Counselling and Coaching

“For a while, we mainly tended to my emotions then slowly I started to realise I was making big changes and handling them better than I did before. Katie helped me to see my progress and be proud of myself, it’s like my armor now” Adult client since 2021

In my experience, the ability to explore and develop self-awareness and to evoke change comes down to one of or a combination of two things; being valued and taking charge. That is why in my practice I use a blended approach based on both counselling and coaching skills offering empathy and solutions.

How that will look for you will be based on your needs and preferences. To offer some insight into both counselling and coaching that may help you decide what is best for you, here is a list of ways in which the two are similar:

• Both coaching and counselling help you find and create a life you feel better about.
• Both create an atmosphere of trust, non-judgement and support.
• Both help you identify what is holding you back.
• Both focus around good listening and asking questions.
• Both aspire to help you become more resilient.
• Both want you to find your own answers that work for you. Remember YOU are the expert of you.
• Both coaching and counselling can help you identify and work towards life goals.
• Both work to help you move forward in your journey, be it career, relationships, home life or any other aspect of your life.
• Both help you identify your core beliefs , challenge unwanted patterns of behaviour or thoughts and change your perspective.
• Both have the goal of helping you reach your potential.
• Both encourage self-discovery.

There are of course some vital differences:

• Coaching is action orientated, while counselling is coping orientated.
• Coaching helps you recognise what you think, while counselling also helps you realise how you feel.
• Coaching helps you set and achieve goals, while counselling helps you recognise and solve your problems in life.
• Within coaching challenging you is frequent, while counselling is there to support you with empathy and understanding (although there may be some gentle challenges).
• Coaching focuses exclusively on the present and future, while my adopted counselling style mostly focuses on the past and present
• Coaching focuses on your potential, while counselling focuses on helping you be at peace with yourself and your life.

Sessions

How your sessions are led will be determined by you. We can do one style over the other or have a combination of both depending on your needs at a given time.

It is standard practice to have 6x one hour sessions to begin with, no matter the approach. This is to encourage the development of the therapeutic relationship, build trust and get a feel of how our rapport will serve you. After this point, we can discuss how you would like to proceed, be it weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. This may even mean finding you another practitioner if the match is not quite right. It is of the highest importance that your wellbeing is at the centre of my practice and if that means working with someone else I am more than happy to help you take the next steps.

Please do get in touch via phone at 07869 711395, email me at Katie@walfordwellbeing.co.uk or complete the form below.