Counseling and coaching are two different things but there is a strong thread running between them both. When we think of counseling you may think of your teachers, parents and clergy sitting down with you and giving you advice as to what you should or should not be doing. There are guidance counselors in the education system that advise you how to do better in school or what university is right for you. Most counselors are more like an advisor. It is up to you to take the advice or not. If you go to an employment agency the “job counselor” will advise you to the type of work you are qualified to do.
This sometimes can be difficult for you because you may have other ideas of what you want or can do. Teachers, school or job placement counselors don’t always look at the big picture. These counselors like to “pigeon hole” you into what THEY THINK is best for you. The ‘coaching’ they offer is geared towards a particular school or job. This may not always be your best solution.
A counsellor works with clients to address a specific issue or emotional disturbance. This often involves exploring a person's past.
Coaching puts the focus on the present, letting the client decide where he/she want to be in the future and then helping the client to get there.
People are more likely to action their goals, having identified these themselves, while having full support and total objectivity from their coach. The role of the coach is to facilitate change that their client has identified. As a coach I will help you understand why you do something. The strength of coaching lies in the individual's awareness that it's their own abilities and actions that affects positive change. The coach will ask the client to consider options and set objectives through detailed questioning and attentive listening.
This can allow the coach to reflect back what is important to the client, without making any assumptions of his own.
The issue of responsibility is very important. Some individuals believe that they are powerless to affect change. Such a belief will be addressed before you make any meaningful progress.
I take a HOLISTIC approach to counseling and coaching. Being impartial I help you find what is best for you as you feel it. Or better yet what do you want to achieve in your life? What I do is provide you with the tools and the knowledge to use them. You are the one driving all I am doing is reading your road map.
Where there is choice, there is control and therefore the capacity to change.
Recognizing the choices is a powerful first step, particularly if they are not easy ones. You as the client are always in charge of your destiny and will create your own results.
I take a HOLISTIC approach to counseling and coaching. Being impartial I help you find what is best for you as you feel it. Or better yet what do you want to achieve in your life? What I do is provide you with the tools and the knowledge to use them. You are the one driving all I am doing is reading your road map.