Coaching is not synonymous with giving advice, counseling or therapy.
Coaches are not trained as psychotherapists.

Therapy is mainly related to life events that happened in the past. It often focuses on how the client's family of origin shaped their beliefs, attitudes, and coping mechanisms, in an effort to help them better understand and navigate the current issues in their lives. Counseling is a process of transferring wisdom and insight from the counselor to the client. The counselor or therapist commonly gives advice to the client.

Coaching is an interactive, customized consulting and guidance process, which can cover professional and private contents. Like a sports coach, a physician coach works on maximizing the client's performance and bringing out the best of them. Contrary to therapy and counseling, coaching is forward thinking, not backward looking.

A coach encourages, supports, and applauds the client. They help clients discover honest insights into where things are working and where things aren't working. They help you tap the "wisdom within."

The net result of coaching is that the client creates a fool-proof plan for moving forward, and the coach supports them in actualizing that plan. This creates success in their personal and professional life.

In consulting for physicians and their teams, the consultant comes to the partnership as an expert, whether it be in stress control, communication skills, coaching skills, or time management. They teach skills, like building a strong rapport with patients or how to strengthen boundaries so that people stop abusing their kindness. After thorough discussion and analysis of the results the client is looking to achieve, the consultant creates a strong plan of action to move swiftly towards the client's goals. The focus of consulting is to get a project done that will enhance the healthcare career.

Many times I work in the "hybrid" mode, as a coach-consultant. This means I provide you the best of both professions: advice and expertise when you need it, motivation and brainstorming when you're stuck, insight to advancing your career and your practice to your peak potential.