“But Isn’t Coaching for Hacks and Bad Therapists?”
It’s a question whispered in the back rows of CEU conferences and lobbed online by skeptics: “Isn’t coaching just therapy-lite run by unqualified people?”
Let’s set the record straight.
Coaching ≠ Therapy (and That’s the Point)
Therapy is a clinical service focused on diagnosing and treating mental health conditions. It requires licensure, rigorous training, and ethical accountability. Coaching, on the other hand, is not designed to treat mental illness. It's a structured, goal-oriented service meant to help people grow, navigate transitions, build skills, and live with more intention.
They’re cousins, not twins - and the distinction matters.
Coaching Can Be the Right Fit When…
There’s no mental health diagnosis — The client is not seeking symptom relief but clarity, accountability, or transformation.
Someone is between therapists — Coaching can offer stabilizing structure while they wait for availability (as long as safety and appropriateness are assessed).
The work is future-facing — Clients want to clarify their purpose, improve communication, build a business, or realign with values. This isn’t clinical work - it’s directional.
Clients don’t want therapy — Not everyone needs or wants a deep dive into the past. Some want a clear-headed partner to help them move forward.
What Makes Coaching Ethical and Helpful?
It comes down to scope and transparency. An ethical coach stays in their lane, knows when to refer out, and communicates clearly about what coaching is -and isn’t. When done well, coaching is not a knockoff of therapy - it’s a different tool in the toolbox, used for different jobs.
When practiced by a therapist who also offers coaching, the distinction becomes even more powerful: clients get the benefit of deep understanding with firm boundaries around the service being offered.
The Bottom Line
Bad therapy is bad therapy. Bad coaching is bad coaching. But thoughtful, ethical, well-defined coaching is a powerful offering - not a fallback, not a workaround, and not a scam. It’s a legitimate way to support people who are seeking progress, not pathology.
