Therapy or Coaching
Therapy or Coaching? How to Choose
I offer both therapy and coaching, and they are not the same thing. This guide lays out the difference plainly, so you can choose the kind of help that fits what you are actually carrying.
Two Different Kinds of Help
Therapy and coaching can look alike from the outside. Both involve honest conversation, someone in your corner and real changes in how you live. The difference is in what each one is built and licensed to do. Therapy includes the education, degree and license to assess, diagnose and intervene to address past trauma, relational wounds and the patterns they leave behind. Coaching is not clinical care. It stays future-focused: where you are headed, what you value and the next purposeful step. Neither is better. They are built for different needs.
A simple way to hold the difference: therapy is willing to go back in order to move forward, while coaching starts from where you stand today and looks ahead. If what you are carrying keeps pulling you into old pain, coaching alone can feel like trying to sprint on a sprained ankle. If you feel steady and want clarity, structure and accountability for what comes next, coaching may be exactly the right size.
What Therapy Looks Like With Me
Therapy is licensed clinical care. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Supervisor, Texas license #202374, and therapy with me is available in Texas only. That includes in-person sessions at my Southwest Austin office on Fridays and some select other times, walk-and-talk sessions outdoors, and secure video anywhere in Texas, with you located in Texas during each session. Therapy is where we can look at what happened to you, how it still shows up and what keeps repeating, at a pace that belongs to you. You can read more about how I work and what I work with most.
Therapy fees are published up front. Every service begins with an 80-minute initial assessment at $275. Individual sessions are $190 for 50 minutes or $275 for 80 minutes, and a sliding scale between $90 and $190 has limited spots. This is a self-pay practice with monthly superbills for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and you do not need a diagnosis to start.
What Coaching Looks Like With Me
I offer two kinds of coaching and mentoring, and both are non-clinical. Christian coaching and mentoring is future-focused and applies biblical wisdom to calling, leadership, personal growth and relationships. Athletic mental health coaching and mentoring is for athletes who want support with the mental side of their sport. Because coaching is not clinical care, I can ethically offer it in all 50 states and globally, not only in Texas. Coaching looks ahead. It does not diagnose, and it does not try to resolve what happened in the past.
That line matters to me. As my coaching pages put it, coaching is "NOT FOR THERAPY," and I hold to that even when a conversation goes deep. Coaching can still be honest, warm and challenging. It is aimed at your next steps rather than at healing old wounds, and it is not a lighter version of therapy. It is a different tool for a different job.
Questions That Can Help You Decide
If you are unsure which to choose, start with what you are carrying rather than what sounds less intimidating. These questions are not a test, and there are no wrong answers. Notice which ones land with a little weight, because that is often where your answer is. If your answers point in both directions, that is useful too, and the free consultation is the place to sort it out.
- Is something from the past still running your present?
- Are you mostly looking ahead at a decision, a calling or a goal?
- Do old wounds show up in your body, your sleep or your relationships?
- Will you be located in Texas, or somewhere else in the world?
- Do you want faith at the center, or only if and when you choose it?
If Coaching Brings Up Something Clinical
Sometimes a coaching conversation brushes against something deeper: trauma that keeps resurfacing, grief that will not settle, or a pattern that clearly started long before the goal you came in with. When that happens, I will name it honestly rather than coach around it. Then we talk about what kind of care fits. If you are located in Texas, that may mean therapy. If you live elsewhere, it means finding a licensed clinician where you are. Either way, I will point you toward someone suited to what you need rather than leave you without a next step.
Faith and Sport: Where the Line Matters Most
Two areas make the difference especially clear. If faith is central to you, Christian counseling in Austin is licensed therapy in Texas with faith integrated when you ask for it, while Christian coaching is non-clinical, future-focused and available well beyond Texas. For athletes, coaching works on the mental side of performance. Performance anxiety therapy in Texas can also reach what sits underneath it, such as trauma, perfectionism or relationship strain, but only if you want to go there. The setting and the license decide which one you are getting.
Let the Consultation Sort It Out
There is no need to settle this on your own. The free consultation is a 15-minute phone call about what is bringing you in, fit, scheduling, cost and format, and the coaching-or-therapy question fits naturally into it. Tell me what you are hoping for and where you will be located, and I will tell you honestly which kind of help makes sense. If neither is the right fit with me, I will say so and point you toward someone who is. A few honest sentences on the contact form are enough to start.
Common Questions
Can I work with you if I live outside Texas?
For coaching, yes. Christian coaching and mentoring and athletic mental health coaching and mentoring are non-clinical, so they are available in all 50 states and globally. Therapy is available only in Texas, and you should be located in Texas during each session.
Can coaching address past trauma?
No. Coaching stays future-focused and is not clinical care. Assessing and addressing past trauma and relational wounds is the work of therapy, which I offer as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Texas.
Do I have to be a Christian to work with you?
Not for therapy. Faith is part of therapy only if you want it, and it is never assumed or introduced without your say-so. Christian coaching and mentoring is built around biblical wisdom, so it fits if that is the lens you want.
What if I am not sure which one I need?
Start with the free 15-minute consultation. Tell me what is going on and where you will be located, and we will work out together which kind of help fits.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation on either side.
Request a Free Consultation