The main difference is that one can prescribe medications, while the other provides counseling. Both are effective tools for treating drug and alcohol addiction. When choosing a recovery coach instead of an addiction therapist, it's important to remember that the therapist must be paid. Therapy: What's the difference? There are some big ones.
Coaches are certified, therapists are licensed. Therapists manage mental illness and diagnoses, coaches don't. Coaches work with clients for short periods of time. Therapists can work with clients for extended periods of time.
Often, therapists focus on the past and the present, while coaches are focused on the future. The approach to life coaching is one of the main things that sets it apart from therapy. Life coaches identify and describe current problem behaviors so that the client can work to modify them. Therapists analyze the past of their clients as a tool for understanding current behaviors.
In other words, therapists focus on “why certain behavioral patterns occur,” and coaches work on “how to work to achieve a goal.” One of the most common misconceptions about life coaching is that it's therapy disguised as, or worse, therapy from an unlicensed professional. Coaches, on the other hand, may have certifications in their respective fields, but there are no current state or national laws that require a license to practice as coaches in most cases. The main difference between a life coach and a therapist is that a life coach provides clients with the process and skills they need to eventually train themselves. To get the right professional experience, it's crucial to understand how a life coach and some people, if they can afford it, choose to see both a therapist and a life coach, but the objectives are different.
While therapists diagnose and treat from a health care perspective, not all therapy clients are sick; many healthy people seek the services of therapists and life coaches. It's important to understand the difference between life coaching and therapy to know what services you need. While coaches receive some training and are certified, therapists go through years of training and supervision to become licensed in a particular state. First, let's look at coaching and therapy to analyze their differences and similarities, and then explore how they can converge to help provide maximum benefit to the client.
Despite the occasional areas of overlap, the work and processes of therapists and life coaches are different. Personal coaching sessions are much more structured and focus on viable strategies and visible growth. While therapists must follow the appropriate ethical guidelines established by their respective licensing boards, coaches do not. This is where coaching can be the right choice and where my new company, Next Level Coaching, aims to help people.
