What is Coaching? (and coaching vs. therapy)

by Melanie Gallo, PhD

So Doc., What do coaches actually do?

In planning where we are going, we first need to establish where we are. There are alot of different terms and approaches out there, so below I define several of those concepts.

Coaching

"Coaching [is] partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole." International Coaching Federation

Behavioral, Personality, and Strengths Assessments

Scientifically valid and reliable professional assessment can not be done for free on Facebook! It should be administered by a qualified professional then followed by professional feedback to discuss your results and develop an action plan for moving forward.

🍀We use a powerful diagnostic tool to provide a distinct lens into how individuals operate at work — from communication and energy to values and strengths. These data-informed assessments help individuals and teams better understand behavior, stress patterns, and collaboration styles — guiding where to focus next.​ This makes it easier for individuals to apply lessons from each of the key topics, and provides a way for teams and their leaders to learn about each other in real time, right when the insights are needed most.

Mental Health Coaching

As a mental health coach I help people focus on their present and future goals, offering support, education, and accountability as they aim to achieve them. We collaborate closely, ensuring our sessions, which are structured and action-oriented, guide them toward meaningful life changes.

🐞With Your WorkLifeJoy™️ 1-on-1 coaching, individuals receive mental health support for a variety of things they want to work on like coping skills for stress, anxiety, and depression, building or changing habits, support with goal setting, relationships, focus, communication, setting boundaries, increased motivation, managing difficult emotions, finding harmony between work and life, and more. And the ultimate intention for coaching is to guide you towards graduation where you will leave with skills that help you continue to pursue your journey in achieving your goal. 

Think of me as a coach with bonus features. I use a psychology-based coaching approach to help professionals navigate through the fog within the Work-Life overlap.

Workplace Mental Wellness

Corporations often offer leadership development training. In fact, I had the opportunity to participate in these types of workshops while working for Hyatt Hotels and The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company very early in my career. They were awesome and as a parting gift, we even received a leather bound planner. Today, many training occur online and can include a more personalized, interactive experience.

🔥The Burnout-Proof Workplace™ is an integrated workplace wellness program that helps technical team leaders protect two of their most valuable assets — their engineers, and themselves — from emotional collapse. This program uses science-backed expertise designed for fast-paced, high-performance environments. 

Coaching vs. Therapy

I am often asked, “what is the difference between coaching and therapy or counseling. Therapy (and counseling), typically address healing past and present wounds, processing trauma, and diagnosing and managing conditions, such as depression, anxiety, ADHD and other conditions.  It can also help with deeper self-understanding and insight so mental health coaching and therapy are often great compliments to each other!

“In therapy, your goal is healing. In coaching, you’re following the trail of dreams. When you see little sparks of interest, excitement or increased energy, that’s where to go,” says psychologist Carol Kauffman, PhD, director of the Institute of Coaching, a nonprofit organization at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital dedicated to enhancing the scientific foundation and credibility of coaching. “Coaches use such methods as helping clients verbalize their desires and set goals to achieving them; asking questions to help them overcome obstacles to those goals; and encouraging them to enlist allies for support,” she says. APA.org

Other distinguishers include:

Coaching:

• focus is prospective

• orientation is on solution & capacity for change

• achievement-focused/goal-oriented

• co-created

• short-term

• focused on building skills and creating a toolbox for continued self improvement in the future

• certification and credentialing are strongly encouraged

• not diagnostic

• clarifying for clients

• provides practitioners with standards for client readiness

• can work in collaboration with therapy and other clinical supports

• clients viewed as already whole when entering a coaching relationship

• change is self-developed

• coach acts as a partner in the journey

Therapy (also referred to as psychotherapy or counseling):

• typically retrospective

• client has decreased level of individual functioning

• may involve medication and collaborative care with a medical team (MYTH: If you go to therapy, they will want to put you on medication. FACT: Most therapists can not even prescribe medication. That is not something that is forced on people and if you mutually decide that medication is best, then they will refer to a primary care physician, psychiatrist, or other medical professional for medication management).

• “why” oriented

• long-term, though this varies

• theory-driven

• master’s degree required for license

• licensing is required by law

• typically generated through illness or dysfunction

• diagnostic

• healing for maladaptive behaviors

• recovery from past traumas

• relieving psychological suffering

• sometimes covered by insurance

• unfortunately stigmatized

• offers guidance and advice

• practitioner seen as an authority

Coach2Go is an online coaching program for a WorkLifeJoy community. If you haven’t already downloaded my free app (powered by Wix) you can sign up here. If you have the Spaces by Wix App, just enter the code COACH2GO to join.