When you earn a personal coach certification, you are preparing to hang out your coaching shingle and start helping clients. You are well on your way to a career that can be both personally satisfying and financially rewarding. But, you are not on your way to being a shrink.

Coaching is Not Therapy

One of the biggest differences between coaching and therapy is that a coach will assume that the client is mentally healthy. Coaching relies on the fact the clients have the foundation of mental resources that are healthy and functioning. If a person has a mental disorder or may even think they have a mental illness, then they should call up a psychiatrist, not a personal coach.

Before you get your personal coach certification, it’s good to know the main differences between a coach and a therapist.

• A coach views clients as resourceful and whole, while therapy uses a medical model to work with clients.
• A coach does not diagnose and treat.
• Strategic plans to reach goals are designed by the coach and client together, while a treatment plan is designed mostly by the therapist.
• Coaching sessions work on the question, “What now?” and “What is next?” Therapists work with the questions, “What happened?” and “Why did this happen?” and “From what events or disorders did this occur?”
• Coaches use coaching skills, which will be learned while attained a personal coaching certification, and therapists use therapy skills and techniques.
• Coaches focus on overcoming obstacles, changing behavior, and the evolution of the client, while therapists concentrate on understanding and healing.

These are some of the basic differences, but it is also worth noting that the lines between the two sometimes get blurred as the two do share some common ground.

Get a Personal Coach Certification and be a Coach

With your certification, you are ready to be a coach, not a therapist. You are ready to improve the lives of your clients, But, you are not ready to be a shrink. The lines may get blurred from time to time, but a coach stays focused on the present and the future. If a coach senses that a client may have any type of mental disorders or may need the benefits of therapy, it is imperative for them to refer the client to a therapist or someone who is better able to heal and help that client. You are a coach–not a therapist!

With a personal coach certification, you are focused primarily on helping the client make concrete changes in their life. You are there to help them to overcome obstacles, identify goals, actualize their potential, and promote their growth. Your job is to make relatively healthy people even healthier.

Though coaches understand coaching principles, it helps for them to be familiar with therapy. If they understand both models, it will be easier to recognize if coaching can help a specific client, or if therapy would be the better choice. Your personal coach certification gives you great power to help, but it also comes with great responsibility to know if coaching is the right choice or if therapy would be better. Use your power wisely!

Would you like an endless stream of new coaching clients? Simply fill out the form to the right with your first name and email and I’ll send you free videos with step-by-step blueprints for generating a massive income from high paying coaching clients.

Fred Philips
Business Coach
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