Life Coaching vs.
Traditional Therapy

If you’re here on this page, you might be wondering if life coaching versus traditional therapy is for you. Here are some of the differences.

Life coaching is focused on achieving your goals. Therapy is driven by a diagnosis or diagnoses. If a person is currently struggling with severe mental illness, life coaching might not be the best match for them. Does this mean that a person who has a mental health diagnosis can’t be a life coaching client? No, it just means that the person’s goals are the focus of coaching sessions and not their diagnoses.

Flexibility and Support

Another difference with life coaching is that you can have a package of services that includes a 10-minute check-in call or text messages between appointments. The purpose of these calls or messages is to address challenges in working toward your goals that might come up between sessions.

There is also a difference between how health insurance companies treat life coaching and therapy. Since life coaching is not diagnosis driven, insurance does not cover life coaching services. I recognize that not being able to utilize health insurance could be an obstacle for some clients, which is why I strive to make my services affordable. I offer pay-as-you-go plans and discount packages if you pay ahead.

Since you’re not using health insurance, the insurance company no longer determines how much or what type of services you receive. You are in charge of this decision, with input from me.

How We’ll Work Together

Services can be weekly, every other week, monthly, or whatever frequency we agree is appropriate and affordable for you. Sessions are usually 45 to 60 minutes long, but we can also schedule shorter or longer sessions depending on your needs.

Generally, I work with individuals in a telehealth setting, but if you feel including another person in a session would be helpful, we can discuss and form a plan for this.

Empowerment and Choice

You may have noticed a trend here — I’m talking about you making decisions about what your life coaching and goals look like. There’s a reason for this. I’m not a big fan of telling people what to do.

As you work on your goals with me, I’ll give you feedback and discuss the potential consequences of your choices, but what you do is ultimately your choice. Personally, I think if a therapist or life coach tries to make you do things their way, you should run for the hills.

I want you to be in charge of your life and happy with the choices you make.