Coaching is different from therapy in several important ways:

1. Therapy often goes into a person’s developmental history—past experiences, traumas, and mental health concerns—while coaching is focused on setting goals and finding solutions for current life issues.

2. Therapists tend to take on the role of “expert,” giving treatment recommendations based on what they know. In coaching, you become the expert of your own life. Your coach may make suggestions, but you’re the one with the deepest knowledge about yourself and we trust that you will make the best decision for your life.

3. Therapy places an emphasis on diagnosing and labeling people and problems. Coaching isn’t as concerned with diagnosis as with what’s going on right now—with what is getting in your way and how to get you past those barriers.

4. Therapy is generalized and doesn’t tailor fit solutions to specifically address the needs of your child and family. Coaching utilizes a teamwork approach and partners with children, teens, parents and adults to explore solutions and interventions for the issues at hand – based on their needs.

5. Therapy tends to see the individual as “maladjusted” or “suffering from a debilitating disorder or condition” that requires treatment from a mental health professional. Coaching, on the other hand, is solution-oriented and comes from a belief in self-sufficiency. A coach understands that people have the ability to solve their own problems—they may just need some extra help, guidance, accountability, techniques, tools, and/or a motivational push in the right direction.

6. Therapy is problem-focused, addressing the manifestations of a disorder (depression, anxiety, etc.) and their underlying symptoms. Coaching is solution-focused, starting from the person’s strengths, abilities, and interests, and only afterward considering their challenges and areas of difficulty.

7. Therapy tends to be long-term. Coaching is usually much shorter in duration, but can be on-going in some cases.