Coaching vs Therapy

Coaching and Therapy both play important roles in personal development and emotional well-being, but they serve different purposes. While therapy focuses on healing emotional or psychological issues from the PAST, coaching is more goal-oriented and FUTURE-focused, helping individuals achieve personal and professional growth. Understanding these differences is key to seeing how coaching fits into the larger picture of self-improvement.

In this blog, we'll explore the distinctions between coaching and therapy, based on insights from scientific studies and expert sources (Youth Life Coaching Institute, LLC)

The easiest way to compare is by placing side by side what each field represents at its core. Below is a comparison based on various sources from both fields...

	COACHING	THERAPY
Purpose	Goal-oriented, focused on personal/professional growth and performance	Healing emotional or psychological distress, improving mental health
Who is this for?	Functioning individuals seeking self-improvement	Individuals with emotional, mental health, or psychological issues
Focus	Present and future, achieving goals	Past and present, resolving emotional or psychological issues
Approach	Action-oriented, client-driven, uses techniques like goal-setting, motivation	Clinician-driven, uses therapy methods (e.g., CBT, DBT)
Scope of Practice	Focus on personal growth, performance; not equipped to treat mental illness	Can diagnose and treat mental health conditions, address trauma
Typical Techniques	Goal-setting, accountability, motivational	Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, talk therapy
Relationship	Collaborative partnership, client as co-creator	Therapist as expert guiding client through emotional healing
Duration	Short to medium-term, based on achieving specific goals	Can be short or long-term depending on the complexity of the issues

In Conclusion:

1. Coaches do not diagnose or treat mental health conditions;

   therapists do.

2. Coaching can be seen as complementary to therapy but not a replacement for it, especially in cases of mental health issues.