One of the most common questions I get about life coaching is whether it’s the same as therapy. While there are certain (mostly logistical) similarities, there are very important differences as well. There are obvious differences in the necessity of licensing, etc but people are interested in what the differences are in practice. Here are a few:

Wholeness vs. Woundedness
Perhaps the most striking difference between life coaching and therapy is the underlying assumption about the client. Therapy aims to manage an illness or woundedness, to teach the client strategies to deal with an assumed deficiency. In contrast, life coaches view their clients as already whole and infinitely resourceful. While we certainly have tools and methods that we use to help a client they are always aimed at helping the client to find their own answers and tap their own innate inner resources.

Present vs. Past Focus
Another important difference between life coaching and therapy is the time on which it is focused. While therapy is useful for healing the past, coaching puts very little focus here. Instead life coaches help the client to focus on living in the present and creating the future they desire. Any conversations about the past are less about what happened, and more about how it is effecting you in the present moment.

Thriving vs. Surviving
The goal of therapy is the alleviation of troubling symptoms such as persistent sadness and anxiety, to enable to client to function. ”Functioning”, enabled by the management or absence of symptoms, is the goal by which success is judged. In coaching the goal is the cultivation of positive feelings, not the absence of negative ones. Success might be defined as a life guided by authenticity and propelled by enthusiasm. Survival by managing ones symptoms is undoubtedly important, but the goal of coaching is to go beyond mere survival to create a life of joyful purpose.