The Difference Between Therapy and Coaching

"Have you tried therapy?"

If you've been through a crisis, you've heard that question a hundred times. And maybe you did try therapy. Maybe it helped. Maybe it didn't. Maybe you're still going and you feel stuck anyway.

Here's the thing: therapy and coaching do different jobs. Neither is better. But if you use the wrong one for where you are right now, you'll spin your wheels.

What Therapy Does

Therapy looks backward. It helps you process trauma, understand patterns, and work through the emotional weight of your past. A good therapist creates a safe space for you to unpack what happened and why it affects you.

That matters. Especially after a crisis, grief, or major loss.

But therapy doesn't always give you a plan for what comes next. That's not its job.

What Coaching Does

Coaching looks forward. It helps you figure out what you want, build a plan to get there, and stay accountable while you do the work. A good coach asks the hard questions and pushes you toward action.

Most coaching starts here: "What are your goals? Let's go."

That works great if you're regulated, clear-headed, and ready to move. But if you just came out of a divorce, grief, job joss, a burnout, or a health scare? You're not ready to set goals. Your nervous system is still in survival mode.

And that's where most coaching fails people.

What I Do Differently

I don't start with goals. I start with your nervous system. I meet you where you're at on a deep level.

Before we plan anything, we reset. I help you figure out where to begin with the tools in my chest: Yoga Nidra, breathwork, meditation, & Reiki. We bring your body out of fight-or-flight so your brain can actually think about the future without panic or fog.

That's Step 1 of my 3-step method: Reset & Restore.

Once you're regulated and can sleep, think, and feel like yourself again, then we plan. We figure out what you actually want (not what you think you should want) and we build a path that fits who you are now.

That's Step 2: Plan & Nurture.

And Step 3, Transform & Thrive, is where you stop just surviving and start to choose your life on purpose.

Can You Do Both?

Yes. I have clients who see a therapist and work with me. They complement each other well. Therapy processes the past. I help you build what's next. The difference is that I also give you tools to regulate your nervous system in real time, which makes both the therapy and the coaching work faster.

If you're not in therapy and don't feel you need it, that's fine too. My method stands on its own.

The two modalities can work in harmony. However, coaching doesn't replace mental health therapy with a licensed therapist. Therapists often aren't yoga teachers & Reiki Masters who help reset nervous systems either. (If you come to me looking for therapy, I will kindly let you know that's outside of my scope of practice. I'm all about referring out to what you need if I can't provide what you seek).

So Which Do You Need?

Ask yourself:

• Do you need to process something painful from your past? Therapy.
• Do you know what happened but feel stuck and can't move forward? Coaching
• Are you exhausted, foggy, and can't even figure out what you want yet? Start with a nervous system reset. That's where I come in.

Want tools to start your reset this week? Subscribe to the Destiny Architecture newsletter for free Yoga Nidra, breathwork, and nervous system reset practices in your inbox.

Ready to talk about what's next? Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll figure out if the 3-step method is the right fit for where you are.