pattern of behavior becomes easier. Eventually, your new habit becomes a part of your normal routine, and the process is more or less rinse and repeat.
Researchers have a fancy term for this process called “automaticity.” But here's the thing, automaticity only occurs as the result of lots of repetition and practice of the new behavior.
Why is the Functional model of health so important?
The more reps you put in, the faster the behavior becomes automatic.
Your coach will help you to discuss the obstacles that might come up and have a backup plan in place. Additionally, you are likely to identify the people, environment and/or resources that can support you, as you move forward towards both the STG and LTG. It is understood that your coach is always there as a resource and to support you – they are in your corner, no matter if you complete the behavior or not.
Strengths and values matter
Finally, your coach will help you to identify your values and innate strengths. All our decisions and by association, actions, are affected by our values. Values are as critical as our innate strengths to achieving our goals. Anthony Robins, in his book titled ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ states that values guide our decisions whether we are aware of them or not, and, therefore, our destiny.
Why is the Functional model of health so important?
Humans enjoy things they are naturally strong at - they’re more likely to practice them, improve on them, and that enjoyment and feedback cycle results in motivation to keep practicing. Harnessing a strength when adopting a new behavior increases the chances that it will permanently stick.
However, we don’t ignore weaknesses. To the contrary, weaknesses are approached non-judgmentally as gaps in skill, performance, knowledge, and training. We look at gaps as “fields of opportunity” for cultivating new behaviors, ultimately yielding greater influence and positive impact on your goals.
My coaching philosophy is holistic in that it examines the larger picture of the client’s life too. Environment and relationships play a pivotal role in the effort to achieve and maintain health goals and should neither go unexamined nor unaddressed.
I am eager to partner with you on your health journey. Let’s get started!
Health coach
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