Counselling or Coaching
Counselling or Coaching?
Sometimes it’s not clear whether counselling or coaching will help you best. A very simplistic view is that counselling addresses emotional issues and examines the roots of ones feelings, for instance, “I feel sad all the time.” Coaching, on the other hand, is about deciding on goals and working out personal strategies to attain those goals e.g. “I want to improve my performance at work”.
Life is rarely so easily categorised. Consider the case of a man whose wife has recently left him, coaching and counselling may be appropriate.
- If he is upset, can’t concentrate at work, is struggling to look after himself at home, then counselling may be helpful for venting and moderating his feelings. Expressing his anger and hurt with a counsellor may help him take stock and to move on. A counsellor can listen, challenge and help him make sense of his new circumstances and to find meaning in life again.
- If he is functioning reasonably well at work and home, but wants to re-asses where his life is going, now that one of the major goal-posts have moved, then he may find coaching useful. Does he want to move jobs, move location? Is now the time to take up long-lost hobbies or friendships? What meaning will he make of his life now that the marriage is over? A coach can help him move forward, set goals and choose the next practical action steps to take to re-shape his life and put it back on track
Talking Therapies
Life can present many issues and challenges, at home and at work, when the help of a trained professional is needed.
The talking therapies, namely counselling and psychotherapy, provide an experience of supported reflection and challenge, aiding you to find more meaningful and helpful ways to approach situations, people and relationships.
You may feel that you have difficulties around issues of change and transition, loss and bereavement, or in your relationship with others or yourself. You may find that you approach things in unhelpful and frustrating ways, and you would like to work out why this is, so that you have the choice to approach things differently.
The professional guides that your GP uses, such as SIGN and NICE, recommend the talking therapies as an alternative, or complement, to medication for various emotional and psychological issues.
Here are some examples of things that people bring to a counsellor or psychotherapist:
- ‘When things change all the time, at work or at home, it makes me feel very anxious and that I can’t cope anymore’
- ‘I can’t understand why I feel so bad about my friend going away’
- ‘I feel like I do not deserve to have anything better’
- ‘Why do I always get into difficult relationships?’
- ‘We used to get on so well; now we fight all the time’
- ‘I feel trapped in the way that I do things – I feel so low’
- ‘I can’t get over what happened to me – it’s ruining my life’
- ‘I feel like there is no sense to my life’
Some people want to deal with very specific issues, which become the focus of the sessions, whilst others have various issues they want to deal with, or they may not be sure of what really troubles them and they want the opportunity to find out. Other people simply want to find out more about themselves so that they can approach the future with greater self awareness and choice.
What is Coaching?
To help explain what coaching is, here are just some of the issues our clients bring to their sessions at Rowan:
- ‘I feel completely overwhelmed by my workload’
- ‘I seem to have lost my confidence to tackle difficult issues or even make decisions’
- ‘I feel blocked and unable to find any kind of motivation and drive’
- ‘Relationships in my office seem to be breaking down – we just don’t communicate well’
- ‘How can I get my team to engage with me and some new projects?’
- ‘I need help to define what I want from my life and my job’
- ‘I feel stuck, I have ideas and lots of plans but nothing is happening – help’
So coaching is all about becoming more effective in different areas of our lives whether it is at work or in our private lives. The coach works with a client to help this to happen. This is a relatively new, emerging profession and is related to counselling.
Jenny Rogers, a leading coach, defines it in these terms:
- “The coach works with clients to achieve speedy, increased and sustainable effectiveness in their lives and careers through focused learning. The coach’s sole aim is to work with the client to achieve all of the client’s potential – as defined by the client.”
- “Coaching Skills – A Handbook” by Jenny Rogers, Open University Press 2004
Rowan Organisation
The advantage of working with a coach-counsellor based organisation such as Rowan is that if therapy needs are identified, the coaching work can be put on hold while Rowan addresses your counselling needs. Coaching can be resumed later with your original Rowan coach. A thorough assessment at the first session will ensure that you are offered the right help at the right time.
To book your appointment or find out more contact us at Rowan Consultancy.