Counselling or Coaching?
What's the difference?
How do you know if you need a coach or a counsellor?
There are some similarities and also some differences .
Coaching can help and encourage you to identify and go after goals that seem out of reach.
Counselling is a way of assisting you to identify and define your emotional issues and to help you better understand yourself.
Similarities between
Counselling & Coaching
Both are supportive. They get the client to where they want to go, from where they are now, to where they want to be.
Coaching employs interactive counselling skills and techniques to bring about behavioural change and motivation.
Counselling aims to work with personal issues in much greater depth, as compared to what would normally be explored with coaching.
Despite these similarities, there are many differences. The most notable difference would be the training and qualifications. Essentially, both the coaching and counselling industries are unregulated so it’s important to choose a coach or counsellor who has the appropriate training and experience.
Differences between
Counselling & Coaching
Sometimes we’re so lost, we can’t see what’s holding us back. Counsellors support you on that journey and, once found, help you manage or even overcome it completely. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and are struggling to cope with everyday tasks, a counsellor can help you find a way to cope.
If, day-to-day, you’re getting by OK but know you want to achieve more, a coach may be more suitable. Coaching doesn’t seek to resolve the deep underlying issues that would be explored with a professional counsellor. The coach may consider your past only briefly, will focus more on the present and help you look towards your future.
Counsellors help you recognise and manage problems; coaches can be excellent problem-solvers, but their focus is more on helping you understand what you want in life and how to set and achieve goals.
Counsellors analyse and look back at your past; coaches tend to stay in the present and look ahead with you.
Generally, the coaching progress is fast and people find the whole process enjoyable, whereas counselling is generally slower and can be painful due to the nature of the issues being discussed.
What do you want to focus on?
Examples of Counselling Issues
How to be more kind and less hard to yourself
When you talk to yourself, you are not very kind to yourself.
“I am not good enough”, I suck at life”: if you ever said either of the above to yourself, you’re not alone. You are hard on yourself, you have high expectations and falling short isn’t an option. You could use some gentleness and compassion towards yourself. What if you looked at yourself as a valued friend?
I mean, you're the closest person you have in your life.
What's the point of being so mean to yourself? It’s time to treat yourself with the same compassion you give others in your life.
How to stop people-pleasing and being the 'fixer'
You're a people-pleaser and very good at it: a pro at telling everyone ‘yes’, being kind and mindful to others, but totally overbooked and terrible to yourself.
Saying ‘no’ causes an inner dread feeling and thinking you’re being horrible and rude. But it’s exhausting and holds you back. Time to change that and to say ‘no’ to others and ‘yes’ to yourself.
I imagine you've heard someone say to you, "you need to set some better boundaries," and you nod your head in agreement.
And go on with your day.
Boundaries keep everyone clear in their understanding of how you'd want to be treated. Boundaries are not mean. Boundaries should not make you feel guilty.
They are helpful guides for yourself and for others.
How to feel more meaning in your work, relationships, life
You look at your life and it seems okay.
Nothing is terribly negative or derailing, but you still just don’t feel whole, fulfilled, centered – however you describe it. You desperately want to be morepresent, authentic, and connected in your relationships.You need to move more towards your own values, decide what’s meaningful to you and find a way that works better for you.
How to become less perfectionist
You’ve got some really high expectations of yourself and believe most of the time that you are a failure.
If you can’t do it perfectly, it’s not worth doing. You HAVE to get things right (the first time, of course) or else you feel like an incompetent loser.
Perfectionism is an endless, fruitless cycle that only leads you back to feeling like shit about yourself. Time to get off that cycle. Time to make decisions that lead you to feelings of satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment. Then if things fall through, you can feel confident in your ability to cope effectively and come out of difficulties in a positive place, choosing to continue moving forward.
Super simplified:
"You deserve to be happy and confident in your abilities.”
Examples of Coaching issues
Dealing with overwhelm and busyness, balancing work and private life
You probably love your job, you love your clients or customers, but it is also really hard. You never feel prepared enough, you often doubt that you are truly making the right decisions, you feel undervalued, underpaid and sometimes unsafe.
Your workload seems far too high and maybe you feel that you have to put too much energy into the way you dress or talk. You feel emotionally and mentally drained. And then there is this colleague you don't get along with. Or you find your boss really difficult. Yes, this shit is real.
Or...
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Improving communication styles
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Facing fears of conflict and emotional reactions
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Finding solutions for dealing with difficult people and situations
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Strengthening relationships at work and home
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Articulating desires and visions, both personally and professionally
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Managing stress and well-being
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Sorting through difficult decisions
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Experiencing greater fulfillment and success
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Dealing with work and life changes
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Leading through changes in the organization and in the
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Identifying development paths, both preparing for and succeeding in new roles
Coaching means that we will be talking about the impact your work has on you personally. It may include questions of your well-being, of your ideas for the future and professional development, your decision-making processes.
Good Coaching means that you feel emotionally safe and supported, but also challenged from time to time. It provides the opportunity to reflect on your work, discuss your work practice, possibly consider ethical issues, and assess how you feel in your team.
Coaching is not therapy, although it has therapeutic effects and influences.