Coaching vs Counseling
For 20 years, I worked as a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) and offered coaching services to individuals and couples not living in the states where I was licensed. By 2026, 90% of my work with clients was on the coaching side, so I decided to stop renewing my license, since the help I offered was largely the same, with differences that mattered to very few clients. Read on to learn more about the differences. -Tim Tedder
How Were My Coaching and Counseling Alike?
In both, I focused on helping couples and individuals work through their issues in ways that direct them toward healing.
In both, I invested in getting to know my clients and helping them gain insight into current patterns and clarity about future change.
In both, I recommended steps toward change, often in the form of exercises to be completed outside of sessions.
Both services were managed through the same client portal system.
The per-session rate for both services was the same.
How are Coaching and Counseling Different?
Coaching services do not require a license. That means anybody can call themselves a coach, whether qualified or not. As someone who worked in the licensed field for 20 years, I’m qualified to help clients in a coaching capacity, too.
Coaching is a conversation with a professional, but the records and files I keep are typically less comprehensive than those kept for counseling clients.
Insurance does not reimburse coaching sessions.
Coaching focuses on advice, education, and skill-building to help an individual or couple. I will not diagnose you. If the issues being addressed go beyond the scope of coaching (especially if there is a need for in-office therapy or professional assessments), I will recommend that you seek help from a counselor in your area.
Although I follow the same ethical standards in coaching as I did in counseling, there is a difference in how the counseling profession views those roles. Coaching sessions would not be bound by the same privacy standards as therapy. (Although I view confidentiality the same in both counseling and coaching, a court may not.) Coaching does not carry the same level of responsibility as counseling (for example, passing you to another caregiver if necessary). In all, counseling requires a higher degree of responsibility for the therapist than coaching does for the coach. However, I approach both roles with the same sense of professional duty.
As part of the coaching process, I may recommend that you interact with someone other than me. This may be another counselor/coach or an individual/couple who I believe will provide additional help in your situation. You will always know this ahead of time, not “surprised” to find yourself interacting with someone other than me.