Coaching Services
We offer both in-person and video-based coaching .
What is coaching & who is it beneficial for?
Coaching is a service that can benefit anyone who wants support, guidance, or insight during a life change, challenging relationships, large decisions, or stress. It also is for anyone who wishes to invest in self-growth, self-awareness, self-confidence, self-trust, self-esteem or generally living more in alignment with your values, needs and desires. Coaching is hugely beneficial for those who would like counseling-level, growth-oriented support and insight, but are not addressing goals or treatment related to a mental health diagnosis or symptoms. Those who are seeking to address a mental health condition specifically need to engage in clinical therapy.
Coaching is also for those who have engaged in therapy but no longer meet “medical necessity” for therapy as a treatment. This means that symptoms have declined or become manageable, and therapy is no longer warranted or covered by health insurance as a needed medical service. For those those in this situation, many people do not want to stop their growth process simply due to no longer or not meeting the criteria for a mental health diagnosis. For example, someone can meet the criteria for an anxiety diagnosis and seek therapy to treat the symptoms of anxiety, but someone may be experiencing stress and overwhelm without necessarily meeting diagnostic criteria for anxiety. Coaching allows this person to get the support and insight they are seeking.
What is the cost of coaching?
Coaching is not considered medically necessary, and therefore is a personal service and is not able to be billed to your health insurance. Please see more information here, regarding payment, costs of coaching services, as well as to apply for a sliding scale fee for a potential reduction in coaching costs.
What's the difference between coaching and therapy?
The primary difference between coaching and therapy has to do with the focus of the goals. Coaching is not a treatment - it does not work in a clinical capacity to address or treat a mental health condition (whether diagnosed or not). Coaching is not a medical service, and those engaging in coaching are doing so to benefit from addressing topics or goals that are not considered medically necessary. Therapy is centered around healing; coaching is centered around growth.
What are topics and goals that can be addressed in coaching?
The following is a list of some goals that a person may address in coaching services:
Support with life transition, change or decision
Support with relationship stress or conflict (dating, marriage, family, friends)
Support with financial, job, career stress
Support with parenting or caregiver stress and skills
Support with grief or loss
Support in breaking old habits or building new habits
Support with burnout
Increasing self-esteem, self-awareness, self-trust, self-growth, etc
Increasing ability to cope with stress
Increasing ability to manage anger or irritability
Increasing motivation
Increasing skills with executive functioning (procrastination, focus, organization, etc)
Increasing assertiveness, self-advocacy or boundary setting skills
Increasing skill in being able to express my needs and/or feelings
Increasing social, communication, or conflict-related skills
Reducing inner conflict
Exploring Identity, values, needs and desires and working to live more in alignment
Do coaches need to be licensed?
Currently, no. While there are several excellent certification programs for coaches, there are many practicing coaches who are not certified and are not operating under a governing board. As a licensed therapist, I am held accountable to my state licensing board, and the laws and code of ethics that accompany that license, whether I am providing therapy or coaching.
When would coaching not be appropriate or need to stop?
Prior to engaging in coaching services, we will discuss your goals and intentions in investing in this service. We will have you complete a brief form indicating the goals you’d like to address and screening for indicators of a mental health symptoms that would better be addressed by clinical therapy. If we have reason to believe you would be better served by therapy, your needs are more appropriately addressed by therapy, or you have symptoms that would not make coaching services appropriate, we will advise you to seek therapy with us or refer you to another therapist, depending on your specific needs and situation.
As licensed therapists, if we are actively working together in coaching services and we discover that there are underlying issues that run deeper than is suitable for a coaching approach, a mental health diagnosis needs to be treated through clinical therapy, or symptoms impair your ability to appropriately engage in the scope of coaching, we will help you identify these issues and collaboratively decide how to move forward. In situations where there is a clear need to do clinical, therapeutic work to specifically treat symptoms related to a mental health diagnosis, we would refer and/or pause the coaching process and connect you with the right mental health professional. Your safety and well-being are always the top priority in any work we do, be it therapy or coaching
