Coaching
The ICF defines life coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
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Coaching can range from relationship and health coaching to life skills and career coaching. The goals of coaching are to provide guidance and support to help clients find motivation, confidence, and productivity. Coaching inspires and motivates clients on their journey of self-discovery and growth.
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Coaching is a creative partnership between a coach and client. Although sessions vary due to the client’s goals and the coach’s approach, usually a structured format is adhered to. Stimulating and challenging questions are often asked by the coach so that a client can see their situation from an alternative perspective. Most importantly, the questions asked are designed by the coach to get the client thinking outside the box and to find their answers to achieve their goals.
Therapy vs. Coaching
Therapy is a long-term process in which a qualified healthcare professional works to diagnose and resolve a client’s problematic beliefs, behaviors, relationship issues, feelings or physical reactions.
It focuses on past traumas and issues to change self-destructive habits, repair and improve relationships or cope with painful emotions.
A coach, which does not require a license and does not work from a healthcare perspective, helps a client identify obstacles and problematic behaviors and clarify their goals. As a result, the coach creates an action plan to achieve the desired outcome.
The coaching process takes the client’s current starting point as an acceptable and neutral ground and is more action-based from that point onward.
Coaching
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Available to clients residing in any US state
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Does not diagnose a client​
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Identifies and describes current problematic behaviors
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Works on “how” to work toward a goal
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Focuses on an individual’s actions and results by measuring a client’s success with milestones and goals
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Has expert knowledge in a client’s area of struggle
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Creates goal and life plans
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Works on improving communication skills
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Can support a client in achieving a healthy work/life balance
Therapy
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Only available in state where therapist is licensed
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Diagnoses and treats clients from a healthcare perspective
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Analyses their client’s past as a tool for understanding present behaviors
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Focuses on “why” specific behavioral patterns occur
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Helps clients examine and recognize their patterns and reasoning of their behaviors
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Explores your mental and emotional well-being to live a more stable life
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Help the client to recover from past traumas
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Explores why past relationships (business or personal) have been destructive