IAPPC NEWSLETTER
THE COACHES AGENDA
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL COACHES
DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN COACHING & THERAPY
C. J. Hayden & Laura Whitworth, CPPC
Therapy and Professional Coaching have several aspects in common. To an outside observer, they may look similar. Both professions are based on an ongoing, confidential, one-to-one relationship between the therapist of Coach and their client. Clients come to therapy or Coaching wanting change, and both professions assume that significant change will only occur over time. Within the therapy or Coaching relationship regular sessions are scheduled, during which conversations occur. Other similarities of practice exist.
However, therapy and Coaching are radically different in the context of the relationship, condition of the client, and content of the sessions. In the outline below, we have attempted to define some of the major distinctions between therapy and Coaching.
In reviewing our outline, keep in mind that these are distinctions between the disciplines, not a complete model of either. Also, we refer here to one-on-one therapy or Coaching, rather than group processes. Finally, generalizations are always necessary in comparisons of this sort, but we believe these distinctions to represent the norm in both professions.
Models or Paradigms
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Sports training and coaching
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Medicine and healing
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Business skills training and performance development coaching
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Personal growth seminars
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Self-mastery disciplines and practices
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Works with people who are
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Eager to move to a higher level of functioning
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Psychologically dysfunctional in a quantifiable way
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Seeking focus, strategy, and motivation
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Seeking self-understanding
Asking how to questions
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Asking what and how questions
Designing their future, learning new skills, and seeking more balance in their lives
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Dealing with old issues, emotional pain, or traumas: seeking resolution and healing
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Approach
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Begins with the premise that the client is whole
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Begins with the premise that the client needs healing
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Refers individuals with prolonged depression, severe anxiety, phobias, harmful addictions, and destructive or abusive behavior patterns to mental health professionals
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Treats individuals with prolonged depression, severe anxiety, phobias, harmful addictions, and destructive or abusive behavior patterns as well as other conditions
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Primary focus on actions and the future
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Primary focus on feelings and history
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Oriented toward solving problems through actions
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Oriented toward exploring the psychic roots of problems
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Works mainly with the conscious mind
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Works to bring the unconscious into consciousness
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Assists the client in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing choices
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Assist the client in untangling unconscious conflicts which interfere with choice
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Helps client learn new skills and tools for personal growth and mastery
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Helps client resolve old pain and terminate old coping mechanisms
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Listens to feelings as clues for how to get the client into actions and leads the client to an action step
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Listens for feelings as symptoms of underlying dysfunction and follows the client on any valid exploration of their feelings
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Typically directs the client to return to action
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Often directs the client to go deeper into feelings
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Encourages and requests proactive behavior
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Counsels on becoming less reactive
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Gives advice only in areas of expertise and with client permission
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Usually does not give advice
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Process
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Focused on learning and developing potential
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Focused on healing and restoring function
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Main tools include accountability, inquiry, requesting, goal-setting, and strategic planning
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Main tools include listening, reflecting, confrontation and interpretation
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Other tools depend on Coach’s training and expertise, e.g. NLP, money management, or professional organizing
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Other tools depend on therapists’ training, e.g. EMDR, sand tray, or hypnosis
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Deals mainly with external issues; looks for external solutions to internal blocks
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Deals mainly with internal issues; looks for internal resolution
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Relationship & Structure
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Alliance designed jointly by Coach and client
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Nature of alliance largely designed by therapist
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Discourages transference as inappropriate
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Encourages transference as a way of objectifying issues to be explored
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Sessions may be in person or by telephone
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Sessions conducted face-to-face
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Sometimes deductible as a business expense
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Often reimbursed or deductible as a medical expense
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While this list of distinctions does not paint a complete picture of either therapy or Coaching, our aim is to continue clarifying the respective roles of the two professions. We consider this outline to be a work-in-progress, and welcome your comments and contributions!
The authors wish to thank Madelyn Griffith-Hayne of the Optimal Functioning Institute, who provided many of the distinctions used here. Madelyn’s company helps ADDults develop systems to reach their goals and live their dreams. C. J. Hayden, director of Wings Business Coaching in San Francisco, is a Business Coach who specializes in working with women. She serves on the national board of the Professional & Personal Coaches Association. Laura Whitworth is director of the Coaches Training Institute, and serves on the board of both IAPPC and PPCA. She has been a Professional Coach since 1988 in her ay Area practice, PriorityOne.
