This is a common question, and understandably. Coaching and therapy can feel similar. You talk, we listen (ideally).
In both scenarios, the client is seeking a neutral party to help them resolve something, feel better, or get to a different place. However, coaches and therapists have distinct scopes of practice.
The degree to which a client is struggling—and what they’re struggling with—determines whether therapy or coaching is appropriate.
Perhaps the most critical difference between coaching and therapy is that therapists are trained in and licensed to treat diagnosable mental health disorders. Unless they have previous training to do so, coaches are not qualified to treat mental health conditions.
Coaches, who come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, help functional clients improve their outcomes in work and life.
Certification is not required for someone to call themselves a coach. And, many coaches have extensive training (in coaching and adjacent disciplines).
An oversimplification that may be useful: Therapists are licensed professionals who deal in the realm of mental health. Coaches are sometimes-certified sometimes-not professionals who deal in the realm of human potential.
3 distinctions between coaching and therapy
Beyond training and scope of practice, some key differences between coaching and therapy lie in the content of the conversations.
Here are three distinctions between coaching and therapy:
The central question
Therapists ask, “What’s wrong and how can I help you fix it?”
Coaches ask, “What do you want and how can I help you create it?”
The primary intention
In therapy, you process to understand.
In coaching, you process to move forward.
The main focus
Therapy examines the past.
Coaching explores the future.
Please note: These are intentionally over simplified distinctions for the purposes of this essay. There are exceptions on both sides of the equation and in practice, a great deal of overlap. I encourage you to do your own research on any therapist or coach you’re considering engaging with.
The airplane metaphor
This may be a helpful metaphor for understanding the difference between coaching and therapy.
When we fly coach, we take a back seat, literally. We sit behind the people in first class (the VIPs) and the cockpit (the pilots).
Coaching is kind of like that.
When you work with a coach, you’re the VIP and the pilot.
You’re in charge, driving the plane. Your coach is in coach, behind you the whole way.
In therapy, the therapist functions more as an authority. You expect them to have answers. You might say, they’re the pilot.
While in coaching, the assumption is that you hold the answers.
Coaches use deep listening, though-provoking questions, and a host of tools to help you uncover what you already know.
Why coaching matters
You might be wondering, If I already know the answers, why do I need a coach?
Great question!
For many of us, the answers we’re seeking are buried.
They’re deep down there, under layers of ingrained thought patterns, limiting assumptions, and cultural and familial conditioning that prevent us from creating the life we want.
We get stuck in grooves that no longer serve us but we don’t know how to get out of them.
This pattern becomes exhausting because we’re endlessly chasing a life that is aligned for us, one we sense is there but can’t seem to access.
Coaching helps you connect with the version of yourself that’s ready for take off.
