What is coaching, and how does it differ from other support?
Coaching is a broad term, and often mixed up with other concepts like therapy, mentoring, counselling and teaching. It can complement these other forms of support, but it does offer its own unique benefits. Coaching is about collaboratively supporting someone towards an outcome, regardless of their starting point and primarily drawing on the individual’s own unique abilities and aims. In contrast, therapy and counselling generally begin in a place of distress and apply a specific lens (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy, psychodynamic, dialectical behaviour therapy etc). These of course are also collaborative and adapted to the individual, but differ from coaching in that the coaching process can be far more broad and can be moving to a place of optimisation rather than recovery. You could think of therapy as acting like a doctor or physiotherapist for a physical problem, while coaching is more like having a personal trainer.
Teaching and mentoring involve a special focus on a particular type of support, with the mentor having and sharing direct experience of the process with the mentee. These can be included alongside coaching where relevant, but coaching can be done independent of the coach having the exact experience as the client is looking for. For example, a coach can help a business executive reach their goals without themselves being a business executive – their speciality is the coaching, rather than business (although the client might also want a business mentor for those specific insights). Coaching is more about questioning and supporting, rather than advising, which a mentor or teacher might do.
My coaching approach
I believe there is a place for each type of support, and I wanted to train as a coach in order to help people move not just from distress to recovery, but also to a place of actively thriving and enjoying their experience of life to the full. Having trained in addressing mental health problems as well though, I keep in mind the full spectrum and the nuances of how difficulty and joy interact with each other.
I also firmly believe in having an evidence-base for practice, and chose to ground my coaching in a program accredited by international and national authorities. I trained with Animas Centre for Coaching (https://www.animascoaching.com), qualifying with a Level 2 Diploma in Transformational Coaching, accredited by the International International Coaching Federation (ICF), the Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). This involved completing 123 hours of coaching practice, 5 diverse and in-depth teaching modules, receiving coaching myself and completing written assignments.
I specialise in Wellbeing and Career coaching, which involves supporting people to understand what is most powerful for them in feeling great, planning ahead, and achieving a well-rounded experience of their health and work. I have further developed this in the context of academia, where many struggle with work-life balance, uncertainty about the future, self-doubt, and complex relationships. My coaching is not limited to only academics, but those in academia (or similar knowledge work professions) might particularly benefit from these specific insights.
Please feel free to get in touch with me at drlauracox@proton.me if you are interested in having some coaching with me. My general services list can be viewed and downloaded below. Unless otherwise arranged (and except for research tasks), all services are delivered via Zoom.
Dr Laura Cox 