Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses

100 The Difference Between Coaching and Counseling: What Mental Health Professionals Need to Know

• Dr. Kate Walker Ph.D., LPC/LMFT Supervisor • Season 3 • Episode 100

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Is adding coaching to your mental health practice the right move? Uncover the essential differences between certifications and licenses, and understand why having a governing body is critical for professional integrity. Without regulatory oversight, the coaching landscape in Texas presents unique challenges and opportunities. Join us as we dissect these distinctions and provide clear, actionable advice for mental health professionals contemplating this addition to their services.

Explore the ethical maze of dual relationships in therapy and the intricacies of integrating coaching into your counseling practice. We dive into how coaching is perceived by licensing boards like the LMFT and the implications for additional training and supervision. Learn about the accessibility expectations for coaching, the insurance reimbursement hurdles, and the complexities of being both an individual and couple's counselor. We'll also discuss how you can contribute to the mental health community by promoting business growth through collective engagement with our podcast. Tune in for an episode packed with valuable insights to help you navigate the evolving landscape of mental health practice.

Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.

Speaker 1:

Adding any kind of a side hustle means you're going to have to solve different problems and it could be a little more complicated. It could be a little more paperwork, a little bit more effort with your marketing, and that's definitely what coaching is. This is the Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses podcast with Dr Kate Walker, where I teach you Texans and non-Texans alike, the latest research-based information to hit your income goals, stay out of trouble and make a bigger impact in your community. Join me and let's fill the gaps in access to mental health care and create a counseling career you'll love. Let's get to work. Welcome to Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses, where it's all about working smarter, not harder. And here's your host, dr Kate Walker, who could spend weeks in Colorado if she could? Kate Walker, who could spend weeks in Colorado if she could? Welcome to September Blast-Off Episode 100. You did it. You made it to Episode 100. Way to go, you. You're going to learn the pros and cons of adding coaching to your mental health practice. At Kate Walker Training, we're celebrating 100 episodes by giving you $100 off our HIPAA training. That includes FERPA and House Bill 300 for you Texans. It's easy to do and you end up paying only 16 bucks for a course that everybody needs if they're handling protected health information. It's so easy to do Just go to katewalkertrainingcom slash bonus. Now let's get to work. Hey, it's Dr Kate Walker, welcome.

Speaker 1:

This is the last episode of our summer boot camp, so we're talking about adding coaching, like why do it, why not do it? And this is a topic that I hear about a lot, and it's not always in the social media. This is something that comes up at our licensing board meetings. If you're listening to this podcast and you really don't know the difference between coaching and counseling or therapy or psychotherapy, this may be new information. If you're an old hand at this and you kind of know what's going on and you're really just tuning in to go, you know. Ok, kate, tell me why I should or what I need to look out for You're going to get a little bit of both. So you know, by the end of this you'll understand maybe a little bit better about the decisions that may go into adding coaching to an existing practice or going into coaching full-time, whatever you want to do.

Speaker 1:

So first of all, I'm going to start with the difference between a certification and a license. So a license means there is a governing body that will create rules and protect the public. Now that's very, very simplified. But what that board, or that executive committee, or whatever we're going to call it a board, does, they are there to put consequences out there if you mess up.

Speaker 1:

A certification, on the other hand, means you can do something, and so the example that I often give is learning to drive. You'll get a certificate at the end that says hey, you know how to drive, good job. And I don't know much about the instructors who teach driver's training, but I'm assuming they have to go through a process where they are allowed to teach the course and they're allowed to give out that certificate. But I don't know, maybe not. So with a certificate, you've got this piece of paper in your hand from an instructor who has been either approved or not approved, but they at least have the material together. So you can have that certificate that says you have shown proficiency, you have the skills to do the thing. So if it's driver's training, you have the skills to drive. But that certificate in no way, shape or form, means you're allowed to drive right, because there is no board of certification, there is no governing body that gives you consequences If you don't know the thing correctly. I guess if you don't pass the course, you don't get the certificate right. That's the consequence. So the certificate simply means you can do the thing, the license means you're allowed to do the thing, and so there's the governing body. There are the set of rules, scope of practice, schedule of sanctions, there are definitions, there are all kinds of things that are there to protect the public and define and protect the profession really. So when we talk about coaching versus counseling or therapy or psychotherapy, it's usually we start with that real basic distinction because, as of this recording and if you're listening to me, live, awesome. If you're listening to me on a replay, yay go you, you're learning something new, or maybe you already knew this Coaching there is no governing body in Texas.

Speaker 1:

So there's no board of coaches, there is no schedule of sanctions, there's not a complaint process, or there may be, but it's through private organizations. So you guys know the difference I talk about it a lot between the LPC board, there's a governing board and, for example, with ACA or the American Counseling Association, there may be an executive board, but who makes the rules and definition things like that? But they can't impose sanctions, right. So with the coaching profession. There is no governing body to protect the public, and that's all well and good. I'm not here to pick apart coaching, right? I wanted to just start with that definition. So it's sort of like when Oprah had her, you know, look under your seat. And everybody looked under their seat in the audience and everybody had car keys. It's like you get a new car, you get a new car. You get a new car.

Speaker 1:

Well, if you want to be a coach, then you can be a coach and you can be a coach and you can be a coach and I love coaches. I personally have a business coach that I've been using for three years and if you've been a fan of my podcast, you know I featured her, jenny Melrose. She's awesome, highly recommend her and she helps me with my business and that's great. So if you are a counselor and you're considering coaching, here are some things I would invite you to consider, beyond the certification versus license thing. I mean, we are professionals. I am going to assume that all of you want to do an amazing job, whether or not you have licensing board sanctions on your mind. You are going to go through an ethical decision making process and you're going to do the right thing. So I just wanted you to have that little foundation, that groundwork.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing I would invite you to consider is why would you add coaching anyway? Right, and this is a question that I pose to people when I talk about adding those side hustles. And if you want to go back and listen to those podcasts or those trainings and I say, ok, you've got the counseling thing down. So what is the reason to add public speaking or to add a podcast, or to add supervision or supervisor training? Right? Is it because you make enough money with your counseling? Is it because you want something to balance out your mental health? Right, you've got enough counseling. You want to add something else? So I really would invite you just to go through the same process you would do if you're adding any side hustle. Why? Why do you want to do it? Because it will take new systems. New systems may mean more people, more paperwork, more subscriptions to things like Google or Dropbox or whatever it is that you use, and it will complicate things in a great way, right?

Speaker 1:

I was just thinking this morning and when I did my morning reading, you know, one of the things we humans are on this planet to do is to solve problems. We're here to solve creative problems, hopefully, right. And so if adding coaching is really calling to you, that's an okay reason, right. So I want you to really nail that down first, and I'm going to hone in on one of the reasons that I often hear, at least when I'm out there on the interwebs, that is, I'm going to make more money. I can make more money as a coach than I could as a therapist, and so for me there seems to be a mindset issue there, and I do respect you know. You want to make sure your counseling is affordable and you're going to do coaching and really up your rate. And I respect if you want to have counseling and you want to stay on insurance panels so that you're accessible to a particular demographic or community and you want to add coaching so you can really up your rate or get your rate that you're accessible to a particular demographic or community and you want to add coaching so you can really up your rate or get your rate that you feel you deserve, right.

Speaker 1:

And so with that answer it would be the new systems and stuff and all the things you would have to make sure you're adding value to that coaching right. So that would mean going through the course learning how to coach, learning what coaching is, learning how to coach, learning what coaching is, what makes it different? What are you providing? Or what is the customer getting right, because they're not a client anymore, I guess they could be. What is the coaching client getting from you that the counseling client is not?

Speaker 1:

So think of things like accessibility. Are they going to be able to text you more often? Will you respond more quickly? Do they get three emails from you instead of one that your clients get? Do they get entire conversations? Do they get transcripts of your meeting? I know when I meet with my coach, she will do Zoom and she will give me a recording. She'll give me a transcript. She has a dedicated Facebook group where we can tag her with questions anytime we need to. It's a lot of accessibility, and so, as you're thinking about adding coaching, that could be a pro if you love people and you really wish you had more contact, or it could be a con, because you're like, oh, I didn't really want to add value that way. I kind of wanted to be less available, and so when we talk about adding value, that's a really important proposition. When you're thinking about rate, when you're thinking about a new service, you've got to think from the client's perspective. And I talk about this. I've got a really cheapo course in Step it Up members. You guys already have it. It's called how to Set your Rate for Counseling, and I talk about how to create that value proposition so that the rate that you decide to impose is accepted by your ideal client. So you know that's the other piece of this too.

Speaker 1:

I want you to blast off into a successful September, but you got to know it's not just about business. You've got to get your clinical skills up to snuff too. Our free monthly webinars are great, whether you need the free continuing education or you don't and this month Dr Patrice Dunn will be teaching us about unveiling code switching, implications for mental health and what counselors need to know. Happening September 25th at 5 pm, central Time. Tickets are free, as always, and if you're a Step it Up member, don't worry if you have to miss, because members always get the replay. You can grab your ticket or see the schedule of our upcoming free webinar experts at katewalkertrainingcom forward slash free webinar. That's katewalkertrainingcom slash free webinar. Bookertrainingcom slash free webinar.

Speaker 1:

I have trouble sometimes really figuring out how coaching is different from counseling, and the LMFT board has actually taken steps to indicate to us, the public and the MFTs, that it's kind of the same thing. In fact, in their definitions, I believe, they use the word coaching and they use the word other. So if you think about, if you were going into your rules and it's like number one counseling is this, number two, family therapy is that on and on and on. They're defining things because it's a legal document. You get to the definitions for marriage and family therapist board, you'll see a definition that your license covers you coaching. So they actually consider coaching a modality. Now, what does that mean for LPCs? What does that mean for social workers? What does that mean for psychologists? I have no idea. But as a researcher, as someone who looks at things from sort of okay, I see a trend happening here. It could be that the licensing boards consider coaching just another counseling modality, that you have to be trained well enough before you do right, that you have to be supervised for a certain period of time before you do like anything else. I mean if we were going to do walk-top therapy, you wouldn't just wake up one day and say, okay, adding that to the website, right? You would want to make sure you got some training, you got some supervision. You gave yourself a few months to really learn how all the things that you needed to learn. So it's not a bad thing when you think of coaching as just another counseling modality.

Speaker 1:

If you take insurance, though, and this may go on the con list, right. If you take insurance, though, and this may go on the con list, right? Insurance, as far as I know, has not ever paid for coaching. Maybe there is a new insurance company out there that's starting to do that. Maybe insurance companies are going to reimburse for walk talk therapy. I don't know. We're looking at trends and we're looking at how to get paid, because I've seen this a lot too.

Speaker 1:

Counselors ask can I give XYZ assessment? It's like well, of course you can if you've been trained and supervised, but will insurance reimburse it? I don't know right. They may only reimburse psychologists for that particular assessment. So, as you're considering adding coaching, how do you want to get paid If you've never done a cash pay anything before? You're going to want to get some education, because it's unlikely that that coaching would ever be reimbursed by insurance.

Speaker 1:

I mean lots of reasons, right? Cpt codes, diagnoses, right. The definition of coaching for me this is just, kate Walker is, you know, I'm not treating an illness and I'm not treating a condition. And I'm not treating a condition, I'm not treating something that's in the DSM-5, right? I'm simply blah, blah, blah, right. Whatever I say next becomes my definition of coaching, which brings me to paperwork.

Speaker 1:

So here's the thing I want to talk about dual relationships from two perspectives. Right, talk about dual relationships from two perspectives, right. In fact, this was just in our group this morning, one of our social media groups, of Texas counselors creating badass businesses, or it was in the Texas Supervisor Coalition, I don't recall at the moment, but it was this idea of if you are the individual counselor and then that individual asks you to be the couple counselor, is that a dual relationship? Well, ethically and this is Kate Walker again, yes, you are now treating two clients because, as a marriage and family therapist, as a trained LPC with couples, the couple becomes the client. So you have one client who's an individual, another client who is the couple and you're trying to be the same person for both of those clients. Right, that's two clients, one person, dual relationship, right. And then the other piece of that is what if your counseling client wants to become your coaching client, right? So it's just looking at the same thing from two different perspectives.

Speaker 1:

And here's the bottom line clarity. We have to make sure the public, that's your client, is clear on what is happening to them, right? That's why we have those consent forms. I consent for this to be done to me, right? If I go in for minor surgery, I'm going to sign a consent form that says I, kate Walker, consent for my appendix to come out. You can do that to me.

Speaker 1:

So in counseling, your client is consenting to a thing being done to them, and we explain what that is. Here's what counseling is. Here's what it's not. Here's what you can expect. Here's how much it costs. Here's approximately all the things.

Speaker 1:

So that paperwork here we go back to the difference between a licensing board and a certificate, or, you know, not having a licensing board, right? Our licensing boards mandate that our clients have that transparency statement, that consent form, and so when they are your client for counseling, counseling does not commence until that form is signed. And you're sure they understand it, because that's what our rules say. That's how our board protects the public from something being done to them that the public doesn't want, right? So we don't have that necessarily with coaching, right there, because there is no board, there is no mandate, there is no consequence if you don't do it. That doesn't mean it's not best practices, right? If you take a coaching certification course, they're probably going to teach you to do a consent form, but if you don't do one, it's all right.

Speaker 1:

So imagine you're like well, kate, you know what I don't do consent forms for coaching. I do do it for counseling. But now your counseling client, joe Smith, wants to be your coaching client and they just kind of slide over. Same day, same time, you're the same person. You show up and you go OK, joe, now we're coaching. They're like OK, so how does Joe understand that something different is happening? And you may say well, kate, I'm going to give them a consent form.

Speaker 1:

Ok, well, this is where the board has spoken informally like there's no rule, right? But they have spoken informally that this is where counselors get in trouble. They don't clearly indicate and remember that always means paperwork. When you hear me say that it's always going to be paperwork Copy some kind of thing that the client can clearly read refer back to sign. You get the idea. There is no clear indication that the modality has changed. Right, that's what the board is concerned about. They are saying okay, you know you switched, being Joe's coach, and Joe really felt like you were being wonky and they didn't understand and so they filed a complaint. It's because perhaps you weren't clear about the modality change. You know, sometimes and I've seen a couple of meetings where you know board has presented a TCA or TASES or something like that, informally.

Speaker 1:

Again, this is not a board statement. They're not representing the board, they're simply trying to help us out and they sometimes say you know, just don't do it, not coach, but just don't coach the same client that was your counseling client, and I'm talking to colleagues out there who do that. So please don't take this as a condemnation. If you're doing that, I'm sure there are people out there who do that beautifully. But remember, it's about transparency. So maybe my colleagues who are out there can do a training and teach people how to make sure they're absolutely transparent, that they're absolutely clear with the marketing, they're absolutely clear with that paperwork, whatever it is that they do, to make sure Joe understands they are no longer a counseling client. They are now a coaching client and you'd have to do that.

Speaker 1:

Well, remember when I said a little bit ago, adding any kind of a side hustle means you're going to have to solve different problems and it could be a little more complicated, could be a little more paperwork, a little bit more effort with your marketing, and that's definitely what coaching is. So coaching has also been on the forefront of the LPC board's mind collected mind, if I can speak to that Because a lot of times, many times, there have been times I really want to be careful with my wording here when a counselor has been sanctioned and they have their license revoked or they voluntarily give up their license, they'll say, ok, fine, I don't need this, I'm going to go coach and that's becoming a problem. Right, it's really not protecting the public, and you know what. You may have a love-hate relationship with the licensing board, but you are public as well and they are there to protect you. So consider, as you add, coaching, right, like Kate, I know this is it. I've taken the training, this is what I want to do. Then think from the perspective of the board. Who's trying to protect the public?

Speaker 1:

Think about the clients you will take on. Think about the value you will add, develop a policy. Are you going to transition existing clients to coaching? Are you going to make it completely separate? Speaking of separate, are you going to make a new website? Are you going to make sure that the copy is completely different? And if you've listened to me talk about side hustles before I refer back to you, know my counseling practice Achieve Balance. I used to try to do all the things through that website, but it was really hard to help Google understand in the search engines, ok, and I want you to search for supervision over here, but I want you to search for counseling over there. So Google liked it much better and I think probably people searching for me did too when I separated and did two companies, two websites. So again, just things to consider and I'm going to draw you back as we close here on this topic.

Speaker 1:

I want to take you back just to why. Why are you doing it? So, if coaching is something you already do and Kate Walker here again as a researcher, as a counselor educator, do, and Kate Walker here again as a researcher, as a counselor educator yes, this is what we do. We're great coaches. We are so good at helping our clients with solution focused ideas, with encouragement, with schedules, with specific, measurable, trackable goals. I mean, you pick your theory CBT, solution focused or Rogers, we can use our theory to make the words that come out of our mouth coach our clients to a better place, because that's what coaching is right. We just saw the Olympics. The coaches are up, they're screaming, they're woohooing, so yeah, we are coaches.

Speaker 1:

So, as you consider adding coaching, think about maybe just play your own devil's advocate how could you not add coaching as a separate business and perhaps adjust your reimbursement rate? Maybe you're wanting to add coaching because you're scared to get off of insurance and this is just a way to kind of postpone that. Or maybe it's a bridge You're going to do coaching while you slowly get off of insurance panels. Or you're really not wanting to give up those insurance panels and you really think you're worth more per hour because you're doing these $10 an hour IEP plans or something like that, and you think, okay, I'm going to charge $300 an hour for this type of coaching for this type of ideal client. Okay, awesome, get that course. How to set your rate so that you know that you are adding value to that hour or six hours. However, you decide to do that with that client who will be purchasing your coaching services.

Speaker 1:

Starting and succeeding at private practice can be lonely and expensive. Even if you have a question as simple as what should my client rate be? You may end up spending too much money for outdated information that doesn't even apply to you and the community you want to serve. You already know that if you're in the Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses Facebook page, all of our resources are free and the group is full of kind mentors who will answer your questions no strings attached. If you're looking for more, though, I have a resource for you. It's a resource that will give you actionable steps today, and inside the free resource, it's got a QR code for a $14 course that will give you actionable steps today, and inside the free resource, it's got a QR code for a $14 course that will help you set your client rate today, no matter what client community you want to serve. It's called the Essential Guide for Self-Employed Mental Health Professionals and Supervisors, and I want you to grab it today. It's easy to do Just go to katewalkertrainingcom.

Speaker 1:

Forward. Slash today. That's katewalkertrainingcom. Slash today. I'm Dr Kate Walker. Thank you so much for listening to Texas counselors creating badass businesses. Thank you to Ridgely Walker for her lovely voiceovers at our introduction and do me a favor when you get a second please like, share and subscribe and write us a review. That's really how we get picked up by other RSS feeds and we get this information out to the mental health badasses who need it. Thanks again, and keep saving the world with excellent therapy. You.