There are distinct differences between counseling and coaching and I find people tend to really gravitate toward one or the other I finally. Often times people may begin in therapy and move toward coaching sessions as they become more attuned to themselves. the following are differences between the two, to help you decide which works best for you.

1. Topics. Therapy focuses on mental health; coaching focuses on goals

2. Skills. Therapy helps you learn to heal; coaching empowers you to achieve goals

3. Tense. Therapy is rooted in the past and present; coaching focuses on the future

Topics. Therapy focuses on mental health; coaching focuses on goals
The major difference between therapy and coaching is the focus of the work: therapy focuses on mental health and emotional healing, while life coaching focuses on setting and achieving goals.

While therapists are trained mental health professionals who are in the regulated field of healthcare and require licensure, life coaches do not generally have mental health training and are not equipped to diagnose or treat mental health conditions unless like me, coaching is an available service provided by the licensed clinically trained professional.

Consider therapy if you want to heal or get help with a mental health concern; try coaching if you need help getting “unstuck” or realizing a fuller potential.

Skills. Therapy helps you learn to heal; coaching empowers you to achieve goals
Therapy helps you look to figurative yesterdays in order to overcome deep-rooted issues, whereas coaching is there to help you jump off today's launching point to succeed tomorrow.

The skills you learn from a therapist are designed to foster healing from whichever challenge you are facing. Coaching, on the other hand, sets you up with tools to reach bigger dreams or break free if you feel stuck on repeat in your life.

*Therapy helps you heal from mental health challenges

In therapy, you will address mental and emotional health challenges you're facing this by learning therapy techniques like:

Cognitive reframing and mindfulness skills

Gaining insight into how your past affects you today through psychoanalysis

Healing past traumatic experiences

Resolving relationship issues through couples counseling.

Success in therapy is measured by things like improved mood, lower anxiety levels, more nourishing eating habits, and a greater sense of happiness.

*Coaching teaches you how to achieve big dreams and/or break free if you feel stuck

On the other hand, coaching focuses on helping you pursue your passions, or break free of stagnation or "stuckness."

With coaching, you might work on discovering your passions, strategizing a path to achieving them, and building the positive mindset that will empower you to achieve them.

A typical coaching session includes:

Identifying your life vision

Reviewing your program goals

Creating the agenda for the session

Exploring homework and assignments from the previous week

Setting goals for the next sessions

Tense. Therapy is rooted in the past and present; coaching focuses on the future

In therapy, you face the past in order to move forward.

The therapy that most people are familiar with presents an opportunity to look at what's going on inside – emotionally, psychologically, or interpersonally. In therapy sessions, you’re often returning to the emotional experiences, the patterns, the trauma, the learning, and the beliefs that you had in the past – and connecting the dots to understand how they have now brought you to this time with challenges.

The goal of therapy is to release any places where you're blocked so you’re able to be happier, more settled, and at peace. Therapy, at its core, is working on the psychological problems from their source and doing healing work. Essentially, in therapy you’re deeply examining the questions and solving them, so that you feel free to move forward.

Coaching focuses on improving the “here and now”

I will absolutely be interested in what some of your “source material” is, and will want to know what life experiences have brought you to where you are.

That said, the goal in coaching is not to necessarily go back and address it, or to heal it, or to change it. Instead, it’s just referenced.

What you’re working on in coaching is: Where are you now, and where do you want to be?

**When to schedule counseling/therapy session

You experience mental health symptoms that cause distress in your life (i.e., anxiety, depression, trauma, disordered eating).

You want to heal from past hurts or trauma.

You need support navigating emotions.

You struggle with interpersonal relationships and want to learn strategies to feel less impacted by others.

You are experiencing relationship issues and could benefit from couples counseling.

**When to schedule coaching sessions:

You want to get ‘unstuck’ and set goals you will actually achieve.

You want to accelerate to the next step in your career.

You feel like your life is on autopilot, and want to challenge yourself or break out of your comfort zone.

You want to stop unhelpful habits and replace them with healthy alternatives.

You know that your inner critic keeps you from living your best life and you want to learn how to quiet that voice.

You desire a life with purpose and meaning but do not know where to start.

You feel confused about the next chapter in your life (i.e. struggling with career decisions, major life choices) and would like guidance on what would best serve you.

You know that you have a lot to feel grateful for but something is missing and you need that extra inspiration to piece your puzzle together.

You want to tap your inner motivation for a major goal, such as running a marathon.

You want to hold yourself more accountable, whether in your personal or professional life

Great question! Video appointments might not be for everyone and we might find that given your circumstances, you would potentially benefit more from a therapist that you can meet with face-to-face. If this is the case, I will help you find someone that you feel comfortable with and that would be a good fit for you! I am adamant that in order for counseling to be a positive experience, you must have a comfortable and safe relationship with your therapist. I am never offended if clients don’t feel like we are a good match, and I will do whatever I can to help you find someone that will be a good fit for you.

I utilize a HIPAA-compliant electronic records platform where all of your client information is stored and secure. Before our session begins, you are sent a secure access code to our confidential video appointment. This changes every appointment to ensure security. As with anything over the internet, there is always possible risk of security, but I do everything possible to ensure your privacy is protected.

Prior to your first appointment, I will ask you to set up a client portal (this is relatively easy, and I can help if you have troubles!) where you will have access to your paperwork, scheduling, billing information, etc. I will have you complete the necessary paperwork prior to our appointment so we can ensure we are set up and ready to go by appointment time! Your first appointment will be more of a get-to-know-you type session where I will ask some questions and answer any questions you might have to ensure we are a good fit and that I will be able to help you in the way you deserve.

The card that you put on file through your intake paperwork will automatically be charged the day of your appointment. I accept all major credit cards and HSA debit card accounts.

Depending on your insurance and whether or not you choose to use it, you may be billed for the remainder of your session after your copay is deducted from your credit card.

If you are using an insurance I take under Alma then they will bill you for services.

I do offer a number of options for insurance clients.

I am paneled with Optum, Cigna, OHP Plus (open card), and OHP Care Oregon, Aetna, Oxford, Oscar, United Healthcare (UHC), as well as many others.

If you are interested in receiving counseling services without utilizing your insurance , you may be able to receive some reimbursement if your policy has out-of-network mental health benefits. For instance, Oregon Health Plan (OHP) does have out of network benefits. In order do this, I will be required to provide a diagnosis for you, and we will discuss this together. I’ll provide you with a superbill that you can use to submit for reimbursement. You can also get reimbursed through a Flexible Spending/Health Savings Account, if you have one, by submitting a statement that I can give you.

It is always best to call your insurance company to find out what your benefits are, to see if you are eligible for OON reimbursement.

Questions to ask:

* Do I have mental health insurance benefits?

* What is my deductible and has it been met?

* How many sessions per year does my health insurance cover?

* What is the coverage amount per therapy session for an out-of-network mental health provider?

* What is the out of network reimbursement rate for the CPT code 90837? And 90847?

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Coaching is not covered by insurance and is provided with private pay rates only.

Couples counseling is not covered by insurance with Kanaloa Counseling & Coaching. Please review the detailed information under my services tab re. Using insurance for couples work. Insurance utilization for couples requires one insured individual to be in ongoing therapy and then adding in additional family sessions to work on the couple concerns. Most couples opt for self pay so as to ensure there is no perception of triangulation and for others reasons noted in the services tab.

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Please note that payment is ultimately the client’s responsibility. I always recommend clients speak directly with their insurance to ensure there is mental health coverage.

Yes, I do have a limited number of spots reserved for those who feel I’m the right fit, but the cost would make it inaccessible. Typically these are reserved for those who don’t have the same access to resources due to structural inequality, whether that’s income level or those with marginalized identities.

If you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment, please give me at least 48 hours notice, or you will be charged the full fee for the session. I also know that life can, and does, throw unexpected things our way. I make exceptions to this policy in the case of an emergency, sudden illness.

I’m almost always asked this question, and it makes me smile every time.

I know that therapy is an investment, both in terms of time and money, and I am here in full service of you. I can’t tell you how many sessions this will take, though I want you to know that I appreciate the question. Often it’s asked from a place of being so ready to have things be different.

Changing your patterns with feelings, emotions, or the way you relate with your mind doesn’t happen overnight. Healing doesn’t happen in the fast lane. You are wonderfully unique, and so is your timing. It looks different for everyone. My goal is to help you connect and begin to travel your unique path.

For many people, they have spent years, or maybe decades, in a painful relationship with their minds. Some people come to me just having learned about therapy, some people come in having been on the journey for awhile but find themselves needing some extra support. We each have our own deeply personal path to walk on. I'm interested primarily in you finding your own way. I’m a guide. But the territory is all yours.

But wherever you are and however you enter, know that you have my full presence as you move towards the next degree of freedom.

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: I believe – I know – that no matter how long you’ve been struggling, you can have a relationship with your mind that is satisfying and that feels free.

The pathways we take to heal and what healing looks like are unique for each of us. Healing is something you get to define for yourself. It’s not an out of reach ideal, framed by other people's images of who you are supposed to be, what you are supposed to do, and how you are supposed to view the world.

Usually this question is code for: do you have personal experience with this? Have you struggled with your own issues?

And under that: will you get me?

Growing up in the Midwest I was raised to “think positive” and believe that there were no such thing as bad days, only negative thoughts. There was no room for “dwelling on the negative”.

During high school I, like every other kid, experienced a lot of emotional turbulence. Often times I was labeled and the perception others had of me was that I was an “angry teen” when I was open with my feelings.

It would have been a perfect time for an adult to sit me down and let me know “hey, these are natural feelings! This is normal stuff!” and helped give me the tools I needed to manage and cope with all that was whirling around me and inside of me. Instead, the message I received over and over was that I should, “look at the bright side” and squash that ish. It taught me to hide my emotions and therefore need to hide a good portion of myself. It taught me that others will not want to be around you if you aren’t positive and “up”, that you are a burden or causing problems if you express all authentic emotions. I believed there was something wrong with me. I believed that I couldn’t share all of me with anyone for fear of rejection.

I learned something then about the ways we form our self image and how we come to places of self hatred, and self perception.

I spent many years trying to train my brain into feeling “good vibes only”. For decades I suffered from chronic overthinking and anxiety, spinning my wheels and questioning my intuition, feeling weak for having emotions and experiencing plain old self-hatred.

When I began to question what I had been raised with, and we now know included toxic positivity, I was introduced to a new way of thinking: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I began to really look at what we are taught about “don’t worry be happy” and the ways people are labeled based on having perfectly reasonable and natural thoughts and moods. I saw how the process of trying to make my mind happy had only succeeded in making me feel like a failure for having what was deemed as “negativity Nancy” thinking. Reclaiming my relationship with my mind meant letting go of happiness as my goal, and focusing instead on the process of living well and accepting all of the feelings I have. From there, it meant pushing on all of the structures that try to restrict the freedom to feel the gamut of emotions. I began to get angry. Angry that my feelings had been invalidated my entire life and that I was made to feel “dysfunctional” for the feelings I did have. I realized I had every right to feel angry. That was my call to action.

I am now here, wanting to help, precisely because I love and I want for a well adjusted world. Because WE are needed and we are necessary and the world needs us whole. Anger helped me stop locating the problem as inside of me and identify the problem that was “socially acceptable thinking” that affected me. All emotions are valid, and those deemed “negative” by many are a reasonable and authentic response to a disordered world. I realized the social systems and constructs were the bigger problem. I thought about all of the dreams and passions and energy that were bound up inside me from years of believing my emotions were baseless, irrational, unreasonable, unnecessary and too much effort to deal with. What impact could we be having in the world if we stopped participating in the systems that keep us believing we are “dysfunctional”, or that our feelings are invalid?

I trained as a therapist and started my practice because I wanted to help people let go of the expectations of others, of society, of the pressure we put on ourselves, to accept and dare even love who we are, and to answer that question. I am always authentic and will give you feedback. I won’t leave you hanging. And while my own experiences may not mean that I get you, you can rest assured that I’VE GOT YOU.

I am licensed to provide psychotherapy services in Washington, Oregon, California, and Florida.

Florida requires the addition of this link on websites of telehealth providers.

https://flhealthsource.gov/telehealth/