Therapy vs. Coaching

Therapy for teens and young adults has become much more common and less stigmatized in the past five years. As a teen and young adult life coach, a frequent question I get from friends, potential clients, and community is what exactly is the difference between therapy and coaching?

If you’re exploring support for your teen or young adult, and wondering if they should they see a therapist, a coach or both, you are not alone. The answer often depends on what your child is navigating right now.

Below is a clear, practical breakdown to help you understand the difference and decide what kind of support may be the best fit.

Therapy and Coaching: How They’re Different

Therapy focuses on healing, processing, and stabilizing. Therapists are trained to diagnose and treat mental health conditions and to help clients work through past experiences that may still be impacting them.

Therapy is often the right choice when a teen or young adult is experiencing:

• Anxiety, depression, trauma, or mood disorders

• Persistent feelings of hopelessness or emotional distress

• Significant changes in behavior, sleep, or appetite

• Thoughts of self-harm or harming others

• A need to process past experiences that are affecting daily functioning

In short, therapy helps people understand why they feel the way they do and supports emotional healing and regulation.

Coaching, on the other hand, is forward-focused and skill-based. Coaching supports teens and young adults who may be emotionally stable but feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to move forward.

Coaching can be especially helpful when someone is:

• Struggling with motivation, organization, or follow-through

• Having difficulty with executive function skills like planning, regulation, or time management

• Feeling stuck around goals, direction, or decision-making

• Navigating independence, relationships, or life transitions

• Wanting accountability, confidence, and practical tools for real life

• Ready to improve skills and utilize tools to increase and improve friendships and relationships.

Coaching focuses on how to move forward: building skills, clarity, and confidence aligned with a young person’s values and strengths.

Coaching in Action: Following the Journey

One of the things I love most about coaching is walking alongside my clients through whatever unfolds.

One young adult client came to me after moving to a new city for work. She was feeling lonely and unsure how to build friendships in a place where she didn’t know anyone. Together, we worked on setting small, manageable goals around social connection and stepping outside her comfort zone.

As her confidence grew, she also began thinking about her career goals for the year. She decided to apply for a new job that felt exciting, but intimidating. She went through the interview process, didn’t get the offer, and came back to coaching feeling discouraged.

Instead of stopping there, we used that experience as a learning moment, building skills around coping with disappointment, reframing setbacks, and identifying next steps. She left those sessions with more resilience, clarity, and confidence than she had before.

That’s coaching: supporting goal-setting, skill-building, and real-life navigation, no matter what happens along the way.