![\"therapist-coach\"](\"https:\/\/www.unk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/therapist-coach.jpg\")
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I’d never seen anything like it;\u00a0Ken had an uncanny knack for knowing just what his client needed.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t just the fact that he listened so well \u2013 it was the way he fed back what he’d heard with such precision. He didn’t just echo the client’s words, he captured her feelings<\/i>. It was obvious how deeply understood and safe she felt with him.<\/p>\n
But it didn’t end there.<\/p>\n
Ken’s timing<\/i> was perfect. Therapists often make the mistake of being too solution focused too soon, without building the necessary rapport first. Not Ken. His natural empathy and acuity meant that he knew almost intuitively how to help his client form goals and how to naturally reframe her damaging beliefs, not by conflicting with them but by widening<\/i> the context.<\/p>\n
He helped the client relax and within a single session had her feeling so empowered, so hopeful about her future.<\/p>\n
Afterwards I congratulated Ken and told him how impressed I was. He looked at me sheepishly and said something that caught me a little by surprise.<\/p>\n
“Well, that was just coaching. I’m no therapist!”<\/p>\n
Of course, what he said was technically true. This was Ken’s first assessed session in the Uncommon Knowledge psychotherapy course, and before coming to us, he had been working as a life coach \u2013 not a therapist. But what he said made me really think.<\/p>\n
I’m often asked what the difference is, or even whether there is<\/i> a difference, between therapy and coaching.<\/p>\n