Therapy versus Coaching -- What's the difference?
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Coaching
Coaching services are among
the relationship services available through Working Relationships. These
services are offered to organizations who wish to engage a relationship
consultant to help staff members with people skills, and are also made
available to individuals who seek to improve their effectiveness in the workplace,
align their professional aspirations with business objectives, resolve
self-defeating behaviors, lead others, and leverage their professional visibility
and credibility.
If you and I agree to enter
into a coaching engagement, we will establish a business contract for coaching
services that articulates the terms of our relationship, the role of 3rd
party stakeholders, the limits of confidentiality, and the objectives of our
work together.
In case you don’t know it, coaching
in the United States is an unregulated field of practice. This means there are no licensing requirements
for coaches and, because this profession is not recognized in Federal or State
law, coaching clients do not enjoy the same legal protections available to consumers
of regulated professions. For all
intents and purposes, anyone with a mind to do so can call him/herself a coach,
regardless of education or experience, and can offer their services in
interstate commerce. This does not mean
there aren’t phenomenal coaches out there; however, because this is an
unregulated field of endeavor, it falls to the consumer (not a designated consumer
protection agency) to assess credentials, evaluate qualifications, and protect him/herself
from unethical or misguided practitioners.
Let’s be clear, coaching is not
therapy. That said, because I am a
licensed marriage and family therapist, I hold myself to the same ethical
standards of practice with coaching clients as I do with therapy clients. Also, you should know that if, during the
course of our coaching engagement, you should need the services of a psychotherapist,
I will offer you appropriate referrals.
Bottom line, if I become your coach, I cannot also be your therapist.
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Therapy
In addition to the other relationship
services offered through Working Relationships, as a licensed Marriage and
Family Therapist in private practice in the State of California, I offer
psychotherapy services to individuals, couples, and families who wish to
achieve more satisfying relationships, seek to relieve psychological or
emotional distress, and/or set out to resolve relationship issues (past,
present, and anticipated) that can cause serious mental or emotional problems
in and out of the workplace.
If you and I agree to enter
into a therapeutic relationship, we will identify the goals of therapy, I will summarize
legal provisions in place to protect you, I will explain the
ethical principles that guide me and other ethical practitioners in my
profession, and I will set about learning you.
In the State of California, marriage
and family therapists (�MFTs�) are licensed mental health professionals who are
trained and licensed to formulate clinical diagnoses, consider prognoses, and develop/implement
treatment plans and intervention strategies to alleviate associated symptoms
and problems related to unresolved relationship issues consistent with the diagnostic
criteria detailed in the American Psychiatric Associations DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - 4th Edition).
To offer psychotherapy
services within the State of California, MFTs will have earned an advanced
educational degree (MA, MS, PhD, PsyD, or EdD) at an approved educational institution,
will have completed at least 3000 hours of supervised clinical experience to
the satisfaction of the licensing board, and will have successfully passed two
rigorous competency examinations administered by the California State
Department of Consumer Affairs Board of Behavioral Sciences. To keep our licenses active, we keep our
skills current by earning continuing education credits and staying in compliance
with the legal and ethical standards of our profession.
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