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Dr. Marvin L. Chapman, PsyD, MFT, CFC, BCPCCOACHING vs. INDIVIDUAL THERAPY Many people wonder what is the difference between a mental health professional doing divorce coaching and a mental health professional doing individual therapy. Simply put: The major difference between divorce coaching and individual therapy is the client and not the coaching or therapeutic process.
Traditionally, individual therapy involves the assumption the client is coming into therapy due to some real or perceived "problem" which they want to understand, discover or have "treatment," because their coping skills and/or current manner of dealing with their "problem" is not working for them. Due to this traditional thinking, it has long been a given that if someone is in therapy then something is "wrong" with them.
Insurance companies and managed care facilities have traditionally indicated a more comfortable position in dealing with emotional "problems" from the medical model. Simplified, the medical model says there is a disease (the problem), the symptoms must be documented (the diagnoses), and a plan outlined as to how the client will be "healed" (the therapeutic process from which the therapist uses). Based on this medical model, the therapist will focus on the clients history to assist in determining how the problem came about.
Many times you will hear therapists talk about the "pathology" of a client. Ever wonder what "pathology" really means? It is "The science or doctrine of diseases." That part of medicine which explains the nature of diseases, their causes and their symptoms." As you can see from the definition, even in their language therapists use the medical model. With an understanding of the "pathology" the therapist can allegedly determine the cause of the problem. The therapist then gives the client new ways of thinking, coping or behaving that allegedly will work better for them in the future, which is the healing or curing of the problem. Under this simplified model, the therapist is the "helping agent" in charge, the client is the one with the "problem." Divorce coaching is different from individual therapy.
In coaching, the client is not perceived as having any particular "problem" and the divorce coach does not assume any "pathology." In coaching, problems and/or pathological issues are only dealt with if they impede the divorce process, wherein a suggestion may be given that the client might benefit from therapy with an outside independent therapist. In coaching the therapist joins with the client in a duet of cooperation. The coach, having a therapeutic and mediation background, educates, offers insights and observations, gives possibilities, and at times may even propose certain strategies for the client to consider. The divorce coach is specifically trained to work closely with the client in their development of skills needed to deal with critical issues involving the divorce. Although coaching may be very therapeutic, it is not therapy.
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