Do you need a coach or therapist?

With the increased Internet connectivity and the youth becoming the larger part of the world’s population, coaching is becoming more widely accepted.

This is in part because of the fact that Generation Z and millennials are more open to receiving help and accepting their shortcomings more than the generations that came before them are. 

While the older generations see coaching and therapy as a waste of money and time, the younger generations see these two as avenues to cultivate self-awareness and create better lives. 

But what do the experts think? Do you need coaching or therapy, or are these new age ways of siphoning your hard-earned money out of your pockets without you seeing any real benefits? But who exactly is coach and do you need different coaches for different areas of your life?

“A coach, in any area, is a professional who helps others to get to their goals faster in any area of life whether relationships, health, finances, or career.

Many people believe that they can do everything on their own and with no support whatsoever. A coach can help you get to the desired results faster, help you gain more self-awareness by giving you an objective outside perspective that you may not be able to have while on your own thereby allowing you to show up with power and purpose in all you do.

A coach can also help you deal with challenges in life by equipping you with the right tools and mental fortitude. The importance of getting a coach and the benefits that come with it are all undeniable.

The important thing is that you get the right coach who is the right fit for you and the challenges you want to surmount at the moment,” Vuyanzi Rod, a public speaking mentor and certified executive coach shares.

The right fit

But how do you know that a coach is the right fit for you? Just because someone is showing up in a Facebook group or an online forum and saying things that sound great doesn’t make them someone you should automatically throw money at.

Coach Vuyanzi shares that it is important to consider the coach’s methodology and neurolinguistics programming. Do they come with ready-made answers or do they listen to the client and curate bespoke answers that serve their clients’ needs?

She shares that the latter methodology is her chosen one and is decidedly more effective than the former one. She also shares the importance of chemistry between the client and the coach. If there is simmering resentment between the two or a lack of understanding, the relationship will not be beneficial. 

“If a coach doesn’t feel right for you and you can’t pinpoint the reason, trust your gut and find a new one. Keep vetting till you find the right match. With the right coach and you doing the work, you will see an evolution of growth in your life,” she advises.

There is always growth when someone picks the right helper, be it a therapist, a financial coach or a relationship coach.

This is a sentiment that is echoed by Jackline Gathu, a leading therapist in the country. She shares that while many people are unwilling to get any kind of help from anyone as they claim that friendship hangouts are help enough, the impact of supplementing these hangouts with a session with a certified helper cannot be overemphasised.

“A certified and qualified helper, whether a coach or therapist can help you sift through your feelings and offer clarity that you might not get from a chat with friends. Therapists are also guided by a code of ethics hence they cannot steer you wrong. This is why it is important to look up your potential helper’s certifications and qualifications and ensure that they are right for you before taking them on,” Jackline sagely notes.

When do you need one?

While many people view relationship coaches as important only when they are looking to partner up with someone and they are tired of being single, couples can also benefit from relationship coaches as well.

Single people can benefit from relationship coaches as they can help them discern what they are doing wrong. Are they attracting the wrong men because they feel needy and therefore latch on to anyone who shows interest no matter how unsuitable they are?

Do they still have unresolved trauma that may come out in the form of having multiple surface relationships and breaking off anything that veers off towards the deeper and meaningful relationship stratum?

This is why a good relationship coach should have sound therapeutic knowledge and should take the approach of learning the clients individually so as to guide them to be aligned with exactly what they personally want rather than give them a copy-and-paste solution.

Copy-and-paste solutions may work some of the time, but not all the time as it does not give room to adjust for circumstantial nuances and personality differences. 

At the end of the day, coach Vuyanzi and Jackline the therapist agree that choosing the right relationship coach, financial coach, self-development coach and therapist boils down to finding the right person who is fit to help you navigate the season of life you are in.