When choosing a Coach, it’s important to find a Professional Certified Coach with the proper training and certifications so you can have confidence in your investment from the start.

Professional Coaching: focuses on vision, success, the present, and moving into the future. It frequently emphasizes performance improvement, learning, or development in some area of life.

Counseling/Therapy: Therapy uses psychopathology, emotions, and the past to understand the present. It often dives into deep-seated emotional issues to provide personal healing or trauma recovery.

Mentoring: Many people sell “Coaching,” which should technically be classified as Mentoring. Mentors have a fixed formula that they personally use to reach a specific result, and they train you to follow the same pathway to get there. BUT, if their set plan doesn’t work for you, they have no alternative training to create a customized plan.

Conversely, a professional coach can dig deeper to help you co-create a path of new awareness and reach your desired results with your specific circumstances.

Consulting: Consulting is also not Professional Coaching because it uses an individual’s additional skills, training, and certifications outside of the coaching profession. A consultant comes in as the expert to tell you how to do something, much like a mentor.

Coaching, Mentoring, Counseling, and Consulting can all be valuable, but understanding the key differences will help you decide which one will provide the results you need and want.