There are lots of ways to get help. I have seen a professional counselor (or therapist), life coach, and spiritual director to help me see myself, my work, and my life more clearly. Each type of help has a specific niche of how the helper can help, and where they can best help. At the bottom of the page, I have a vin-diagram of how the three disciples are similar and how they can help, and ways that they overlap with one another.
LIFE COACH
Life coaches generally talk about the present and the future and not the past (the past is generally where therapists camp out). Life coaches have some formal education in leadership, psychology, or sociology (generally, not always or required) and may even have a certification for Life Coaching. Life coaches also have the freedom to meet wherever they wish like coffee shops, restaurants, or co-working spaces since they are not bound by federal/local laws, privacy rights or policies like counselors are. Life coaches have skills and training to help you define what your current reality is, dream what the future could look like, and help you get there. This could include weight loss goals, making healthy decisions relationally, career goals or simply doing what you want to do but have a hard time doing. In short, a life coach helps you through your life as a coach and/or cheerleader ultimately to help you in your journey of becoming. In my life, life coaching has helped me clarify my personal/professional values and distinguish what moves I want to take in life (what school to go to, if I wanted to be a therapist and that I wanted to leave Phoenix to move to San Diego). Life coaches are a great argument to professional counseling to help you clarify your goals for your life as well as the practical details of how to get there as well.
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR
Spiritual directors in the Christian faith tradition are people who have gotten training (some are certified) and are gifted in helping people grow closer to God and experience a greater sense of wholeness. Spiritual directors care and give compassion to their directee by listening to God with their directee and helping them see God in the beautiful and ugly parts of life on earth together in one synthesized experience. Spiritual directors emphasize the individual relationship their directee has with God, and what can help their directee(s) get closer to God and experience inner healing. Spiritual direction has been a fantastic addition to my self-care routine and has enabled me to see, feel and experience a stronger Christian faith. Spiritual direction emphasizes the whole person’s response to life with God, friends, work, and play in a contemplative, supportive environment. Spiritual direction is different from professional counseling in that professional counseling focuses on mental health and psychological concerns (more on this below), and Spiritual direction may incorporate the sciences of psychology and physiology alongside spiritual practices and Scripture to engage and support the holistic development of a person.
PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR
Professional counseling helps those with mental health concerns and relationship problems. Practitioners of Professional Counseling could include psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Clinical Counselors, and Marriage and Family Therapists. Professional counseling could include mental health diagnoses and is the practice of connecting mind and body experiences together to make sense of what happens and happened in life. Professional counselors can help you work through past experiences and are held to local authorities to provide best practices to keep the Client/patient safe and get the best care possible. Professional counseling is a research-driven practice much like western medicine, so everything that a professional counselor does or says is rooted in a psychological concept or theory of how change, healing, and help take place. Professional counselors have formal training and are supervised to keep the public safe from interventions that are not proven to help. The best counselors continue supervision long after their state-required supervision is satisfied to co tinge to learn the best ways of how to alleviate suffering. Professional counseling is a great addition for those who are hitting internal walls that prevent them from feeling close to God or others and keep them from making the changes that they want to.
ONE LAST NOTE
I have gotten help writing these blurbs about Life Coaching and Spiritual Direction from professionals I trust to make sure I represented the field and practices well (since I am not a life coach or a spiritual director myself). The Life Coaching section was reviewed and edited by Michael Parker, MA. You can connect with Michel for Life Coaching by clicking THIS LINK. The Spiritual Direction section was reviewed and edited by Linsey Wildey. You can connect with Linsey for Spiritual Direction by clicking THIS LINK.
Too Long/Didn’t Read: There are lots of ways to get help.
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