What’s the difference between coaching and counselling?

Coaching is about change and action. The core purpose of coaching is to increase self-awareness and close the gap between potential and how things are currently. While Counselling and Psychotherapy is reparative in nature, coaching has a developmental focus. We may look at how the ‘there and then’ could be influencing the ‘here and how’, but that would not form the primary focus of the session, unless we agree together that the issue needs addressing in our sessions.

What sort of coaching do you offer?

With my therapeutic background there are a couple of approaches to coaching that I offer:

Therapeutic Coaching is a unique and innovative method of helping individuals. It is a blend of psychotherapeutic approaches commonly used by many therapists in addition to coaching. It is solution-focused, helping you to find answers that are right for you, while providing some of the benefits of traditional therapy. Through one-to-one coaching sessions, it provides a safe, non-judgemental space in which to gain greater awareness about the issues you are experiencing and identify the root causes. It offers you clarity about where you are now, where you would like to be and what is getting in the way. While providing you with effective tools to work gently through those obstacles (which are often unconscious), so you can move towards the change you want to experience.

Executive Coaching is an approach to helping someone find the resources within themselves to bring about sustainable change in the workplace. It is different to mentoring and training as the coach isn’t there to show you what to do or tell you what to do. It’s a focus on your goals, strengths and areas for development to bring about better decision-making, better management of stress and conflict, increased confidence and self-belief, improved ability to motivate teams and communicate effectively and to lead in times of change and of crisis. Executive Coaching can also act as an external, objective supervisory relationship. This is particularly useful for those who don’t have a supervisory relationship within their own organisation or would prefer a discussion of issues with an objective third party.

Life coaching is also about goals, but rather than being focussed on the workplace, this can be about any part of your life. It can be about your career, your relationships or your wellbeing and health. If you’ve come to a crossroads in your life and are struggling to decide which path to take (or whether to go cross country and forge your own path) then life coaching might be what you’re looking for.

ADHD Coaching is not a specific type of coaching but coaching for a specific client group. As someone with ADHD who has been on the receiving end of a number of coaching approaches, I’m aware that a coach who doesn’t understand ADHD or Neurodivergence can find it difficult to adapt their approach to a way that works for us. I aim to be able to offer coaching in a more ‘meet you where you are’ way, informed by my own experiences of coaching, both good and bad! Our coaching sessions could focus on any of the areas mentioned already and there is help available for funding if the coaching is to help you remain in employment or help you set up your own business and capitalise on your talents! For more information on the funding, visit Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition: What Access to Work is - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).