Differences between Coaching and Mentoring, Counselling and Therapy

Whilst there are similarities between coaching and mentoring, and many people use the terms interchangeably, there are important distinctions between them.

A mentor is typically someone with greater knowledge, through age or experience, of a particular industry, environment or situation. In contrast, coaching is a ‘people-specific’ process rather than industry-specific. A mentor will be qualified through their greater experience to give specific advice to the ‘mentee’; whereas a coach will not generally give direct advice but will help the client to reach their own conclusions.

Counselling and therapy tend to focus on emotional responses and feelings, often based on an examination of the past. As coaches we will be aware of the emotions involved as our clients’ seek to reach a goal and we may identify unhelpful responses or behaviour that is holding you back. However, the focus of our coaching is on forward-looking actions to help you achieve your goal, rather than on re-examining past emotional issues or exploring them in depth through introspection.

Before accepting you as client we will want to know if there are any issues that might be better resolved through counselling or therapy. If, during the course of coaching you, we feel that such issues have arisen, we will suggest that you see an appropriate professional and then return to coaching when those issues are resolved.

We subscribe to a Code of Practice based on that of the International Coaching Federation.