What do you think of the coaching practice? coaching vs. therapy?

I really want to start getting into the coaching field and get my certification. I am very intuitive and have a true knack for consulting, dealing with people and feelings, problem solving and solution-finding, etc. But my only qualm is that I dont want people to think ' oh, she just didnt want to go thru all the extra schooling to be a therapist ' or think that it is not a credible or legitimate practice or something. What do you think of people who are coaches as a career, life or personal coaches, etc.? what do you think of coaching versus therapy? pros, cons? would you rather see a coach or a therapist? would you hire a coach? what do you think the underlying values of a coach are versus a therapists? Its kind of true that I dont want to spend the next 4 yrs in school to become a liscenced therapist, which is what lead me to the coaching field. but I dont want to regret it later. if there are any therapists out there, do u like ur career? does it take a toll on you?

Answer:
I too am an aspiring coach. And from the research I've done I would say the difference between coaching and therapy are basically the future v the past.

Coaching really deals with the future - goal setting and helping somone follow a plan to reach those goals.

Therapy isn't so much about goal setting but problem solving. As a therapist you may help someone achieve a goal. But you may also just help them deal with their traumtic childhood memories that keep them from having a good relationship with their spouse.

There is a lot of crossover, but as a coach you will not discuss a person past for anymore information than what will help you to help them be more motivated.

A therapist also offers a lot of advice. Whereas a coach really offers only encouragement to the client believing that the clint does know what they need to do but just needs a push to get it done.

I'm a grad student studying to be a therapist, and I do really like it. It's a great feeling knowing that I've devoted my life to helping others, but at the same time I know that this career has the potential to be mentally taxing as well. It's called "compassion fatigue".
Not to say that coaching isn't a valuable field as well, however. Both have their place. A client who just needs some help getting motivated or figuring out what they want to do with their life would probably be best suited for a life coach, whereas clients who want personal exploration or true psychotherapy would need to visit a therapist.
I'm sure that you would be great at whatever career you choose to go into.

Also, to the person above me: a competent therapist wouldn't offer advice to a client. Rather, their goal would be to assist a client in becoming strong enough to solve their own problems.

Therapy-zing is trying to straightern an iron bar until you think it is straight enough while coaching is convincing that iron bar that it is straight and put it to work the way it is. Ironically, coaching works better than therapy.

The general public (aka your clients) doesn't make much of a difference between the two, so don't worry, you can go for coaching and nobody that counts (aka your clients again) will ever notice.

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What do you think of the coaching practice? coaching vs. therapy?

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