Therapy vs. Coaching: 3 Key Differences & How to Choose the Right Support

One of the most common questions I get is, "What is the difference between therapy and coaching?" In this episode, I break down the three main differences between therapy and coaching to help you get the clarity you need. If you're feeling stuck and unsure which path is right for you, this episode will guide you through key distinctions and provide three powerful questions to help you decide.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• The 3 main differences between therapy and coaching
• How to determine whether you need a therapist or a coach
• Why a combined approach may be the best option for some
• Three questions to ask yourself when choosing your support

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Transcript

  Therapy versus coaching. That is one of the number one questions I get. What is the difference between therapy and coaching? So today I'm going to share with you the three differences that I myself, as a life coach, who also sees a therapist, will give you So, you can gain some clarity on what the differences are, and this will help you to stop putting off getting the support that you need, because maybe you don't know which way to go.

And then, at the end of the episode, I'll share with you three questions that will help you decide therapy or coaching.    

After a lifetime of prioritizing everyone else's needs over your own, do you feel like you don't know who you are anymore?  You may be moving into this next phase of your life or going through life transitions with kids getting older, aging parents, your careers changing, or partner relationships are changing, and you're saying to yourself, Who am I now?

You are not alone. It's time to prioritize yourself so that you can continue to power your mission. It's time to love your life on purpose. I'm Michelle VandeHei, certified holistic life coach and trauma sensitive yoga facilitator to mission driven leaders around the world, creating more impact without burning out.

Let's explore who you are and discover who you want to become because you are worth it.

If you are new to my channel, I put out a new episode every two weeks on Tuesdays about loving your life on purpose. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.  , let's dive in to therapy versus coaching. What is the difference?

I'm going to share with you the three differences that I myself see, and there might be more, and you're welcome to share those in the comments of what you think the difference is.  So the number one thing is therapists can diagnose disorders and work with traumas and help you with those things.

Coaching is focused more on the solution  and is more of this co creation between the coach and the client.

Well, Transparency, my dog had to join me, so I needed to pause there for a moment. Okay, so  coaches are there to co create between you, between the coach and the client.  The coach doesn't tell the client what to do. Typically coaches are asking questions and facilitating  different thought processes, maybe seeing things from a different perspective for the client to help maximize your strengths and your resources.

 I personally can work with traumas in some way. Being a trauma sensitive yoga facilitator, it is an empirically validated. Modality to help with complex trauma and PTSD and some of my clients do have those things however most of the time I'm working with people with  more of that secondary trauma like compassion fatigue vicarious trauma and burnout and  what most what great coaches and great therapists are going to do is if they don't feel like If we don't feel like we can serve you in the best way, we're going to be able to recommend you to other people, or at least say you might think about getting a therapist to work through some of these things. 

The second thing that makes Therapy and coaching different is the relationship. In therapy, the relationship is more of this like doctor patient  type of relationship where the patient needs to receive treatment and the doctor or the therapist is this person that knows the information to give them.

In coaching, it's still a coach client

relationship, but there is less of a hierarchy of one of us knowing better than the other. Coaches definitely are going to have tools and ways to help you. This is one of the things I love about coaching and one of the things that I learned a lot about in my trauma sensitive yoga certification is, , helping people with trauma 

and not feel like their power is being taken away from them or that I have power over you as the coach.  We're really doing this as a co creation of helping you to align with who you are now and where you want to go. 

And that leads us in to number three, and the third difference, the third main difference between coaching and therapy is that usually with therapists, they're looking at your past to help you , typically this  goes into trauma or things that happened to you as a child, and they're helping you to manage your present.

And they focus on understanding the past so you can help to heal your traumas. A coach typically is going to look at your present and help you to create a different future based on your present, based on what's happening to you right now.  And coaches are also helping you to learn from 

your experiences right now and creating solutions or baby steps or new habits to thinking and acting in a different way to move forward. With that being said, I do inner child work  and with my TCTSY certification with trauma sensitive yoga,  there are aspects that I bring into my coaching that can move forward with healing work , Many of my clients that I have, have either seen a therapist before or are currently seeing a therapist in conjunction with working with me and I think that is powerful.

 My family sees a therapist and I've had a therapist in the past and I also have coaches as well. So I am someone who , is continuing to learn and grow myself and that's really,  a big thing as like this bonus tip for you that you really want to look for in coaches and therapists is are they doing the work themselves?

Are they continuing to learn and grow and be on top of like the newest research and newer things to help you to move forward? That's so important and I have always been a lifelong learner.  And I just love learning more about myself and how I can help myself and my family. And then in turn helps.

My clients as well.

Before we get to the three questions to ask yourself of whether you should choose coaching or therapy I understand that oftentimes one of the biggest challenges right now is finding the right person to support you Especially I know from my personal experience finding a therapist right now can be very challenging because the wait lists just seem like they're getting longer and longer and there's no way to find out if they'll be a good fit.

And this can also happen for coaching, but oftentimes you have a little bit more accessibility to coaches

and  sometimes it is worth the wait if that is what you need and want.  But also, that is one of the reasons that I created my free community  called Love Your Life on Purpose. So that people  like you can get a better feel for who I am before you decide to hire me. Now, if you're watching this on YouTube or listening to this on a podcast, and you're continuing to listen for me, you probably have a good idea of who I am.

So, some of the other benefits of being in that community is feeling seen, heard, and validated, and for some people that's enough. Some people may not need coaching, and you may just want that feeling of feeling seen, heard, and validated, and you can get that from a community.  If either of those are you, then you're welcome to join my free group called Love Your Life on Purpose with Michelle.

All you have to do is go to loveyourlifeonpurpose. com, answer the few membership questions, and either myself or my team will be happy to welcome you.  Let's get to The final three questions to help you decide therapy or coaching. You may want to write these down or save this episode to reflect on this later. 

Number one, do I need help understanding and healing my past or  do I need help  building my future?  Question number two,  am I looking for a diagnosis  or a collaborative forward focused approach? 

Number three, would I benefit? more from processing trauma  or from practical strategies to move forward.   , if you're saying yes to the first part of any of those answers, you're probably looking for a therapist. If you're saying yes to the second half of those questions, you're probably looking for a coach.

And some of you may not have clear answers to these questions or you're like, well, I kind of want a little bit of both. So what that might mean is you may want to have a therapist and a coach or you may want to Send me a DM or an email, or join my community, and I'd be happy to help walk you through these questions because  although, , I am not a therapist, I do work with trauma, and I am a coach, and that might mean that I might be the perfect fit for you.

 I hope this helped give you some clarity of whether you want to choose therapy or coaching

  My goal is that if you're needing support that you have access to support  

I want you to remember that it is important to prioritize yourself so that you can continue to power your mission because you are worth it.