How is coaching different than therapy or counselling?

There is sometimes some confusion about the difference between coaching and therapy/counselling.  My understanding (simplified) of this is that therapy looks back and will often give you a space to explore and understand your experiences, your mental and emotional health and how your past may be affecting you in the present.  Coaching is much more focused on where you are now, where you want to be and what needs to change to help you get there.

We will absolutely explore your past when it is relevant (and in my work, it often is!) because I believe we need to understand and heal the ROOT of what is keeping you stuck rather than simply trying to change the symptoms on the surface. But we don't stay there.  We use that understanding to create change.

Coaching asks: What do you want? Who do you want to be? How do you want your life to feel? What is currently standing between you and that version of your life?  And then we work together to close that gap.

There will be reflection, healing and some very profound inner work, but there will also be action. I will lovingly challenge you, help you see what you can't always see for yourself, support you in making different choices and walk beside you as you actually LIVE the changes we are creating together.

Many of my clients actually come to me after having therapy or counselling and knowing that they are now ready for something different.

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What is coaching for?

Life coaching: enhancing existing well-being

For me, coaching is ultimately about helping you make your dream life your real life.

And your dream life doesn't have to mean quitting your job, moving to a tropical island or completely reinventing yourself! 😂

It might mean feeling safe and secure in love. Having more energy. Finally trusting yourself. Setting the boundary you've been terrified to set. Feeling happy in your body. Leaving something you know isn't right for you. Creating something you've wanted for years. Feeling free from the patterns that have followed you around for decades.

Coaching helps you identify what you truly want — not what you've been conditioned to think you should want — and supports you in creating the internal and external changes that move you towards it.

Because I don't believe we do the healing work simply for the sake of endlessly healing ourselves.  

We heal for expansion.

More love. More health. More happiness. More freedom. More success. More of whatever you want more of.

Coaching is for the woman who knows there is more available to her and is ready to do the work to receive it.

 

How does coaching work?

Coaching gives you a dedicated space to look at your life with curiosity and honesty: what's working, what isn't, what you want more of, what you want less of and what might be keeping you stuck in patterns you consciously know you don't want anymore.  But my coaching is very much body first.  Because you cannot think your way out of everything.  You can consciously know that you're worthy of love and still have a body that panics when somebody gets close. You can know you need to set a boundary and still find yourself saying yes. You can understand exactly where a pattern came from and still keep repeating it.  That's why our work goes deeper.

Together, we work with your thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, emotions, nervous system and body. We create safety. We heal what needs healing. We build self-trust. We explore different perspectives and begin creating new ways of thinking, feeling, responding and being.

Over time, we are literally creating and strengthening new neural pathways in your brain — which sounds very scientific and dramatic 😂 but is essentially the beautiful process of teaching your brain and body that there is another way.  And then we practise that new way until it becomes yours.

This isn't about me telling you how to live your life. Your body knows. Your heart knows. So much of my job is helping you clear away everything that has made it difficult to hear and trust them.

Over time, we work on re-wiring the neural pathways in your brain (sounds dramatic but it’s really just healing magic at work)

 

What is the role of a coach?

A traditional coach might be described as someone who asks powerful, direct and sometimes challenging questions to help you gain clarity, identify your goals and take the action required to achieve them.

And yes... I do all of that.  But the way I coach is a little different.

I have been teaching, coaching and working with people for many years, and over that time I have brought together traditional coaching, NLP, trauma-informed practice, nervous system regulation, somatic healing, inner child work, meditation, breathwork, Yoga Nidra, energy healing, Yoga and other healing modalities into the way I work.  Because sometimes you need a question that completely changes the way you see something.

Sometimes you need somebody to lovingly call you out on your own stuff 😂

Sometimes you need accountability and someone reminding you of the woman you said you wanted to become.

And sometimes you don't need to talk about it anymore.

You need to heal it.

My role isn't to make decisions for you or tell you what your life should look like. It is to create a safe space in which you can hear yourself more clearly, understand what is really happening beneath the surface, heal what has been keeping you stuck and feel supported as you make the changes that are right for YOU.

I will teach you. I will challenge you. I will celebrate you. I will hold space for you. I will help you see things differently. And when necessary, I will remind you of your own power until you can feel it again for yourself.

Because ultimately, the goal isn't for you to need me forever.

It's for you to trust you.