Therapy Vs. Coaching – What's the Difference?

If you’ve ever wondered whether you need a therapist or a coach — or why the internet seems so divided about it — this episode breaks it all down without the black-and-white thinking. We explore the real differences between therapy and coaching, where they overlap, and what most people misunderstand about both professions. From licensing, ethics, and evidence-based treatment to personal growth, goal setting, and modern coaching culture, you’ll learn what each role is actually designed to do — and how to decide what kind of support is right for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Climb Your Mountain, the only podcast that teaches you how to use coaching, neuroscience, and mindfulness to overcome life's challenges. I'm Sarah Maurer, a certified life and performance coach, front work facilitator, and transpeak. Each week, I show you how to change your brain fast for good and without struggle. Whether you're training to climb an actual mountain, building a business, dating, or planning a fucking rebellion, these tools will help. Listen and learn so you can enjoy more of what you want. Happiness, fun, convection, creativity, courage, and the occasional mountaintop moment. Ready? Let's do this.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Hello, hello. I am back after a bit of uh hiatus here on the podcast. I hope you all have been doing well. I hope you all have been catching up on past episodes. What have I been doing? I've been doing a bit of traveling, but also taking a bit of a break from social media, from podcasting, just to kind of clear out my mind. I had a pretty intense business year last year. So I felt like it would be really good for me to just kind of practice what I preach and just do some disconnecting from the internet and just spend a bit of time focused on my life. As a life coach, I feel like really one of my most important jobs is to be a product of my product and to live my life to the fullest. So definitely been doing a bit of that. And I've also been thinking a lot about my programs and how I want to deliver my coaching, what is really going to get the most amazing results for you, my amazing clients. And really one of the big things I've been working on is how to integrate breath work, which is one of my favorite modalities, deeper into my mindset coaching and my stress coaching, which is a big part of what I do. So I'll be rolling out some new things over the next few months. Definitely watch this space and expect to see some changes right here on the podcast, also. I'm working on new art, new branding. It's gonna have a new title, new music, new everything. It is still gonna be a general life coaching podcast, and it is gonna be focused on chronic stress and overwhelm. How do you deal with that? So definitely look for new episodes coming. But this is me stepping back in, and I want to really step back in by answering some questions that have just always been coming up, I would say, in my business, but are coming up more lately. And kind of the theme of it is in case you haven't noticed, life is really expensive right now. I don't know about you, but like where I live, gas is, oh God. I'm like, I've been on vacation, so I haven't actually seen the gas prices. I'm actually gonna drive down to Littleton in southern Denver to see my mom this afternoon. And I dread seeing the gas prices. I think they're probably close to $5 a gallon now, if not a little bit over. And what this all adds up to, I think, is that we are all thinking harder about our spending. We're thinking more about our investments, and that includes really important and valuable things like investing in our mental health. And I am no different from you. I actually am finishing up a big coaching mastermind in June, and I have a big decision about whether I'm actually going to renew that or what sort of investments I'm gonna make in my own coaching going forward. So I think also as coaching has matured as a profession, that has also led people to question it more. There are a lot more coaches out there marketing, you probably see them on your Instagram, which I think naturally raises more questions for people like what's the value of coaching? How is it different from therapy? I'm definitely hearing more of these questions, and I know you're wondering the answers. So in the next over the next few weeks, I'm gonna answer some frequently asked questions just about kind of the economics of mental health, of coaching, of therapy, how is coaching priced? I think there's kind of a perception that it's overpriced, which I do not blame you. If you see some of the some of the more money-focused posting that comes up on social media, it was really interesting. I um was out to have dinner with a friend a couple weeks ago, and he just said he's he's actually in education. So he knows a lot about the different professions. He's actually in vocational education at the community college level. He's a like a leader, dean, administrator. So, like really knowledgeable person, and he said to me something that just made me go, what? And he goes, Well, coaching is more expensive than therapy now. And he just says this so casually, like he's reporting the weather. And we'll talk in a minute about how that's a little bit true, but not necessarily always true. And sometimes it is true for good reasons, but I think this is a topic that I think is is important to cover, just because there's a perception out there. So, in this particular episode and in the next few episodes, I'm gonna help you decide just uh like what if you're gonna invest in mental health help and personal development, what's gonna be the best bang for your buck? Is it coaching? Is it therapy? We're gonna take a deep dive into each, what they each do really well, some of the limitations of both, and what to consider when you're deciding where to put your mental health dollars and personal development dollars. And I'm also just gonna answer, like I said, the most common questions that come up for me. For example, isn't a therapist always better because they have a graduate degree and a license? And what's a reasonable cost for coaching? How is it priced? How can I be sure that the coach I'm hiring actually knows what they're doing? Since coaches in particular, as we'll learn, if you didn't already know, I'm gonna be sharing more on this podcast about how the coaching industry is not actually regulated like the therapy professions are. So I'll be answering all of that and more. And you may be asking, Sarah Maurer, what is your authority on this topic? And I think I have actually a really unique perspective on this because I think a lot of coaches are talking about the difference between coaching and therapy. I think a lot of therapists are talking about the difference between the two. And what makes me unique is I've actually trained as a counselor and practiced as a counselor for six years before I became a coach, which I've now been coaching for. I think I'm going into my fifth year now. So I feel like I have a useful perspective on this topic that other people, I mean, there are other people that are also have that background, but not that many. And I think a lot of people are talking about the differences without actually having done both. I also think like it's really easy to have some negativity about the other camp. The therapists don't necessarily have the best opinion of the coaches. The coaches think the therapists are sometimes out of touch. And I really feel like I have so much love for both professions. I really see the value in both of them, and I'm really gonna try to share that with you in this series. And I'm not gonna be completely objective. Obviously, I'm a coach now. I don't practice as a counselor, I'm no longer licensed in that profession, but I also really value the work that counselors and therapists do. So, what we're gonna focus on today, just kind of to give you a foundation for upcoming episodes, the next few episodes, is the differences between therapy and coaching. And one thing I really want to share, I think like one thing that a lot of people who are talking about this, in my opinion, get wrong. There are meaningful differences between the two, but there's also a fair amount of overlap. It's not as black and white the differences as some people like to think. And I'm gonna share with you kind of the most important things to know. What are the important differences and where are they similar? That's gonna be the focus today for the rest of this episode. So, first, let's just dive into a little bit about like what is a therapist and therapy, and what is coaching and a coach. So, we'll talk about the differences between the two. What's a therapist? A therapist is a trained mental health practitioner. They are applying evidence-based therapies to treat mental health and personal problems, and it's almost like they're kind of following a medical model. They're diagnosing the problem and offering a solution. This isn't 100% true, but tends to be true. And the really interesting thing about therapists that I think a lot of coaches that are talking about this don't realize is the massive amount of training that goes into becoming a therapist. So, for example, thinking about the different professions that are basically trained in this therapeutic model, the one, the one that is probably the most expertise, the biggest expert with the most expertise is a psychologist. In order to be a psychologist, you really need a doctorate. And then you need a master's. This is at least in the United States, you need a master's to be a counselor, a clinical social worker, or a marriage and family therapist. Although some of those can also have a doctorate. That's actually not uncommon. All of these professions are also licensed in order to advertise your services as a therapist, as a counselor, as a psychologist, as a marriage and family therapist. By law, you in the United States, you actually have to hold a license. And it you have to hold a license in the state where you practice. And in order to get a license, you have to do a lot of shit. You have to graduate from an accredited training program, which is usually a graduate degree. You have to pass exams, you have to complete extensive supervised clinical experience where you're reviewing your cases with a more experienced therapist and kind of think of it almost as a it's less than a residency for a physician, but it's kind of analogous. Usually it's a couple years at least to complete that supervised clinical experience portion. It's usually in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 4,000 hours, depending on which credential you're going for. Therapists, in order to get licensed, they have to pass a background check. They can't have anything on their criminal background. They can't have issues with their licensing board. So, for example, you can't be a psychologist necessarily if you're a psycho a psychology student, you cannot have been disciplined in any way or runafoul of your own profession. And you have to adhere, once you're licensed, to a strict code of ethics. For example, a really common one that most people will relate to is like a therapist cannot have a sexual or romantic relationship with their clients. And if they do, they are subject to disciplinary action by their states, and they can actually lose that credential that they worked so hard and invested so much money and time to get. So there's a big incentive for therapists to behave ethically, to follow their ethical code, and just basically be good professionals. And thinking about therapy as something that you can buy, something that you can invest in as the client, what's it like? Usually therapy is delivered as one-to-one sessions. Usually, historically, it's been delivered in person. Now it's pretty common to do therapy online. You might have seen services, things like BetterHelp, and therapists may be solo practitioners. It's also really common for them to work for an organization, whether that's a health system, a community agency, or a group practice. And whenever you are doing therapy with your therapist, you're gonna notice that there's a certain kind of relationship that happens. And really one of the core principles of therapy is that in order for it to work, in order for it to be therapeutic and be healing and get results for the client, there has to be like a bit of distance between the practitioner and the client. That doesn't mean that they don't um that they don't like and respect each other, that they don't have a strong therapeutic alliance. But there are a lot of ethical constraints around something called dual relationships. So for example, therapists, according to their ethical code, don't provide therapy for family members generally. Um, they don't generally provide it for co-workers, close friends, or other people that they know so well that they would have a hard time being 100% objective with. So it is kind of a almost like professional working relationship. It can be warm, it can be fun. Um, I personally have had some very funny therapists, but you know, I that I really just enjoyed hanging out with, but you know, it's not the kind of relationship where I'm able to go out with a for a beer with them after the therapy session. So a little bit about therapy there. So now let's talk about coaching. What is a coach? So a coach is actually not a mental health professional per se. You can think of them more as a personal development practitioner. They are focused on goals, skill development, and performance. Generally, their training and licensure is much less than a therapist. And one thing that I thought was really interesting when I found out about this, I didn't necessarily realize this as a client that was hiring coaches in the beginning, is that coaching is a 100% unregulated industry. It does not require any sort of certification or licensure. Literally anyone can call themselves a coach, whether they have training or not. And this being said, there are a lot of coaches that participate in voluntary credentialing programs. One of the most common ones is the International Coaching Federation. Another common one is the Center for Credentialing and Education. So a coach that is credentialed through one of those organizations has paid extra money and done extra work to actually obtain that credential, to obtain supervision, to have someone certify that they have a basic level of competency. And one way that you'll know that you're working with a credentialed coach is they usually have an abbreviation after their name. It'll be something like PCC or BCC. There are a couple of other ones that you can look up if you see someone using it and find out where they are credentialed through. So these coaches that are voluntarily credentialed have completed a recognized training program that this almost always does include supervised clinical hours, but usually many fewer hours than a therapist would go through. So, for example, I'm an ICF coach, I'm working on my PCC credential, I'm almost there. And to get there, my last requirement is I have to have 500 supervised hours, which is a lot, but way less than the 2,000 to 4,000 than the therapist actually has completed, and that I had to complete going through my counseling certification. And in order to be voluntarily certified, the coaches do have to pass an exam. Once they're certified, they do have to adhere to a code of ethics. They can be disciplined by their credentialing body. However, it's important to know, and I think kind of keep this in the back of your mind, that the coach can actually break the ethical code, get kicked out of their credentialing organization, be stripped of their credential, but they can still practice, even if they lose that credential. It honestly doesn't necessarily affect their ability to practice at all because it's an unregulated industry. So there isn't kind of like that stick that that they're worried about, like, like that um is like really holding them to the ethics, like like the stakes for them of adhering to the ethical code are much lower than a therapist who, if they break that code, if they get caught, if they get disciplined, if they get stripped of their licensure, they can they lose their livelihood. The coach can just keep right on going, which I don't know. Like it it I don't think it's very common that coaches do that, but I I like to believe that most coaches are really in it in order to be good people, do good for their clients, generally having ethical behavior. But it's also possible for them to um practice. They don't necessarily have the same ethical code and enforcement that a therapist would have. And when you think about how coaches practice, most of them, I'd say the vast majority, are actually self-employed. They're in private practice. There are a small minority of coaches that are working for organizations, whether that's health systems, whether that's group practices, whether that's personal development organizations. You might see, for example, health coaches now, sometimes working with primary care practices, which is really cool, or career coaches, sometimes working with um higher education institutions. But the vast majority are self-employed. They are working for themselves and they're online marketing, trying to get clients through various means. And what's it like to work with a coach? What's the relationship like? Honestly, it varies. There's huge variation. It depends very much on the coach. But I would say overall, it's usually a bit less formal than a coach than a client therapist relationship. It's really pretty common, I would say, for coaches and clients to really get to know each other as people. And I would say it's not unusual for them to become friendly, to become friends, and even to sometimes do things outside of coaching, just because it's a different relationship and the thought isn't necessarily that they need to have extreme objectivity in order for the coaching to be effective. I think it's always important whenever a coach is also friends with their client, for them to make sure that they are setting boundaries. These are the things we do in coaching, these are the things we do as friends, but it is possible, and I would say not unusual for that relationship to be a bit informal. It kind of becomes almost like a mentor mentee in some cases, and they feel like somewhat friendly and really know each other as people, which I think can be actually really, really good depending on exactly what you're bringing to coaching and what you're looking for. So those are the differences between the two, which now kind of raises the question, which I am gonna dive into even deeper next week. Should I go to a coach, a therapist, or both? Or possibly neither. Next week I'm gonna spend some time just really talking about what the therapist and what the coach really specialize in whenever you are considering hiring someone, maybe some signs, some clear cut ideas and guidelines about where you want to start, where You want to invest your money and where you're going to get the best results, depending on what it is that you really want to work on. So I hope you will tune in for that. And until then, have a wonderful week and I will talk to you really soon. Take care.