From Therapist to Coach: Myths, Facts, and the Path to a Purposeful Transition

✅ Fact: While both support personal growth, their core focus is very different.

• Therapy is designed to heal emotional wounds, process trauma, and treat mental health conditions (Australian Psychological Society, 2023). It often explores and is focused on the past to help clients overcome psychological issues.

• Coaching, however, is focused on designing and creating the future, helping clients to set and achieve goals, provide accountability, and optimise performance (International Coaching Federation, 2022).

📌 Key distinction: Therapy supports clients through emotional healing of past events to become emotionally stable, while coaching empowers clients who are already emotionally stable to create and take action for a new future.

✅ Fact: While coaching certifications add credibility, therapists already have foundational skills that transfer seamlessly.

Unlike therapy, coaching is unregulated, meaning therapists don’t need a licence to coach (Grant & Cavanagh, 2011). However, structured training for therapists can help refine non-clinical approaches, especially in areas like:

✔️ Coaching Frameworks and Mindset

✔️ Future-focused goal setting
✔️ Performance-based accountability

✔️ Elimination of mental and emotional barriers to moving forward
✔️ Holding space without diagnosing

✔️ Powerful Coaching Questions and Session Structures

Therapists transitioning into coaching often benefit from training programs, but formal certification is not mandatory (International Coaching Federation, 2023).

✅ Fact: Coaching creates profound transformation—just in a different way.

Research shows that coaching increases goal achievement, well-being, and performance (Jones, Woods, & Guillaume, 2016). While therapy helps clients to heal past wounds and regulate emotions in the now, coaching helps them to maximise their potential and move forward into the future.

Analogy:

🔹 Therapy is like rehabilitating a broken wing—focusing on healing and recovery.

🔹 Coaching is like training for superb flight—helping individuals to reach new heights.

Both play a vital role, but they serve different needs.

✅ Fact: Coaching allows therapists to expand their impact, not abandon their profession.

Many therapists integrate coaching into their work without giving up therapy entirely (Spence & Grant, 2007). Some offer hybrid models, while others transition fully into coaching niches like:

✔️ Leadership & Executive Coaching – Helping professionals enhance their performance
✔️ Mindset & Peak Performance Coaching – Focusing on resilience and mental clarity for peak performance
✔️ Health & Wellness Coaching – Supporting lifestyle transformation
✔️ Relationship Coaching – Helping individuals build stronger connections with others

Instead of replacing therapy, coaching can be a natural evolution of your skills.