Is coaching right for me?

People who are in good mental health tend to be the best candidates for coaching. This does not mean you can’t have a mental health diagnosis. That would be stigma and I hate stigma. It just means that you have to have your mental illness under control before you will be able to really benefit from coaching. I think of good mental health as the cake, and coaching as the icing on top (see below). During our introductory call, if I think therapy or psychiatric care may be more appropriate for you, I will let you know and may refer you to a therapist or psychiatrist if I am unable to provide these services. I am more limited in my ability to offer these services due to licensing requirements and currently can only offer these services to some North Carolina residents.

 

How is coaching different from therapy or psychiatric care?

Therapy aims to treat and manage mental health issues. It is typically more problem-oriented and broadly applicable to your life. Therapists typically try to take a more neutral and guiding stance. I avoid giving instructions and try to help the client come to their own conclusions. When working with a therapist, you will try to understand issues in your past and any underlying patterns that have resulted in the challenges you face. Psychiatric care involves these therapeutic techniques as well, but may also involve the use of psychiatric medications. 

 

Therapy and psychiatric care are appropriate for people who are dealing with active mental illness or are recovering from active mental illness. That being said, healthy individuals can certainly engage in therapy as well! In contrast, coaching is more focused and tends to prioritize finding solutions rather than understanding problems. Coaching involves strategizing, goal setting, and self-improvement. Coaching is more directive and instructive than therapy. In other words, we are more concerned with the “how” than the “why” when we engage in coaching. 

 

Tony Robbins gives a good overview of some of the differences between therapy and coaching:

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/coaching/life-coach-vs-therapist/

 

If at any time I believe that you would be better suited by establishing with a therapist or psychiatrist, I will recommend those services to you instead of or in addition to coaching. 

Please note that I cannot provide therapy and coaching to the same person. Some people do have a therapist and a coach at the same time, but more commonly they only need one at a time.

 

How long until I see results?

It depends on the issue that you want help with and your own drive to change. For some people, one session may be enough to provide clarity and help you move forward. For other people, you may be dealing with more complex decisions or issues, or pursuing lofty goals that require several months of weekly coaching sessions to help you make sense of it all. The time frame typically lies somewhere between these two extremes. While I may recommend a certain coaching frequency or duration, the choice ultimately depends on what works best for you, your schedule, your goals, and your timeline.

 

The more time and energy you put into coaching sessions and implementing the strategies/recommendations discussed in between coaching sessions, the faster you will see results. Ultimately, the results you get depend on you. I’ll lead the horse to water, so to speak, but it’s up to you to hydrate.   

​

Why is it so expensive?

There are a couple of reasons, but the cost is primarily due to my extensive training and experience. You will notice that the fees are the same as my fees for psychiatric care because, while the focus of the session may be very different, my training and expertise is not. You can absolutely find coaches who are charging far less, but you may not get the same results. I also spend a lot of time between sessions on planning and strategizing, so the cost of each session does not reflect only the time spent in session, but the time spent preparing materials and following up with clients after sessions.

​

Why are you doing coaching? Why not just stick with psychiatry?

There are some aspects of coaching that I really enjoy but cannot integrate into my psychiatric practice. As noted above, the doctor-patient relationship and the therapist-client relationship is very different from the coach-client relationship. Coaching enables me to focus primarily on self-improvement and allows me to have a more directive relationship with the person I'm working with.

 

Do you do group coaching?

Yes! Please contact me to discuss pricing and logistics.

​

​