Coaching, counselling, therapy, and mentoring: what’s the difference?

If you are looking to make a change in your life for the better, speaking with someone outside of your family, friends, and colleagues, can be incredibly helpful. Coaching, counselling, therapy, and mentoring, are all services that have helped thousands of people live life better and work towards their goals, but they are often confused and used interchangeably. While these services are similar and there is overlap, they are generally delivered by professionals with different credentials with different end goals and different relationships with their clients.

In this article, I will outline the key differences between these professions as they currently exist in the Netherlands. I am specifying the Netherlands because, to make it all the more confusing, each country uses each of these terms in slightly different ways. For example, in the UK and United States, “counselling” is seen as a ‘talking therapy’ with a trained therapist and is, therefore, often used interchangeably with the term “therapy”. 

Defining terms

Coaching 

The International Coaching Federation (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.” Coaching focuses on mental growth as opposed to mental health. 

Counselling

The International Coaching Community (ICC) describes counselling as a professional working with “a client who feels uncomfortable, or dissatisfied with their life”. The role of the counsellor is to provide guidance and work remedially on the client’s problem. Counselling typically focuses on the here-and-now and the current things that are keeping you stuck, rather than delving too deep into your past. The aim is to develop new ways of acting and being in the face of current roadblocks.

Therapy (or psychotherapy or talk therapy)

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines psychotherapy as “a way to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing.”

Mentoring

Mentoring is typically when a more senior individual, who is seen as more knowledgeable and experienced, gives advice and guidance to someone in a more junior role. The mentor is typically a role model and is often seen as an adviser who draws on their own personal and professional expertise. 

Key similarities and differences

As no two coaches are identical, nor do two therapists practise in the same way, the table below tries to capture the typical characteristics of each of these professions (in the Netherlands). However, there will be cases that do not neatly fit into these boxes. For example, some forms of therapy are very short-term, such as solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) which rarely extends beyond eight sessions. Similarly, certain forms of therapy are less focused on the past, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). 

How do I know which one to choose?

This depends on your current situation, needs, goals, and personal preference. However, here are some general guidelines to get you started:

• If you are struggling with your mental health, go to a therapist. They have received extensive training to be able to support you with your mental health issues.

• If you want to understand what is keeping you stuck and break patterns of unhelpful thinking and acting so that you can move forward in your life, counselling might be worth exploring.  

• If you want to focus on a specific goal, whether that is personal or professional, and want guidance in working towards it, coaching might be a good choice. 

• Lastly, mentoring might be helpful if you are looking for support and advice from someone who is more experienced than you, for example, a more senior colleague. 

Another important thing to look out for is the training and experience that these professionals have, especially coaches and counsellors because anyone can legally call themselves a coach or counsellor in the Netherlands as they are not protected professions. A good coach or counsellor will typically have a degree from an accredited institution and might be part of a regulatory body. Of course, it is also true that having good training does not necessarily mean that the coach or counsellor is the right one for you but it is a good starting point. You might need to try a few different professionals before you find the one that you want to work with and sometimes it can take a few sessions before you can make that decision.

Takeaways

All these approaches can be helpful and have great things to offer. However, each one has its specific purpose (and limitations) so it is important that you do your own research to find out which one suits your current needs, goals, and situation. Once you have identified whether you need a coach, counsellor, therapist, or mentor, you might want to interview a couple from that profession to ask them about their approach and see which one feels right to you.

Interested in working together? Here you can find out more about the coaching and counselling that I offer.