Isn’t coaching just a different form of therapy?  As a coach I get asked this question a lot but the general public and clients alike.  The answer is no, it is not.  Though both coaching and therapy have a similar path and many of the techniques used in the coaching process are similar in nature to a therapeutic approach…”therapy is about uncovering and recovering, while coaching is about discovering” (Coaching vs Psychotherapy by Patrick Williams, Choice Magazine, 2004).  To the root of it all, coaching and therapy can and often do coincide in a person’s development.  While some works on discovering who they are and how they want to live life, therapy can help to clarify what might be causing someone to repeat the same pattern over and over again and to recover from the past and move forward.  Moving forward is where the coaching process excels; it helps people get really clear on matters most to them.  While on the surface coaching and therapy have many commonalities; both support the individual, both have regular sessions with the client whether face to face or by phone and both coaching and therapy look to help the client get from where they are now to where they want to be, that is essentially though where the similarities end.

Coaching has developed from many of the early pioneers of what is now considered modern day psychotherapy, Carl Rogers wrote the book “The Client Centered Therapy” which shifted the idea of therapy to focus more on the clients ability to grow and change, this helped to frame the early stages of what has now been coined as coaching.  Coaching has blended the best techniques from the psychotherapy world with organizational and personal development training.  Tony Robbins is an example of someone who uses many of these techniques.

I’ve pulled this information from the article mentioned earlier written by Patrick Williams of the Institute for Life Coach Training, it provides an easy to view of the differences of coaching and therapy and rather than recreate the wheel….. 

As the general public learn the differences between coaching and therapy and begin to see the great benefits of using a coaching approach to their lives coaching will become a mainstream activity that most organizations and individuals will use to progress through life.  Coaching will become a catalyst towards success and will facilitate lives full of purpose and authenticity.

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Other articles of interest about therapy & coaching

•  Border Line – Understanding the Relationship between Coaching & Therapy  by Patrick Williams
•  Coaching vs Therapy Chart   from Coachville
• Coaching & Counselling – What is the Connection by Julie Austin
• Coaching vs Therapy – What is the Difference by Lisa Fredette

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Much about being a coach is listening to our client and essentially “reading between the lines”, since much of what a coach does is over the phone an ability to be a strong active listener is very important. Recently, I discovered that interpretation of words can have a profound effect on how one reacts to a particular situation. Many people today find it easy to blame someone else for their issues, some will even blame it on the dog, people will find every opportunity to blame someone or something else before they lay the blame on themselves.

When you choose to blame someone rather take ownership of the issue you’re handing over all control of the situation to someone else. If you choose to lay blame, you’ve now decided that what has been done didn’t have anything to do with you, but at the same time the follow result or resolution will also have nothing to do with you. You lose any control in the situation or outcome and can only accept what happens. On the other hand should you decide to take responsibility for your impact in the situation you then become an active participant in the solution and in turn deciding the outcome of the situation. From there you can decide to continue to have continued participation or you can make a conscious decision to move away from the situation and live life on your terms.

Living an extraordinary life means choosing the best result for you which will lead to better living.

If you’re interested in learning more about coaching and how it can have a profound effect on your life then contact me today!

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In Context magazine wrote an article in 1990 called “A Question of Lifestyle“, I learned where the term lifesytle was coined, but more than that what drove me to continue reading was the 30 or so questions asked about our lifestyle choices….some of the questions that got me thinking were:

1. If you didn’t need to work for income, what would you do with your time?
2. What is the smallest amount of money you could live on for one year?
3. What was the last thing you bought that you really didn’t need? Why did you buy it?
4. What would you estimate to be the total weight of all your possessions?
5. Where, how, and why do you travel?  What do you give to the places you visit? What do you bring home?

What about you?  Have you taken time to figure out what matters to you most, and if not when will you?

PS:  Thanks to Louise from Our Odyssey blog for guiding me to the article.

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