While there is some crossover between therapy and coaching, there are also distinct differences between the two. As someone who's worked as both a therapist and a coach, I can easily answer this question for you! 1. The main difference is that therapy is about treating mental illness, or a diagnosable mental health condition/disorder; coaching, on the other hand, is focused on helping you take action to meet your goals, which can include goals to feel better! While many people who seek therapy are experiencing difficulties in their lives, they do not actually meet diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder, yet their therapist must give them a diagnosis in order for services to be covered by insurance. This typically looks like folks who are feeling stressed and anxious, are experiencing some self-doubt, who can have difficulty speaking up in their relationships, and who don't prioritize their self-care, but generally, are able to get by in their lives without significant impairment. People who fall into this camp are perfect for coaching! 2. Another difference is that therapy focuses on better understanding how experiences from your past are continuing to impact you now, while coaching focuses more on looking at where you're at now and seeing how to get you to where you want to be. In coaching, we'll touch upon your past to serve as context for where you're at now, and we'll focus much more on helping you take action now to create the future you want for yourself--one that's fulfilling and aligned with your values and goals! So if you've been thinking about going to therapy and have a sense that you're not experiencing mental illness, but rather, could benefit from deepening your self-understanding, gaining new coping skills, and having accountability in taking action on all the things you've been wanting to do but have felt stuck in, then coaching sounds like the right fit for you! Still feeling unsure if coaching is the right fit for you? Sign up for a 30-minute free connection call and we can figure it out together.

Time investment: My signature Wise Mind Wellness Coaching program includes 12 60-minute weekly sessions completed in around 3 months. After the 3 months is up, we'll check in around your progress towards your goals and you can decide if you'd like to continue working together. Because my clients have so much success in their first 3 months, many choose to continue working with me for at least 6 months so they can continue to uplevel their lives! Weekly, you'll be expected to invest one hour for our session, and at least 20-minutes daily to complete homework assignments and practice new ways of being. This is where the change happens! Financial investment: Receiving high quality mental health coaching shouldn't only be available to rich folks! For that reason, I aim to price my services in a way that works for most people who have full-time employment and are smart with their spending. I also offer a select number of sliding scale spots in my caseload for people with verifiable financial limitations who would be a perfect fit for my services. If this is you, part of our work will be around improving your financial situation to help remove that stress from your life and help you feel more in control. I would rather help more people than less and will always aim to work with you around pricing if it feels like a great match and I know I'd be able to help you achieve your goals. Like all good investments, you will get out of coaching what you put into it, and high quality mental health coaching like you receive here at Wise Mind Wellness Coaching will pay off in dividends over the rest of your life!

Absolutely! As a person with lived experience in healing from trauma, I know firsthand the importance of working with a practitioner who is not only trauma-informed, but who is trauma-responsive. Being trauma-responsive means that I'm not only aware of what trauma is and how it may impact your life, but that I'll adjust my approach and our work in ways that take into account the traumatic experiences you may have had and provide you with resources and coping strategies that will not retraumatize you and instead, actually help with your healing process. There's a lot of confusion around if coaches are ethically able to work with people who have experienced trauma, and again, as someone who has worked as both a therapist and a coach, I can speak directly to this. In our coaching sessions, we will not be diving deep into the stories of what's happened to you; if you feel like that's what you need right now, then therapy might be a better fit. Also, if you are experiencing symptoms of PTSD, therapy also sounds like it may be a better fit, as you may need mental health treatment rather then mental health coaching. In mental health coaching, we'll touch upon your past to help serve as context for the challenges you may be experiencing right now, and work with your patterns and beliefs in the present to help you develop a stronger sense of control and grounding. We will also use mindfulness throughout our sessions and this can sometimes be triggering for people with trauma. As a trauma-responsive mental health coach, I know how to design mindfulness approaches that will help you to feel more present and embodied in gentle, compassionate ways.