19th June 2018 by Rebecca Hartnell

Career Coach vs Counselling

‘What is the difference between working with a career coach vs counselling? This is a fascinating line I often find I am exploring with my supervisor. At its simplest, a counsellor helps people to explore the past in order to make peace with it. In this way, they are free to enjoy their present. At its simplest, coaching involves working with people in their present’ in order to help them create their future.

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One thing I have learned, and it is also the thing that I love, is that things are rarely at their simplest when humans are involved! That is the joy of the work

Under the guise of ‘career coaching,’ arises an enormous array of associated issues and past bruises. These enter the room because we are whole humans. When work is not going well for us then it affects our personal lives. When our lives are challenged, this impacts our professional performance too. There is absolutely nothing wrong with compartmentalising. As a strategy, it is however only sustainable for so long.

My other question is: how can we make good decisions regards our future without taking a peek at our past? This is the rich material for future decision making.

George Santayana said:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Is there anything that feels familiar in that sentence? Of course there is familiarity, and that goes for all of us. We will often re-remember something that didn’t work for us in the past, only halfway through doing it again.

This informs my belief that we are not able to make good decisions about our future without taking a swift look at the past. Our experiences hold such richness regarding that which we and that which we do, and we do not want for our future. Why would we ignore this resource?