When I tell people I’m a mental wellness coach, I can see the question forming before they ask it: “So… is that like therapy?”
It’s a fair question. The lines can seem blurry from the outside. Both involve talking. Both involve feelings. Both are meant to help.
But they’re not the same thing. And understanding the difference matters, both for the people considering coaching and for the organisations thinking about offering it to their teams.
So let me be clear about what I do, what I don’t do, and why the distinction is important.
What Coaching Is
Mental wellness coaching is a collaborative, future focused relationship designed to help people navigate the everyday challenges that affect their wellbeing at work and in life.
That might sound broad, and it is, intentionally. Because the challenges people bring to coaching are broad:
- Stress that’s becoming unmanageable
- Feeling stuck or unmotivated
- Struggling with work life balance
- Navigating a difficult transition (new role, new team, new expectations)
- Building better habits around rest, boundaries, or self care
- Preventing burnout before it takes hold
Coaching is action oriented. We don’t just talk about what’s hard. We work together to understand what’s happening, identify what you want to change, and build a realistic plan to get there. Then we check in, adjust, and keep going.
Research supports this approach. A meta analysis on workplace coaching found it produces significant improvements in wellbeing, goal attainment, and self regulation.1 Another study found that 96% of participants reported improvement in their general sense of wellbeing through coaching, while 77% noted improvements in job performance.2
This isn’t surprising. Coaching gives people something that’s often missing in busy, demanding work environments: space to think, a sounding board, and accountability to follow through on what matters to them.
What Coaching Isn’t
Here’s where I need to be direct.
Coaching is not clinical mental health care. I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or registered counsellor. And that distinction isn’t just semantics. It matters for what I can and can’t help with.
Clinical mental health professionals, such as psychologists (clinical, counselling, educational), psychiatrists, registered counsellors, and clinical social workers, are trained to diagnose and treat mental health conditions like depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and other clinical concerns. They often work with the past, helping people understand and heal from trauma, loss, or long standing patterns that are causing significant distress and dysfunction.
These professionals go through years of specialised training, including graduate degrees, thousands of hours of supervised clinical practice, and registration with regulatory bodies.3 In South Africa, that means the HPCSA (Health Professions Council of South Africa) or SACSSP (South African Council for Social Service Professions). In the United States, clinical professionals are licensed by state boards, and you’ll see credentials like Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), or Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT).
These professionals can provide treatment in ways that coaches cannot and should not.
I don’t diagnose. I don’t treat clinical conditions. I don’t prescribe. And if someone comes to me with needs that are beyond what coaching can address, my job is to recognise that and help them find the right support, not to try to fill a role I’m not trained for.
This is a line I take seriously. Part of being a good coach is knowing where coaching ends.
A Note on Titles (They Can Be Confusing)
The mental health space can be genuinely confusing to navigate. Words like “therapist,” “counsellor,” and “coach” are often used loosely, and not all of them are regulated.
The word “therapist,” for example, isn’t always a protected title. In many places, anyone can call themselves a therapist, wellness specialist, or mental health coach without any formal training or oversight. This doesn’t mean they’re all unqualified, but it does mean you can’t assume credentials based on a title alone.
If you’re seeking clinical mental health support, look for professionals registered with recognised regulatory bodies. In the US, that means state licensed professionals with credentials like Licensed Psychologist, LCSW, LPC, or LMFT. In South Africa, look for registration with the HPCSA or SACSSP. This includes psychologists, psychiatrists, registered counsellors, clinical social workers, and occupational therapists working in mental health settings.
Coaching is different. It’s not a regulated clinical profession, which is why it’s so important to be clear about what coaching can and can’t do, and to work with coaches who understand those boundaries.
Why the Distinction Matters
There’s sometimes a perception that coaching is just “therapy lite,” or that people choose coaching to avoid the stigma of clinical care.
I understand why that perception exists. And honestly, stigma is real. Research shows that nearly 40% of employees worry that disclosing a mental health condition would negatively impact them at work.4 That fear keeps people from getting help, whether it’s clinical care, coaching, or anything else.
But here’s what I’ve observed: coaching isn’t clinical treatment with the edges softened. It’s a different tool for a different purpose.
Clinical mental health care is often about healing. Coaching is often about building.
A psychologist might ask: “What happened to you, and how is it affecting you now?”
A coach asks: “Where are you now, where do you want to be, and what’s getting in the way?”
Both questions are valuable. But they lead to different kinds of work.
The Space Between “Fine” and “In Crisis”
Here’s something I think about a lot: most of the mental health conversation focuses on two ends of a spectrum.
On one end, there’s “fine.” Functioning. Getting through the day. No obvious problems.
On the other end, there’s “crisis.” Clinical depression. Burnout so severe it requires medical leave. Anxiety that makes it impossible to work.
But there’s a huge space in between. People who aren’t fine but aren’t in crisis either. People who are struggling but not enough to feel like they “qualify” for support. People who might benefit from help but don’t see themselves as “needing” it.
That middle space is where a lot of people live for a long time, sometimes years, before things tip one way or the other.
Both therapy and coaching can serve people in this space. I’ve reached out to a counsellor myself during a stretch like this, not because I was falling apart, but because things were hard and I needed support. That’s a valid reason to seek clinical care, and the idea that therapy is only for people in crisis is a myth worth dismantling, as I have been reminded by a fellow mental health colleague.
But this space is also where coaching can make a real difference. For many people, especially those dealing with the accumulating stress of demanding jobs, coaching is exactly the right fit. They’re not in crisis. They don’t have a diagnosable condition. They’re just… tired. Stretched thin. Losing the plot a little. And they need support to get back on track before things get worse.
Coaching is designed for that. It’s support before the breaking point. It’s building resilience while you still have capacity to build it. It’s noticing that things are harder than they should be and deciding to do something about it, not because you’re broken, but because you’re paying attention.
That’s prevention. That’s what coaching does well.
What Coaching Looks Like in Practice
When I work with someone, we usually start by getting clear on what’s actually going on. Not just the surface frustration (“I’m so stressed”), but the underlying patterns.
What’s draining your energy? What boundaries aren’t holding? What keeps falling off your list no matter how many times you put it on?
From there, we work together to set goals that are meaningful and realistic. Not “feel less stressed” (too vague) but something concrete: “Leave work by 6pm three days a week” or “Have one conversation with my manager about workload” or “Take my full lunch break instead of eating at my desk.”
Then we build habits and systems to make those goals stick. We troubleshoot when things don’t go as planned. We celebrate progress, even small progress.
And throughout, I’m paying attention to how you’re doing emotionally, not to diagnose, but to notice if something deeper might need a different kind of support.
Coaching is structured but flexible. It’s supportive but also challenging. The goal isn’t to make you dependent on me. It’s to help you build the skills, self awareness, and habits that will serve you long after we stop working together.
When Coaching Isn’t Enough
I want to be honest about this: coaching has limits.
If someone is experiencing symptoms of a clinical condition, such as persistent depression, severe anxiety, panic attacks, or thoughts of self harm, they need more than coaching. They need a licensed or registered mental health professional who can provide appropriate assessment and treatment.
Part of my role is recognising when that’s the case. When I provided counselling services on a digital platform serving clients across Africa, Europe, and the United States, I made a point to refer people on when I felt they needed more than I could offer in that setting. That’s not a failure. It’s good practice.
Good coaches know their boundaries. They don’t try to be everything. They’re part of a broader ecosystem of support, and they know how to connect people with the right resources when needed.
Why Organisations Are Turning to Coaching
More and more organisations are offering coaching as part of their wellbeing benefits, and for good reason.
Traditional EAPs, while valuable, often have low utilisation (usually under 10%) because of stigma, confidentiality concerns, and the short term nature of the support.5 Coaching offers something different: ongoing, relationship based support that employees are more likely to actually use.
The framing helps too. “Working with a coach” doesn’t carry the same stigma as “seeking mental health treatment.” High performers use coaches. Athletes use coaches. Leaders use coaches. There’s no shame in it, and that shift in perception matters when you’re trying to get people to engage.
For organisations, coaching also offers something clinical care often can’t: a focus on performance and sustainability alongside wellbeing. Coaching doesn’t just help people feel better. It helps them work better, set better boundaries, manage their energy, and stay engaged over the long term.
That’s good for employees. It’s also good for business.
What I Bring to This Work
My background shapes how I approach coaching.
I trained as an Occupational Therapist, a qualification that includes foundational counselling skills as part of the curriculum. Therapeutic communication, active listening, motivational interviewing, and client centred support are all embedded in OT training. I later built on these skills when I worked on a digital platform providing counselling services to clients across Africa, Europe, and the United States. That experience deepened my ability to hold space for people, ask the right questions, and support them through difficult moments.
I also have a Master’s in Public Health, which gives me a systems perspective on wellbeing, and I’ve worked in clinical settings including a psychiatric hospital and managing a COVID isolation facility.
To be clear: I’m not a Registered Counsellor (which is a specific protected title with its own training pathway and regulatory requirements). But the counselling skills I use in my work were developed through formal education and refined through years of practice.
All of that informs how I approach coaching. I understand the difference between coaching and clinical care because I’ve operated in both spaces. I know when to support and when to refer. And I bring a practical, grounded approach to helping people navigate the real challenges of work and life.
Is Coaching Right for You?
Coaching might be a good fit if:
- You’re dealing with stress, overwhelm, or early signs of burnout
- You feel stuck and want support to move forward
- You’re navigating a transition and could use a thinking partner
- You want to build better habits but struggle to follow through on your own
- You’re not in crisis, but you’re not thriving either, and you want to change that
Coaching probably isn’t the right fit if:
- You’re experiencing symptoms of a clinical mental health condition
- You’re in crisis or having thoughts of self harm
- You need support processing significant trauma or past experiences
- You’re looking for a diagnosis or medication management
If you’re unsure, that’s okay. We can figure it out together in a conversation. Part of my job is helping people find the right kind of support, even if that support isn’t me.
A Different Kind of Support
Coaching isn’t clinical mental health care. It’s not a replacement for psychologists, psychiatrists, or registered counsellors when that level of care is needed. But for the many people navigating the everyday strain of demanding work, it’s something valuable: a space to pause, a partner to think with, and practical support to build a more sustainable way of working and living.
If that sounds like something your team could benefit from, I’d love to talk.
References
- Theeboom, T., Beersma, B., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2013). Does coaching work? A meta analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. The Journal of Positive Psychology. kinkajouconsulting.com
- Global Wellness Institute. (2024). The Benefits of Coaching on Employee Stress. globalwellnessinstitute.org
- National Counseling and Psychotherapy Society. (2024). Coaching and Psychotherapy: Not Quite the Same. ncps.org
- American Psychological Association. (2024). 2024 Work in America Survey. apa.org
- Meditopia. (2025). EAP Statistics and Utilization Rates. meditopia.com