Coaching is a present and future-focused endeavor. The life coach partners with a client in a creative process that inspires the client to maximize potential, whether personal and professional. The life coach encourages a client’s self-discovery, elicits solutions and strategies, and holds the client responsible and accountable for reaching goals. The process can help an individual improve his or her outlook on work and life, while improving skills and unlocking potential.
An individual might choose to work with a life coach for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:
- Something urgent, compelling or exciting is at stake (a challenge, stretch goal or opportunity)
- A gap exists in knowledge, skills, confidence or resources
- A desire to accelerate results
- A lack of clarity with choices to be made
- Success has started to become problematic
- Work and life are out of balance, creating unwanted consequences
- Core strengths need to be identified, along with how best to leverage them
Do I Need a Counselor or a Life Coach?
Not sure if you need counseling or coaching?
- Counseling focuses on healing and recovery from emotional problems such as depression and anxiety, relational discord or ongoing effects of prior traumatic experiences.
- Coaching focuses on solving presenting problems such as life, work, and/or wellness issues.
Whether counseling or coaching, the client does the work as both modalities are proactive, goal oriented and guided by a treatment plan. In both cases, the client, facilitated by the therapist or coach, moves toward living more fully in the moment.