Therapy vs Coaching: Deciding Which is Best for You
You may have heard this one: Therapy is for the past and Coaching is for the future.
And while that aphorism does have a kernel of truth, you won’t be surprised by the qualification that nothing in mental health care is so simple. Even within therapy, there’s a wide range of certifications, degrees, modalities, and treatment styles. And coaching can be even broader.
Therapy or coaching, we could all use some professional mental health support. For a long time now we’ve all been stuck in one slow-burning crisis or another. Take your pick of local, national, global traumas; from gutshot-profound to papercut-shallow. Accumulated stress plays havoc on our mental state, our communication, our need for human touch and proximity, and our relationships—sexual and otherwise.
Differences aside, mental health therapy & coaching both:
Offer objective support from a trained expert
Provide structure & routine for mental health progress
Take into account individual needs & experiences
Identify & restructure chaotic cognitive structures
Examine & manage adverse behavior patterns
But how to decide what sort of treatment to pursue? There’s a ton of options out there...but as a culture we’re still struggling to strip away the taboo against talking about mental health. Especially when it comes to sex and sexuality. As a result, too many people have no idea what questions to ask or what type of service is right for their particular brand of sanity.
Let’s talk about the two main models of interactive mental health treatment.
Legal differences between therapy and coaching
Mental health care is carefully regulated, as it should be to protect vulnerable patients. Therapists, psychiatrists, and social workers go through rigorous training and certification programs to ensure they’re keeping up expert standards set by science and precedent.
For any practice that takes health insurance, strict adherence to regulations is the only way to get paid, attract more clients, and stay certified. And beyond that it dictates how to structure treatment and how to conduct business.
Therapy is mental-health care but it’s also a business model.
Therapy is structured by diagnosis. A set of symptoms add up to a diagnosis, for which there is a set of acceptable treatments. In this model, regulatory bodies govern ethics and processes, including confidentiality protections, payment models, session structure, insurance interactions, and so forth.
Therapy is helpful because it makes sure everything is done by the book, that no corners are cut, and that patients receive standardized treatment. Therapy practitioners are held accountable by laws and regulations.
Benefits of mental health therapy
Identify symptoms & examine their origins
Unravel memories & analyze how past creates present
Uncover & process buried trauma
Exposure progress & cognitive restructuring
Standardized treatment parameters
Coaching is a different mental-health business model
Coaching is structured by strategy. A set of goals stacks up against a phalanx of obstacles, for which you plot an individualized course of action. In this model, coach and client work together to develop positive habits, communication skills, and lifestyle organization. For a sex therapist in a coaching service model, that could include intimacy exercises, empathy-centered conversation skills, gratitude journaling, and so forth.
Coaching is helpful because it’s a little more flexible and creative than therapy. Rather than a checklist of symptoms, coaching processes are guided by goals and capacity. Coaching practitioners are held accountable by client success.
Benefits of mental health coaching:
Solution-focused
Customize timelines & practitioner interactions
Adjust strategy to suit needs
Alternative approaches & creative pricing models
Allows for equilateral partner treatments (instead of diagnosed patient + family)
Not sure if you're ready for coaching? First try my DIY relationship communication guide. Learn more about Lipservice here.
Wordwork by Quillpower
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