Individual therapy is exactly what it sounds like: therapy for a single person. There are many modalities (techniques) a therapist might use to collaborate with a client on improving mental health. The two techniques I most often use are cognitive behavioral therapy and psychoanalysis.

Couples counseling’s most sought after purpose is to improve communication and relationship patterns, using the therapist as an objective mediator and broker of negotiations. Almost always in couples therapy the two major issues that arise are trust and communication. Improving these two pillars of a relationship requires authenticity on the part of participants and mutual vulnerability in sessions. In other words, for couples therapy to have any effect at all, both parties have to be as open and honest as possible about what is not working within the relationship. Counseling for couples, however, does not always end in a stronger relationship. At times, couples counseling can help individuals simply work out what it is each individual wants, whether those desires and life goals are compatible, and, if not, facilitate a healthier and happier end to the relationship than would have occurred otherwise. For this reason it is really important that clear goals are established early in the process so that everyone is on the same page about what progress will look like.

A life coach helps people make progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfillment, unrelated to any particular cause of dysfunction. The difference between life coaching and therapy can be pretty thin, and there is much of therapy that bleeds into the realm of life coaching. Primarily, life-coaching tends to focus on very practical, day-to-day decision-making that impacts career development, relationships, and personal betterment. Where therapy is heavily focused on insight-building so that a client might understand what it is they want, life-coaching is for those who already know what they want but are unsure how to acquire or achieve it. Much of the life-coaching I have done with clients has focused on dating, relationship-building, self-assertion, career-building, conflict-management, and weight loss. There are no regulations restricting life coaching services which means I can life-coach an individual regardless of their state of residency.