Somebody enquires about coaching. She describes feeling stuck, unable to make decisions and exhausted by everything.
That could be a coaching situation and it could equally be a depression. She has not framed it as a mental health matter and would resist that framing if offered, which is part of why she has contacted a coach.
A coach who takes the work without recognising the distinction may do no good and some harm. A coach who says something kind and points her in the right direction has served her properly and will be remembered for it.
When coaching is appropriate
Somebody functioning reasonably, wanting to achieve something specific, with the capacity to act on what emerges in the sessions.
When therapy is more appropriate
Distress, trauma, difficulty functioning, or patterns rooted in the past that need a clinical rather than a goal oriented approach.
When both might apply
Frequently, sequentially rather than simultaneously, and explaining that possibility helps somebody understand what they are choosing.
Signal: the language somebody uses
Describing feeling rather than describing goals, which is a reasonable indication of which conversation this is.
Signal: whether they can act
Coaching depends on somebody being able to do things between sessions, and where that capacity is absent, coaching frustrates rather than helps.
Signal: what has already been tried
Somebody who has had therapy and wants something forward looking is different from somebody who has never addressed an underlying difficulty.
Explain: the difference in plain words
Without clinical language, since the point is to help somebody recognise their own situation rather than to categorise them.
Explain: the training difference
What each practitioner is qualified to do, which people do not know and which matters considerably.
Explain: the confidentiality difference
Since both have limits and they differ, and this affects what somebody is willing to discuss.
Refer: kindly and specifically
Named routes rather than a general suggestion, which is the care described in life coaching enquiries that touch sensitive ground.
Never: assess or diagnose anybody
The absolute boundary. A coach explains the distinction and does not decide what anybody has, and neither does anything answering on their behalf.
Recognise: this is good for the practice
A coach who refers somebody appropriately is remembered, recommended and frequently returned to later when coaching is the right fit.
Explain: that asking is not a commitment
Somebody uncertain about which they need should be able to describe the situation without feeling they have started something, since the fear of being enrolled is itself a reason people do not make contact.
Explain: what happens in a first conversation
What is discussed, how long it takes and that it can end with a recommendation to go elsewhere, which removes the risk from a first approach entirely.
Help somebody recognise which they need
An assistant that explains the difference in plain words, describes what each practitioner is trained to do, recognises distress and routes it to a person immediately without ever assessing anybody helps somebody who cannot tell which conversation she needs. The group setting is covered in group programmes and workshop questions answered, a comparable confusion in valuation versus survey questions buyers confuse, and the distinction between tools in the difference between a chatbot and a live chat. See it working on the demo, compare on pricing, and the sector view sits under coaching.