How Coaching Works and How It Differs From Therapy
People often arrive unsure whether what they need is coaching, therapy, or counseling. It’s a fair question, and the honest answer is that the three overlap in some ways and differ sharply in others. Here’s how I’d describe the distinctions.
Primary focus
Psychotherapy: Treating psychological disorders; understanding and resolving deep-rooted emotional patterns
Counseling: Working through a specific difficulty or life stressor
Professional Coaching: Clarifying goals, motivation, and direction; building on existing capability
Typical starting question
Psychotherapy: “What is causing this distress, and how do we treat it?”
Counseling: “How do I cope with what I’m facing right now?”
Professional Coaching: “What do I want, what’s getting in the way, and how do I get there?”
Orientation in time
Psychotherapy: Often draws on past experience to explain present patterns
Counseling: Mostly present-focused
Professional Coaching: Present and forward-looking
Who provides it
Psychotherapy: Licensed clinicians (psychologists, psychiatrists, LMFTs, LCSWs)
Counseling: Licensed counselors and therapists
Professional Coaching: Coaches, an unlicensed, unregulated profession
Regulated?
Psychotherapy: Yes, state licensure required
Counseling: Yes, state licensure required
Professional Coaching: No
Diagnosis and treatment
Psychotherapy: Yes
Counseling: Sometimes
Professional Coaching: Never
Insurance
Psychotherapy: Often covered
Counseling: Often covered
Professional Coaching: Not covered
Appropriate when
Psychotherapy: You’re dealing with a mental health condition, significant distress, trauma, or crisis
Counseling: You’re navigating a specific challenge and want clinical support
Professional Coaching: You’re functioning well and want more clarity, motivation, or alignment
Which one is right for you?
Coaching is likely a good fit if you’re managing well overall, holding down demanding work, meeting your responsibilities, and want more clarity, stronger motivation, or a better fit between what you’re doing and what you actually want.
Therapy is the better choice if you’re dealing with persistent depression or anxiety, trauma, thoughts of harming yourself, substance dependence, or distress that’s interfering with your ability to function day to day. These are areas where licensed clinical care matters, and coaching is not a substitute for it.
It’s also completely reasonable to do both. Many people work with a therapist on one set of concerns while working with a coach on goals and direction. If you’re currently in therapy, I’d encourage you to mention our work to your therapist.
Where I fit
My background is in psychological research: a PhD in Psychology, postdoctoral research, and more than two decades studying motivation and behavior change. That research background shapes how I work: the methods I use are grounded in evidence rather than intuition alone.
But I work as a coach, not as a clinician. I don’t diagnose conditions, I don’t treat mental illness, and I don’t provide crisis care. What I offer is a structured, evidence-informed way of understanding your own motivation and building a life that fits it.
If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), available 24/7, or go to your nearest emergency room. Please don’t wait for a scheduled session.