Coaching Is Not Therapy, Therapy Is Not Coaching
In a recent article published by the New York Times, this explanation of the booming business of life coaching caught my eye.
“With early roots in the late-20th-century pull toward self- improvement, life coaching broadly encompasses a program of goal-setting and talk-therapy-style sessions aimed at improving an individual’s circumstances and well-being.”
Two aspects of this definition are imprecise. Perhaps dangerously so.
While “a program of goal setting” is a fair and accurate explanation of life coaching, characterizing it as a course of “talk-therapy-style sessions” makes an unmerited comparison to psychological counseling, as talk-therapy is historically understood. A series of conversations is not talk-therapy. Mentoring is not talk-therapy. Motivating is not “talk-therapy.” Adding “-style” does not forgive the unfortunate conflation of these two very different processes.
The NYT definition goes on to describe life coaching as “aimed at improving an individual’s circumstance.” Certainly true. This is what coaching was developed to do. A coach provides instruction on best practices in a given endeavor, motivating a practitioner to strive for the best result. Life coaches steer clients toward personal and professional goals — career advancement, financial security, dating, physical health. An experienced, talented coach can help improve a person’s circumstance, if their circumstance is what needs improving. A good coach can do great work.
But to go on to suggest, as the article’s definition does, that life coaching is a process adequate to improving “well-being” is a lazy stretch, at best. At worst, the idea is potentially harmful.
Commonly understood, “well-being” suggests a regulated and contented inner life, one without feelings of lingering depression, or uncontrollable anxiety, or unending grief, or irrational fear, or intractable hopelessness, or any of the myriad other deep manifestations of genuine and persistent “ill-being.”
Life coaches are not equipped to deal with significant, debilitating psychological disturbance. Theirs is an unregulated industry, with minimal education and without any standardized accreditation. As the NYT article suggests, “anyone can claim the title of life coach.”
The alleviation of emotional distress — “ill-being” — is the work of licensed therapists with years of accredited post-graduate education, thousands of hours of supervised training in counseling, and the essential professional experience gained within an individual clinical practice.
Coaches do important work, but they don’t do suffering. They can push you where you want to go, but can’t help you find who you need to be. Healing is the work of therapy.
Hi, I’m Susan Staraci
With over 30 years of experience as a psychotherapist for adults and couples in private practice, I offer personalized, individual attention to provide the psychological help you need.
