Difference Between Coaching and Therapy

People often wonder about the difference between therapy and coaching.

Therapy is about helping people with a mental health challenge (“-5”) get back to normal (“N”). Therapy is focused on reducing a person’s suffering from a disease.

Coaching is about helping people who do not necessarily have a mental health diagnosis but want to feel better about their life. Their goal is to increase their sense of well-being and happiness (“+5”). Coaching is focused on increasing positive emotions and creating more success in a person’s life.

People with a mental health diagnosis need a professional therapist. Coaching is not a substitute for psychotherapy.

Many people do not really have a mental health diagnosis. Sadness may not be clinical depression. Worry may not be clinical anxiety. A professional coach is trained to produce better results more quickly for clients in professional work settings.

Therapists are trained and focused on helping people who suffer from a mental health diagnosis learn to heal and feel less pain. A professional coach is trained to help basically-well people achieve a deeper sense of well-being, happiness, meaning, success, and connection with others. Not surprisingly, learning these can require vastly different skills sets.

For people who do not have a diagnostic illness, a professional coach can be a better and more appropriate option. For people who have successfully completed therapy, coaching is a powerful next step for taking their lives to a new level of well-being and success.