Counseling vs. Coaching

I distinguish these as follows: when someone comes to me wanting help making something happen—to manifest some concrete goal or project, I call that coaching.  If someone wants help deepening their understanding and acceptance of themselves, I consider that counseling.

As a coach I encourage my clients to develop greater self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-management, to the degree that such inner work supports them in achieving their goal.  As a counselor I almost always suggest “homework” of some kind, asking my clients to put new insights into action; and I do this in service to them deepening their inner learning and change.

So, there is much overlap in my approach to these two roles and still I find the distinction useful.

My counseling work

As a counselor, I work with self-aware adults seeking insight and change through an accelerated, body-centered, alternative to traditional “talk therapy.” I offer my clients space and presence. The room to discover, and the safety to reveal, what’s most alive in them. I work with intuition, metaphor and the body as allies.

My clients explore how to let go of old patterns of thought, emotion and behavior, and to create new (or reclaim even older) ways of being and moving in the world. As we work, I help them tap into their own resourcefulness and deep knowing, and to move toward what they most want.

I conduct sessions both face-to-face at my office in Northampton, MA, and over the phone with people across the country and around the globe.