Ever wondered when a coach become a consultant or a counsellor and are the terms simply interchangeable?
Coaches, regardless of how they define themselves in terms of a life coach, business coach, relationship coach etc., are generally forward-looking and focus on helping you achieve your goals. They may not be experienced in the specific area you wish to develop, but they will help you recognise the next steps in your journey and will support you in getting there. Corporate coaching can support the role of a line manager (and is often more effective as they come without the boss-subordinate relationship) and while they may occasionally ask a client to look back, they will seldom venture into therapy unless they are also qualified in that area and have the clients permission. Often coaches will refer clients to therapists if necessary.
Therapists and counsellors tend to be more backwards-looking to help you solve a problem from your past. If you are suffering due to something that happened some time ago (often years and decades), then therapy may be for you. Relationship counsellors can help a couple go back to lean the lessons of the past, even from other relationships, to help them improve their future. Broader therapy and counselling often involves going back to explore traumatic issues in the past; this is tremendously powerful and importantly is the remit of a trained health professional who will diagnose a condition and recommend.
Here is a great infographic from Tony Robbins that lays out the differences between therapy and traditional Life Coaching…
Consultants are specialists, whether, in business or medicine, a consultant will help you with a very specific issue. A marketing consultant will help you set up a marketing team in your business; often they are even more specific – an SEO consultant will teach your organisation how do define and execute an SEO strategy. In the same way, a cardiologist in a hospital will give you specialist advice on your heart. Consultants are often not the best at diagnosing the issue and while some also offer coaching their primary focus in business is more about learning and implementing new skill rather than making better use of the skills you already have.
Which is right for you? Only you know the answer to that, and often it will come down to the individual who is right for you, like choosing between Physiotherapy, chiropractic therapy and osteopathy you may find you choose the person rather than the profession. If you have a medical condition and are showing any symptoms, then your first step should always be to take professional medical advice. That aside take your time, meet several people and try an initial session (often these are provided at no charge) before making your decision.