"Trapped in jail and you swallowed the key…you’re the only one who can set yourself free."

The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the gold standard in coach training and certification. The ICF defines coaching as:

"...partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.

We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment."

There is simply nothing like the power of ongoing, weekly check-ins for the goals you set for yourself.  A study from Dominican University demonstrates that those who write down their goals, communicate them to a trusted peer, and provided weekly progress reports to that trusted peer achieved significantly higher rates of success in achieving their goals than those who did not provide weekly updates.   

Adapted from psychologist and coach Dr. Patrick Williams, Ed.D., MCC (link)

• Therapy deals with identifiable dysfunctions in a person.  Coaching deals with a healthy client desiring a better solution.
• Therapy deals mostly with a person's past and trauma, and seeks healing.  Coaching deals mostly with a person's present and seeks to help them design a more desirable future.
• Therapy helps patients resolve old pain.  Coaching helps clients learn new skills and tools to build a more satisfying successful future.
• Therapy is a doctor-patient relationship (the therapist has the answers).  Coaching is a co-creative equal partnership (Coach helps the client discover own answers).
• Therapy assumes emotions are a symptom of something wrong.  Coaching assumes emotions are natural and normalizes them.
• The therapist diagnoses, then provides professional expertise and guidelines to provide a path to healing.  The Coach stands with the client and helps him or her identify the challenges, then partners to turn challenges into victories, holding client accountable to reach desired goals.
• In therapy, progress is often slow and painful.  In coaching, growth and progress are rapid and usually enjoyable.