Have you ever felt stuck in your current situation? Are you struggling to overcome a specific personal challenge? Do you have difficulty setting goals for yourself?
Whenever you find yourself in a predicament in life, you probably lean on your family and friends for support. Maybe you have a mentor that you’ve relied on during pivotal moments.
What if you had a different option for support in times of need? This is where a life coach can enter the situation.
What Is a Life Coach?
While many people have heard of life coaches, there’s still a bit of confusion that occurs over what it is they actually do. Are they therapists? Are they coaches?
A life coach is a wellness professional who works within a broad range of topics. Similar to a traditional therapist, their goal is to help you achieve personal growth and development. Where they will differ, however, is their focus and approach.
A life coach isn’t focused on healing old wounds, but rather on working on future successes and meeting you where you’re at in the present moment.
The Many Forms of Life Coaching
The reasons why someone would seek out a life coach can be rather broad. Think about it, the term life itself can be a large category. The things that you could potentially work with a life coach for include:
- Your career
- Your dating/love life
- Any type of relationship issues
- Post-divorce matters
- Financial matters
- Grief
- Spirituality
- Family matters
- Health and wellness (including physical attributes, eating choices, health concerns, and fitness)
The goal of working with a life coach is not to obtain a specific diagnosis, nor is it to get formal treatment. That would be where you explore a therapist. Instead, this goal of their work is to inspire positive changes.
Key Elements of a Life Coach
No matter what your goal for working with a life coach is, there are some key elements that you will receive during coaching practices.
Action-Oriented: When working with a life coach, they’re all about creating goals and establishing a plan to achieve them. Your life coach will help you work out different strategies and encourage you to take appropriate actions.
Accountability: In order for the life coach process to work, you need to be actively working on your plan and goals. Your coach will hold you accountable for your actions. They know a motivating and productive way to keep you on track.
Positive Encouragement: One perk of working with a life coach is you’ll receive positive encouragement. They believe in positive reinforcement over everything else. Part of their work is to get to understand your personality and use the type of encouragement that best fits with your characteristics.
Life Coach vs Therapist
One important thing to note is that life coaches differ from therapists. Therapists are typically licensed professionals, like psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors. They go through a great deal of education and training before beginning practice.
Life coaches, on the other hand, typically do not share the same level of training. There are certifications and different training options for lie coaching, but they’re not generally licensed as mental health professionals.
The Benefits of Working with a Life Coach
Working with a life coach may be exactly what you need, or it could be a supplement to therapy practices. Where therapy differs from life coaching, this can fill in that void to complete the package.
If you’ve got big dreams or feel stuck in a rut and want to move forward, this could be a great outlet for you. A coach can help you overcome your fear or break down whatever barrier is holding you back.
Are you interested in learning more about life coaching or therapy options? Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn more about how life coaching can help you
