Coached to Perfection: Can a Coach Help You Create the Life You've always Wanted?

Health
February 2005
By Ellen Michaud

"Though it may seem to overlap with therapy, coaching is a very different endeavor," says Ellen Ostrow, Ph.D., who is both a psychologist and a coach in Washington, D.C.  "Therapy is for healing wounds that impair a person's ability to function," she says. But coaches don't treat emotional problems. Instead, they focus on helping you establish and achieve goals... "Coaching is for accomplishing goals," Ostrow says. "It's the pace you go and say, here's my dream, help me get there."  ... "Nobody's doing anything in coaching that they can't do themselves," Ostrow admits. "But everybody has so much on their plates. So it's the coach's job to hold up your goal, shine a light on your path and say, yes, but what about this?"