Coaching or Therapy? What's the Difference?

Much has been written about the similarities and differences between coaching and therapy. I'd like to give you a sense of how I work, to help you determine if you think we'd be a good fit.

As an IFS Institute, Level 1- trained practitioner, I do not evaluate, diagnose, or treat mental health conditions. This is both because I am not a licensed therapist and because I firmly believe Richard Schwartz's (the founder of IFS) position when he notes that, "the DSM is an accurate description of what are mainly just clusters of protective parts that organize in different ways in different people." When you think of them like that, he continues, "you're going to learn how they're trying to protect, and you're going to honor them for their service [. . .] rather than call them pathological names and try to get rid of them."

What this means for our work together is that my job is to support you in getting to know your internal system. In other words, we learn together how you work and, sometimes, why you work the way you do. I do this by holding Self energy and helping you connect your parts to your own Self energy. In this way, my job is to let your system show us where your own inner healing wisdom (known as Self in the IFS world) needs to go next. This process usually begins by meeting our defensive protectors, getting to understand how they work and why they do what they do. I may use any number of exercises, activities, or worksheets, if you feel they would support our work together, but mostly what I do is hold space for your process and listen carefully to what's emerging naturally. I also encourage clients to let me know when you start to feel that my own parts are present. In this way, my coaching practice is relational and engages with whatever emerges within you or between us that your system feels safe exploring.

IFS coaching can be a great way to support your own process and learn more about your system alongside your own personal therapy.