What is Coaching?
What it is
Coaching is a method to develop clear, honest, and compassionate communication with ourselves. This self-awareness is vital to creating our best and most fulfilling lives. But our self-awareness doesn’t always develop at the same rate as our life challenges.
A coach helps us build this skill by reflecting back to us that which we’re saying and thinking. When a coach brings our beliefs and assumptions into the light, we hear how we talk and see how we view ourselves. This perspective allows us to listen to ourselves honestly and compassionately. It enables us to see why the things we try work or don’t work for us, and why we want the things we want.
Building the skill of self-awareness is the foundation for uncovering your natural way of doing and of being. Coaching will help you find your way of tackling challenges, your way of nurturing healthy relationships, and your way to a delightful career.
What it isn't
So how is coaching different from therapy?
Therapy deals with healing pain, dysfunction, and conflict arising from the past. It is intended to improve overall psychological functioning so that a person can function day to day. Tori likes to say, therapy gets you to okay, and coaching gets you to thriving.
Coaching can be a great complement to therapy, but it’s not a substitute. Seek a therapist if you are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or have an untreated addiction, before hiring a coach. If you are currently working with a mental health professional, talk to them about your plans to work with a coach. At your direction and with your signed consent, we’d be happy to work with their guidance or collaboration. Some clients choose to do this, and others don’t.
Coaching is also not consulting, mentoring, training, or athletic development (sports coaching). These professionals bring their own experience and expertise to be learned and adopted by the client, individual, or group. Coaching, on the other hand, works from the individual’s experience to generate their own specific solutions. It is non-linear and has no curriculum.
