Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

Life Coaching vs Counselling and other therapies

Life Coaching vs Counselling and other therapies

Life Coaching and therapy may be considered similar, but they are not the same thing. Each focuses on helping the individual to discover solutions on their own. There are many different types of therapy, some of which may be, in content, quite similar to life coaching. Some kinds of therapy, such as those aimed at dealing with a phobia, tend to be problem-focused. Treatment ceases when the symptoms disappear or become manageable for the client. Analysis is another type of therapy. It is long-term and works at uncovering the roots of issues—understanding the client's emotional history and possible past psychological trauma—in order to enable the client to move forward. Thus, there are a wide variety of therapeutic options, ranging from quick and narrowly focused to long and broad-scoped and everything in between, but all are regulated.
The evidenced-based coaching movement supports the use of coaching techniques based on proven concepts in clinical psychology/counselling. Coaching techniques, like those based on the work of Alfred Adler * and Gestalt Coaching, based on Gestalt psychology** are emerging based on traditional counselling approaches.
Coaching is a professional partnership between a qualified coach and an individual, or team, that supports the achievement of results, based on goals set by the individual, or team. The individual or team chooses the focus of conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations and questions as well as concepts and principles which assist in generating possibilities and identifying actions. Coaching accelerates the individual's or team’s progress by providing greater focus and awareness of possibilities leading to more effective choices, fresh perspectives, enhanced thinking and increased confidence in carrying out their chosen work and life roles.

How can you determine if coaching is right for you?
Since coaching is a partnership, ask yourself if you find it valuable to collaborate, to have another viewpoint and to be asked to consider new perspectives. Also, ask yourself if you are ready to devote the time and the energy to making real changes in your work or life. If the answer to these questions is yes, then coaching may be a beneficial way for you to grow and develop.

What are some typical reasons someone might want to work with a coach?
There are many reasons that an individual or team might choose to work with a coach, including but not limited to the following:
· There is something at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity), and it is urgent, compelling or exciting or all of the above
· There is a gap in knowledge, skills, confidence, or resources
· A big stretch is being asked or required, and it is time sensitive
· There is a desire to accelerate results
· There is a need for a course correction in work or life due to a setback
· An individual has a style of relating that is ineffective or is not supporting the achievement of one’s personally relevant goals
· There is a lack of clarity, and there are choices to be made
· The individual is extremely successful, and success has started to become problematic
· Work and life are out of balance, and this is creating unwanted consequences
· One has not identified his or her core strengths and how best to leverage them
· The individual desires work and life to be simpler, less complicated
· There is a need and a desire to better organized and more self-managing
· There is a lack of self-esteem and/or self identity

What has caused the tremendous growth in the coaching industry?
Coaching has grown significantly for many reasons. Generally the world has changed a lot, and coaching is a useful tool to deal with many of those changes. There is more job transition, more self-employment and small business. Some of the real life factors include:
· Rapid changes in the external business environment
· Downsizing, restructuring, mergers and other organizational changes have radically altered what has been termed the “traditional employment contract”—companies can no longer achieve results using traditional management approaches
· There is a growing shortage of talented employees in certain industries—to attract and retain top talent, companies must commit to investing in individuals’ development
· There is a widening disparity between what managers were trained to do and what their jobs now require them to do in order to meet increasing demands for competitive results
· There is unrest on the part of many employees and leaders in many companies—people are wrestling with fears around job insecurity and increased workplace pressures to perform at higher levels than ever before.
· Companies must develop inclusive, collaborative work environments, in order to achieve strategic business goals, and to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction

In addition, individuals who have experienced the excellent results of coaching are talking to more people about coaching. In short, coaching helps people focus on what matters most to them in life: business and personal. People today are more open to the idea of being in charge of their own lives. Coaching helps people do just that; so the industry continues to grow.

How is coaching delivered? Coaching typically begins with a personal interview (either face-to-face or by teleconference call) to assess the individual’s current opportunities and challenges, define the scope of the relationship, identify priorities for action, and establish specific desired outcomes. Subsequent coaching sessions may be conducted in person or over the telephone, with each session lasting a previously established length of time. Between scheduled coaching sessions, the individual may be asked to complete specific actions that support the achievement of one’s personally prioritized goals. The coach may provide additional resources in the form of relevant articles, checklists, assessments, or models, to support the individual’s thinking and actions. The duration of the coaching relationship varies depending on the individual’s personal needs and preferences. What should someone look for when selecting a coach?The most important thing to look for in selecting a coach is someone with whom you feel you can easily relate and create the most powerful partnership. Someone you feel comfortable with. Be sure to ask:· What is your coaching experience?· What is your coach specific training? · What is your coaching specialty or client areas you most often work in? · What specialized skills or experience do you bring to your coaching? · What are some coaching success stories? (specific examples of individuals who have done well and examples of how you have added value, although due to confidentiality names would not be mentioned.) How long does a coach work with an individual?The length of a coaching partnership varies depending on the individual's or team’s needs and preferences. For certain types of focused coaching, 3 to 6 months of working with a coach may work, this could be once or twice a month. For other types of coaching, people may find it beneficial to work with a coach for a longer period. Factors that may impact the length of time include: the types of goals, the ways individuals or teams like to work, the frequency of coaching meetings, and financial resources available to support coaching. How is coaching distinct from other service professions? Professional coaching is a distinct service which focuses on an individual’s life as it relates to goal setting, outcome creation and personal change management. In an effort to understand what a coach is, it can be helpful to distinguish coaching from other professions that provide personal or organizational support.Therapy—Coaching can be distinguished from therapy in a number of ways. First, coaching is a profession that supports personal and professional growth and development based on individual-initiated change in pursuit of specific actionable outcomes. These outcomes are linked to personal or professional success. Coaching is forward moving and future focused. Therapy, on the other hand, deals with healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within an individual or a relationship between two or more individuals. The focus is often on resolving difficulties arising from the past which hamper an individual's emotional functioning in the present, improving overall psychological functioning, and dealing with present life and work circumstances in more emotionally healthy ways. Therapy outcomes often include improved emotional/feeling states. While positive feelings/emotions may be a natural outcome of coaching, the primary focus is on creating actionable strategies for achieving specific goals in one's work or personal life. The emphasis in a coaching relationship is on action, accountability and follow through.Consulting—Consultants may be retained by individuals or organizations for the purpose of accessing specialized expertise. While consulting approaches vary widely, there is often an assumption that the consultant diagnoses problems and prescribes and sometimes implements solutions. In general, the assumption with coaching is that individuals or teams are capable of generating their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.Mentoring—Mentoring, which can be thought of as guiding from one’s own experience or sharing of experience in a specific area of industry or career development, is sometimes confused with coaching. Although some coaches provide mentoring as part of their coaching, such as in mentor coaching new coaches, coaches are not typically mentors to those they coach. Training—Training programs are based on the acquisition of certain learning objectives as set out by the trainer or instructor. Though objectives are clarified in the coaching process, they are set by the individual or team being coached with guidance provided by the coach. Training also assumes a linear learning path which coincides with an established curriculum. Coaching is less linear without a set curriculum plan.Athletic Development—Though sports metaphors are often used, professional coaching is different from the traditional sports coach. The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs the behavior of individuals or teams based on his or her greater experience and knowledge. Professional coaches possess these qualities, but it is the experience and knowledge of the individual or team that determines the direction. Additionally, professional coaching, unlike athletic development, does not focus on behaviours that are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunity for development based on individual strengths and capabilities. Maggie is a leading expert on confidence and self-esteem coaching and is the only Dawn Breslin™ Accredited Life Coach Practitioner and Group Trainer on the Isle of Wight and one of very few in the UK to have graduated from the Dawn Breslin Training Academy. Maggie is also an OCN accredited Corporate & Executive Coach and Personal Life Coach, having graduated from both Newcastle College and The Coaching Academy and has considerable experience in coaching individuals in their personal lives, in addition to their careers. Her holistic and lively approach to personal development from the delivery of the training and coaching continues through to on-going support. No ifs, no buts, just results.Maggie is passionate about helping people to rebuild their self-esteem and their confidence and loves to watch people change in front of her. She loves to help everyone she can to really live their best lives and enjoy themselves to the full. Not only that she practices what she offers to all her clients and lives her life to the full and enjoys it all.



* Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor and psychologist, founder of the school of individual psychology. Adler co-founded psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues. He was the first major figure to break away from psychoanalysis to form an independent school of psychotherapy and personality theory. Adler had an enormous impact on the disciplines of counselling and psychotherapy as they would develop over the course of the 20th century (Ellenberger, 1970).

** Gestalt psychology is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies; or, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The classic Gestalt example is a soap bubble, whose spherical shape is not defined by a rigid template, or a mathematical formula, but rather it emerges spontaneously by the parallel action of surface tension acting at all points in the surface simultaneously.





Life Coaching vs Counselling and other therapies - To learn more about this author, visit Maggie Currie's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
Casey Gollan
Casey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website

Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website

Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website

Joe Dager
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website

John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

David Acheson
David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website

Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website

Linda Richardson
Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Maggie Currie
(Visit Maggie's Website) I am a leading expert on self-esteem and confidence building. I am a graduate of Newcastle College, The Coaching Academy and Dawn Breslin Training Academy. I am one of very few life coach practitioners and group trainers in the UK accredited by Dawn Breslin. In additional I am an OCN accredited Corporate & Executive coach and an OCN accredited Personal Life Coach. I am passionate about helping people to live the lives they want to live and just love to watch people change in front of me. In addition I am an accredited holistic therapist and practice Indian Head Massage, Thought field Therapy, Crystal and Coulour therapies, Reiki. I really love what I do.

Maggie Currie is a Gold author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Maggie Currie's

Complete
List Of
Work-Life
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Maggie Currie's Complete List of Work-Life Articles For FREE!

More Maggie Currie
Choose Your Focus
Belief Becomes Reality
Life Coaching vs Counselling and other therapies
Have you forgotten who you are
How to conquer our fear of failure
Saying Yes Saying No
How To Achieve Your Ideal WorkLife balance
Can life coaching help me sort out my life
Time for Action
Developing Passive Income
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Casey Gollan  
Kim Castle  
John Brennan  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Business / Personal Plan Icon Business / Personal Plan
Create A Mission Statement Icon Create A Mission Statement
A Clean Desk Icon A Clean Desk
Biography Icon Biography
Purpose of Value Propositions Icon Purpose of Value Propositions
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
 
Write The Press Release
Write The PR
Press Release Builder
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Yaya Mintre Agoe, Togo,
Yaya Mintre
Agoe, Togo
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Lisa Shepherd, $335k to $1.1 Mil in 2 years
Lisa Shepherd
$335k to $1.1 Mil in 2 years
Geoff Whitlock, $53k to $507k in 3 years
Geoff Whitlock
$53k to $507k in 3 years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Hugh Hefner, Playboy
Hugh Hefner
Playboy
King Gillette, The Gillette Company
King Gillette
The Gillette Company
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing
John Jantsch
Duct Tape Marketing
David Allen, Getting Things Done
David Allen
Getting Things Done
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     Get your visitors to voluntarily give you their contact information
By Keith Thirgood
     Where is King Content?
By Keith Thirgood
     Your Marketing Message
By Keith Thirgood

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information