I get asked a lot about the difference between therapy and coaching.
As an art psychotherapist who also offers ADHD and neurodivergent coaching, I completely understand. And, if you’re late to the neurodivergent party, it can be even more confusing. You’re probably wondering what it is you actually need? So to shed a little light, I thought I’d share my approach.
My approach to coaching and therapy
When I’m coaching, I bring my knowledge of psychotherapy and my therapist’s understanding of people and how we work to your session by creating a safe and for example, understanding emotional responses. What I don’t bring is therapy. That’s not to say that coaching isn’t a deep or transformational process, it totally can be. We can still dig deep into how you think, why certain patterns or behaviours keep showing up but we start from a different place. Through coaching we’ll explore your goals, choices and what might help you to move forward. We won’t ignore painful experiences, we’ll make space for them before finding a gentle way back to focus on what you set as your outcome for that session.
When I’m wearing my art therapy hat, we start from a place of emotional distress and work directly with that. It’s also set up differently to coaching. You’ll have a clinical assessment with me, we will create a treatment plan and if something difficult or challenging comes up, we stay with it. We explore a bit further, as that emotional material may become the focus of the work. We’ll go at your pace, in a way that feels safe for you, with the therapeutic support you need.
With art therapy, you don't need to be good at art, you don't need to stumble to find words to explain how you're feeling, the creative process can be just another way to explore your experiences and emotions.
And if we’re coaching it doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and delve into the boxes of art materials and supplies available to you. Working creatively, letting go and getting messy can sometimes help us process our experiences and see patterns we might not have been able to notice before, whether that’s through coaching or art psychotherapy. The creative process may help you to untangle loose thread and get thoughts out of your heads and into something tangible.
Choosing between coaching or therapy
If you come to me for coaching and I think that therapy might be more helpful, I would suggest it, but we wouldn’t switch to therapy. I wouldn’t want to blur the lines between the two roles or move between them within an existing coaching relationship.
If you’re still not sure what you need
You don't need to have all the answers before they get in touch, you don’t have to know what you want. Drop me a line and we can have a chat about what you might need.