Why is Coaching different to therapy or counselling?

Therapy focuses on problems, usually from the past, and then tries to fix them. Coaching concentrates primarily on the present and future. It does not focus on the past or on the past’s impact on the present and whilst it uses information from the client’s past to clarify where the client is today, it does not depend on resolution of the past to move the client forward, as do most forms of psychotherapy and/or counselling.

Coaching is not psychotherapy. Emotional healing is not the focus of coaching. Coaching can be used concurrently with psychotherapeutic work, but it is not used as a substitute for psychotherapeutic work.

Coaching is designed to help clients improve their learning and performance and enhance their quality of life. Coaching does not focus directly on relieving psychological pain or treating cognitive or emotional disorders, as do psychotherapy and counselling.

Coaching assumes the presence of emotional reactions to life events and that clients are capable of expressing and handling those emotions.

References:

• The International Coach Federation
• The Coaching & Mentoring Network
• Peer Resources

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