Do I need a life coach, a counsellor or a therapist?

Quick answer:

• If you want to deal with the now and your future? > choose a life/career coach.?(i.e. Me!)
• Choose a counsellor or therapist if you need to deal with a trauma or something specific from your past.

Tell me more...

Coaching:

• Coaching is action orientated.?
• A client chooses to work with me to clarify their goals, identify obstacles, problematic behaviours or barriers they might not have noticed. We would work on creating an action plan to achieve their desired outcomes.
• Your goals can be small i.e. finessing how you live your day-to-day life to avoid overwhelm for example. A bigger goal could be working on your career path or how to change career completely, or, wanting to find yourself again after a significant life change; divorce, empty nest syndrome, redundancy.
• The main way I differ to a counsellor or therapist is that the journey for the client begins from where they are today. Exploring where they want to be, how they get there, the pain points and obstacles they may encounter along the way. Think action! rather than delving into the past.
• I will enable you to find clarity and take control of your life via gently challenging questions and exploratory conversation.

Counsellor:

• Counselling is coping-orientated. Counsellors want to help you realise how you feel. In speaking to a counsellor you are more likely to focus on the short-term ‘here and now’ and find ways to manage your current issues and feelings.
• Counselling may be more commonly used to treat issues that aren’t necessarily diagnosed mental conditions. These might include things like grief counselling and bereavement, relationship counselling, building coping strategies, and support with issues such as low self-esteem. These issues may be considered to be related to the general ‘ups and downs’ of life, although this isn’t to say that they are any less significant than formal mental health conditions.
• It is not uncommon for clients to see a counsellor and then move on to seeing a life coach to help them move forwards once they have dealt with the ‘now’.?

Therapist:

• With therapy, you are more likely to explore the ‘backstory’ to your problems in order to get to the root cause. This will enable you to understand how your past experiences may have influenced the way you’re feeling, challenge the way you respond to these, and then move forwards.
• Therapy is generally a longer-term journey to diagnose and resolve problematic beliefs, behaviours, feelings, relationship issues and sometimes physical responses. e.g. depression, anxiety, OCD or PTSD. This is because therapy is evidence-based and formulation-driven.
• It focuses on past traumas and issues to change self-destructive habits, improve (or repair) relationships and work through painful feelings. Therapy focuses on introspection and analysis (the past) with the hope of resolving issues and creating a more stable and manageable future.

I place a great deal of importance on trust and transparency - if you are unsure as to whether you need coaching, therapy or counselling book a discovery chat with me. If, during our chat, I think a form of talking therapy would be better suited to your needs, we can discuss potential alternatives that may be more appropriate.

I am Vivienne, a life and career coach helping clients find the answer to "what am I doing with my life?"

If you are at a crossroads or need guidance to navigate a life stage, book a discovery chat with me and find out how my style of exploratory coaching can help you make sense of it all.

???? Remember, you can work on your future whilst living your life.