Transitioning from therapist to coach
Now that we’ve covered the major differences between therapy and coaching, let’s examine some of the many transferable skills good therapists (and other trained helpers) bring to the life coaching relationship.
If you have been trained as a therapist or counselor, much of what you have learned will serve you well as a life coach. Listening skills, reframing, positive regard for the client, note taking, and process skills are just a few of the transferable skills. Additionally, you know how to conduct intake interviews and discuss difficult issues with clients, and have probably heard such a variety of stories in therapy that you won’t be surprised by the issues that clients bring to coaching. If you are trained in solution-focused therapy, which uses a group of questions to focus the client’s attention and awareness on what works rather than what is broken, you already have a valuable set of tools you can transfer to life coaching.
When Deb Davis, a colleague, teaches workshops, she describes changing therapeutic assumptions to the coaching perspective as analogous to resetting the default buttons on a computer. Therapists have been trained to function from a certain operating system. As you transition into the coaching perspective and operate from coaching assumptions, you’ll need to reset the default buttons on your internal operating system so you can think and act like a coach rather than as a therapist. If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country and had to adapt to driving on the other side of the road, you understand the necessary period of adjustment. You have all the basic skills but need to adjust the context in which you use them. With time, you acclimate to the new paradigm, and eventually it becomes second nature.
Download Article 1K Club
