While there are some similarities between coaching and counseling, they are very different activities and it is important that you understand the differences between them. Counseling is a health care service and is usually reimbursable through health insurance policies; coaching is not. Both coaching and counseling utilize knowledge of human behavior, motivation and behavioral change, and interactive helping techniques. The major differences are in the goals, focus, and level of professional responsibility.

The focus of coaching is development and implementation of strategies to reach client-identified goals to enhance performance and overall life satisfaction. Coaching may address specific personal projects, life balance, job performance and satisfaction, or general conditions in the client’s life, business, or profession. Coaching utilizes personal strategic planning, values clarification, brainstorming, motivational techniques, and other helping techniques.

The focus of counseling/therapy is identification, diagnosis, and treatment of mental and nervous disorders. The goals of counseling include alleviating symptoms, understanding the underlying dynamics which create symptoms, changing dysfunctional behaviors which are the result of these disorders, and developing new strategies for successfully coping with the psychological challenges. Most research on counseling outcomes indicates that the quality of the relationship is most closely correlated with therapeutic progress. Therapy clients are often emotionally vulnerable. This vulnerability is increased by the expectation that they will discuss very intimate personal data and expose feelings about themselves about which they are understandably sensitive. The client’s past experiences have often made trust difficult to achieve. These factors give counselors significant power that creates a fiduciary responsibility to protect the safety of their clients and to “above all else, do no harm.”