Photos by Jem
Have you ever found yourself stuck between choosing coaching or counselling when you need support? We understand this dilemma completely, and the choice you make can genuinely impact your personal growth journey in ways you might not expect.
We believe in combining spiritual and esoteric practises, such as tarot, astrology, meditation and magick with the more grounded wellbeing methods of counselling and holistic wellbeing in order to support actual, intended change.
Here’s what we know about these two approaches from our own training: counselling (or psychotherapy) focuses specifically on understanding, resolving and healing emotional trauma and pain carried through from the past. Coaching, however, takes a completely different route by concentrating on the present and future. This fundamental distinction shapes how these practises can support you, and we believe understanding this is crucial for making the right choice for your circumstances.
What makes this even more interesting is how both approaches can be enhanced through spiritual elements, which is perfect for the spiritually minded among you. Spiritual counselling goes beyond traditional methods by incorporating spirituality into the healing process, recognising that we’re not just physical and psychological beings, but also spiritual beings with a deep connection to something greater. Similarly, approaches like humanistic magick blend psychological principles with transformative practises to unlock inner wisdom and personal growth.
We believe that if you’re choosing between coaching and counselling, grasping their core differences is absolutely essential, so let’s start to unpack these a bit more. Counselling helps you process and heal past wounds, while coaching guides you toward future goals and aspirations. Sometimes, you might benefit from elements of both approaches, and that’s perfectly valid. Throughout this article, we’ll explore these support systems, helping you identify which approach, or combination of approaches, might best serve your current needs and aspirations. After all, the right support can make all the difference in your journey.
Understanding the Foundations of Coaching and Counselling
At the heart of both counselling and coaching lies a supportive professional relationship, yet they serve distinctly different purposes in your personal growth journey. Grasping these differences allows you to choose the right support for your specific needs.
What is counselling?
Counselling is a professional service designed to help you work through personal challenges, emotional struggles, and life transitions. Essentially, it provides a safe, non-judgemental space where you can express thoughts and feelings openly. The primary focus during counselling sessions centres on healing from the past and building mental resilience going forward. This means your counsellor works with you to explore past experiences and understand how they might be impacting your present life.
Here in the UK, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy defines counselling (also known as therapy) as “a safe and confidential space for you to talk to a trained professional about your issues and concerns…(in order to) help you explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours so you can develop a better understanding of yourself and of others”. Counselling often takes a more clinical approach, addressing mental health concerns, emotional distress, or specific traumatic experiences that may be holding you back.
What is coaching?
Coaching takes a completely different route, concentrating on future action and forward momentum. According to Psychology.Org, coaching involves a “focus on their clients’ present and future goals, helping them to set attainable benchmarks that will lead them to successfully change various aspects of their lives.” So unlike counselling, coaching focuses primarily on the present and future, guiding you toward specific, measurable improvements in your work or personal life.
Your coach will typically collaborate with you to set challenging goals, develop action plans, and hold you accountable for achieving them. Here’s the key difference: coaching assumes you already have the underlying mental resilience to take action and make changes, rather than addressing deeper emotional issues.
How they both support personal growth
Despite their different approaches, both create valuable pathways toward personal development. Counselling and coaching both provide time for reflection in confidential environments where you can explore your thoughts honestly. Through either process, you gain enhanced self-awareness, clarity about your situation, and tools to overcome challenges.
Counselling supports growth by helping you heal emotionally and resolve past issues, consequently building a stronger foundation for your future. Coaching fosters development by empowering you to recognise your potential and take concrete steps toward your aspirations. Many people find that at different points in life, they benefit from both approaches. Sometimes sequentially, sometimes simultaneously.
The Real Benefits: What Each Approach Actually Delivers
Both counselling and coaching offer distinct advantages that can genuinely reshape different aspects of your personal journey. Understanding their unique benefits helps you choose the most appropriate support for your specific circumstances.
Emotional Healing Through Counselling
Counselling serves as a therapeutic refuge for emotional healing, and we mean that quite literally. Licensed counsellors create a trusted, safe environment where you can explore difficult emotions and painful experiences without judgement. Through this supportive relationship, you gain relief from various forms of emotional disruption.
The healing process extends far beyond simply talking about problems, although that’s certainly part of it. It involves working through past traumas, improving coping skills, and addressing underlying psychological factors that may contribute to the present day issues like burnout or anxiety. This approach proves particularly valuable if you’re experiencing significant emotional distress, as counselling helps you process and release long-held emotional burdens. What strikes us most about counselling is how it creates space for feelings that might otherwise remain buried or ignored.
Goal-Setting and Motivation Through Coaching
Coaching excels at helping you establish and achieve concrete objectives. Throughout coaching sessions, you’ll collaborate with your coach to identify specific, measurable goals that align with your core values and aspirations. This process creates clarity about what you truly want to accomplish.
Coaching provides ongoing accountability that forces more multi-dimensional views in cognitive processing. Your coach helps you overcome obstacles by developing strategies, maintaining motivation, and celebrating small victories along the way. This forward momentum builds self-efficacy, a crucial element for goal attainment.
The beauty of coaching lies in its action-oriented approach. Rather than dwelling on problems, it propels you towards solutions.
What Both Approaches Share
Both foster enhanced self-awareness, which is a critical foundation for personal growth. Self-awareness involves recognising your thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and their impact on your life and others. This deeper understanding helps you clarify your values, identify patterns that may be holding you back, and make more informed choices.
With either support system, you’ll likely experience improved communication skills, increased self-esteem, enhanced motivation, and reduced self-defeating behaviours. Both approaches provide opportunities for genuine insight that can change how you see yourself and navigate life’s challenges. The common thread? Both create space for honest self-reflection in confidential environments where you can explore your thoughts without fear of judgement.
When Coaching and Counselling Come Together
The traditional boundaries between coaching and counselling are becoming increasingly fluid, and we believe this is a positive development. Many practitioners are recognising the value of combining these approaches, creating a more holistic framework that addresses both emotional wellbeing and practical goal achievement.
When a blended approach works best
Have you ever found yourself in that frustrating place where emotional barriers keep getting in the way of your goals? This is precisely when a combined coaching and counselling approach can be most effective. If you’re experiencing significant emotional distress yet still want to actively pursue life goals, this integrated method provides comprehensive support that addresses both sides of the equation.
We’ve seen the blended approach work exceptionally well in situations where:
- You need to address underlying psychological factors while developing practical strategies
- You’re recovering from a specific trauma yet want to move forward professionally
- You’ve reached a plateau in therapy and need motivational direction
What we have found is that every person who walks through the door is different. What works for one person might not work for another, and this recognition of individual uniqueness is at the heart of why integrated approaches can be so powerful.
Examples of integrative techniques
Integrative approaches typically draw techniques from different therapeutic models, tailored specifically for your unique circumstances. For example, a practitioner might begin with counselling-focused sessions to establish emotional safety, then incorporate coaching elements as you progress. Some therapists use cognitive-behavioural coaching (CBC) principles, blending cognitive-behavioural therapy’s (CBT) psychological approach with coaching’s goal-oriented framework.
Working with professionals who offer both
When seeking a professional who offers both approaches, look for practitioners who clearly understand the distinction between coaching and counselling roles. The best integrative practitioners can explain how they’ll adjust their approach based on your evolving needs, and this transparency is crucial for building trust.
To be honest, finding someone skilled in both areas can be challenging, but it’s worth the search. Although a pure coaching style has proven most effective for achieving specific objectives, research conducted by the University of Derby shows that a blended style of coaching and counselling achieved the most highly rated blended style when applied by internal coaches. This suggests that the therapeutic relationship remains central to this process, providing the safety needed for meaningful work to occur.
The key is finding someone who can move fluidly between these approaches without losing sight of what you actually need at any given moment, including any spiritual elements.
Finding the Right Support for You
The truth is, making an informed decision between coaching and counselling requires careful consideration of your personal circumstances and goals. We’ve seen too many people jump into the wrong type of support simply because they didn’t take time to reflect on what they actually needed. The right support can make all the difference in your development journey.
Questions to ask yourself before choosing
Before you commit to either approach, we’d encourage you to reflect on these essential questions:
- Are you looking to heal from past experiences or grow toward future goals? Healing typically points toward counselling, whilst growth suggests coaching
- Do you need to understand your past, or create a plan for your future? Past-focused needs indicate counselling, future-focused needs suggest coaching
- Are you experiencing significant emotional distress, or feeling directionless? Distress indicates counselling, whilst feeling unmotivated or unclear about direction points to coaching
These aren’t trick questions, but they do require honest self-reflection. Sometimes the answer isn’t immediately obvious, and that’s perfectly normal. We mentioned at the beginning that these approaches can be enhanced through spiritual tools and when we have met people who aren’t sure what the next steps are, a good therapeutic tarot card session has provided additional insight for those who were feeling stuck with these initial questions.
How to evaluate a coach or counsellor
Finding the right professional can feel overwhelming, but there are practical steps you can take:
Check credentials and training first. For counsellors and coaches you should look to verify registration with a professional body. In the UK there are quite a few that counsellors and coaches can join, such as BACP, UKCP and the Association of Coaching.
We are registered with the National Hypnotherapy Society and the International Institute for Complementary Therapists, focusing as we do on the spiritual aspects of meditation and intention setting in our blended therapeutic approach, which includes coaching and counselling. Registration with a professional body may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people skip this fundamental step.
Assess their experience with your specific issues. Don’t be afraid to request testimonials from previous clients. Any reputable practitioner should be comfortable providing these, whilst maintaining confidentiality, of course.
Most importantly, arrange an initial consultation to determine rapport. The connection between you and the professional is crucial for success, and no amount of qualifications can substitute for that personal chemistry.
You should expect to find a Code of Ethics, contract or other agreement and for coaching, other templates for you to take action (or all of these) when working within a professional relationship.
Red flags to watch out for
Regardless of which path you choose, be alert to these warning signs:
With counselling, watch for boundary violations, confidentiality breaches, excessive self-disclosure, and unfair judgements. These behaviours can actually harm your progress rather than help it.
For coaching, be wary of practitioners who lack clarity in their methods, impose their own solutions and advice rather than facilitate your own insights, or make unrealistic promises about quick results. If someone guarantees you’ll achieve specific outcomes in unrealistic timeframes, run!
For both approaches, professionals should never share your information with others without consent, pressure you into additional services, or demonstrate poor listening skills. Trust your intuition here, if something feels off it probably is.
Making Your Choice
Choosing between coaching and counselling comes down to your specific needs and current life situation. Both approaches offer valuable pathways toward personal growth, though they work in fundamentally different ways. Counselling provides essential support for healing emotional wounds and processing past traumas, creating a foundation for psychological wellbeing. Coaching focuses on present capabilities and future aspirations, helping you set achievable goals and maintain accountability.
Many people benefit from elements of both approaches, and that’s perfectly valid. The growing trend of integrative practises recognises that emotional healing and forward momentum often go hand in hand. This blended approach works particularly well when emotional barriers stand between you and your goals.
Take time to reflect honestly about what you truly need right now. Ask yourself whether past issues require resolution or if you need guidance toward future achievements. Research potential practitioners thoroughly, checking credentials and establishing rapport during initial consultations.
Both coaching and counselling aim to support your personal journey, albeit through different methods. The right professional can make a significant difference, whether you need a safe space to process emotions or structured accountability to achieve your goals. Trust your instincts when choosing a support system because the relationship between you and your practitioner forms the cornerstone of any successful personal development work.
Your willingness to seek appropriate support already demonstrates commitment to your personal development journey. That’s a powerful first step toward creating positive change in your life, regardless of which path you choose.
References
Credit where credit is due, we aim to cite our sources because we value truthful content. 4 sources were referenced during research to write this, but you are encouraged to follow our other links as well.
- https://www.bacp.co.uk/
- https://www.psychology.org/
- Smith, Sue 2015. Internal Coaching: critical reflections on success and failure in workplace coaching. PhD Thesis https://doi.org/10.48773/92874
- https://nationalhypnotherapysociety.org/
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