Coaching vs. Therapy: How They Differ—and Why Coaching Feels Like Home to Me
For decades, I wore the title of therapist. And while I’m grateful for that chapter—the training, the clients, the deep emotional work—I eventually realized something important about myself:
I’m a more natural coach than a therapist.
Therapy and coaching overlap in meaningful ways, but the heart of each is different. Therapy often looks back—tending to old wounds, supporting healing, and helping people make sense of how their past shaped their present.
Coaching, in contrast, is about what happens next.
It’s forward-moving, action-oriented, and focused on helping you live more aligned in your everyday life. But that doesn’t mean coaching ignores the past. In my work, we do look back—just enough to understand how your patterns formed.
We explore your history not so we stay there, but so you can:
Assess what you need now
Interrupt old protective loops
Make choices that reflect who you are today
Clear the Energetic Clutter that drains your life-force
Energetic Clutter — things like outdated roles, people-pleasing, self-doubt, perfectionism, or over-functioning — didn’t appear out of thin air. It was learned. Which means it can be unlearned. And as a coach, that unlearning-and-rebuilding process is where I do my best work.
How to Know Whether You Need Coaching or Therapy
This is a question people rarely get clear guidance on, which is why so many stay in years-long therapy—gaining insight, but not necessarily learning how to live differently.
Here’s how I frame it:
Therapy is most helpful when…
You’re navigating acute grief, trauma, anxiety, or depression
You’re working through something that needs stabilization
You need support understanding and healing the past
Your nervous system needs tending before you can take consistent action
You’re still developing emotional safety, self-awareness, or regulation
Therapy is essential when your system needs grounding or healing before you can move forward.
Coaching is most helpful when…
You already have insight about your patterns
You understand the “why,” but struggle with the “how”
You’re ready to take new actions but feel stuck or overwhelmed
You’re eager to gather information about yourself between sessions
You want support aligning your choices, boundaries, habits, and relationships
You’re ready to experiment, tweak, try again — and move forward
Coaching is ideal when you’re emotionally stable enough to engage, experiment, and apply your insights to real-life behavior.
Many people stay in therapy longer than they actually need to—not because the therapist did anything wrong, but because therapy culture often emphasizes endless reflection. At some point, reflection without movement becomes a form of Energetic Clutter.
Insight without action becomes stagnation.
Coaching is the bridge between knowing and doing.
Why Coaching Feels Like Home to Me
I’m especially lit up by working with people who engage with their growth between sessions. The ones who notice their patterns in real time, gather insights from daily life, experiment with small shifts, and come back to our sessions with fresh awareness.
Because transformation rarely happens inside that 45-minute window.
It happens in the spaces between—when you’re noticing, integrating, and trying things on.
Therapy gave me a beautiful foundation.
Coaching gives me the freedom to support people in real time, in the present moment, and in the part of the journey where meaningful change actually happens.
Find Your Next Aligned Step
If you’re ready for work that’s practical, collaborative, and rooted in clearing Energetic Clutter so you can live more aligned, I’d love to invite you to explore The Growth Menu.
It’s a flexible way to choose the support that fits your life—whether you want a quick reset, deeper ongoing work, a targeted shift, or a creative, hands-on experience.
Explore The Growth Menu and find the offering that meets you where you are.
