What is the difference between a therapist and a life coach?
That’s a great question and one I feel especially qualified to answer. Not only do I have a master’s degree in counseling psychology, but as the founder of Life Mastery Institute, I’ve spent a good deal of my career training life coaches.
The main difference between therapists and life coaches is that therapists help their clients by being backward-focused, and life coaches help their clients by being forward-focused.
Therapists are trained to help clients who are experiencing hardships in their personal and emotional life get better by examining events in their past in detail. A therapist helps you look backwards so that you can structure a better life in the here and now.
On the other hand, a life coach helps you create a life reflective of your potential, not based on what’s happened in your past. Most people who come to life coaches already have a good life, but want to feel more alive, more purposeful and more passionate about what they’re doing on a daily basis.
A life coach isn’t going to be very interested in the sad stories that have happened to a client in the past. They understand that the more we focus on those stories, the more connected we become to the (energy) frequency that keeps us in the experience of the hurt. When we focus that much on the past, we are literally wiring our brains to stay stuck in the emotional hardships of the past.
However, as much as their approach differs, life coaches and therapists work very well together when they can refer a client back and forth to each other as needed. If a life coach is working with someone with a real psychological problem—for example, they’re afraid of leaving the house or they wake up with anxiety several times a night—they’ll want to refer that client to a therapist for that particular problem. That’s not a common dilemma for a life coach, however.
More than likely, as a life coach, you’ll have the opportunity to help about 98% of your clients get forward-focused in order to design a life they would love living. You are meant to help them understand that in order to achieve results that are beyond what they have experienced in the past, they don’t have to acquire more potential, they just get to have more awareness and more support.
If you are resourced and supported in your training as a life coach, that’s what you’ll help your clients achieve.
If you’re thinking about becoming a life coach, and you don’t have the economic training that will help you build a vibrant coaching business, then take a look at Life Mastery Institute. Not only do we train life coaches, but we train them in the economic engine they’ll need to generate a six figure income the first year. I understand that for most, a six figure income isn’t an end in itself, it’s also worthwhile for what it represents—lives transformed, hearts opened, and dreams built. Individuals and families are better off and the world is a better place because of the work you do in the world.
If life coaching is really something you’re interested in, I’ve created a free resource for you at the link below. I hope you take advantage of it.
"The beauty of the DreamBuilder Coaching program is you are handed materials, a proven business model. I can take these programs apply them to ANY industry. I enrolled two clients at $10k each and have made an additional $20k in the last couple of months, while at the same time running a full time Real Estate business."
"I have to say, I expected a good training when I came here. This training absolutely exceeded all of my expectations. This is the highest caliber training I’ve ever attended! Within the first month after completing the training, I earned more money than the entire previous year trying to build a coaching business."
"The work I now get to do with people is transformative and makes the world in many ways a better place. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the program."
"Before being introduced to the Coaching Certification Program with Mary Morrissey, I had a small coaching practice, and I was also trying to build a music career as a singer and performer. Today I travel the globe singing, speaking and teaching! All three components of EXACTLY what I wanted."
