What’s the difference between Coaching and Therapy?
Both therapy and coaching & personal growth sessions are grounded in trauma-informed and somatic principles — but they are separate services, serve different purposes, and support different stages of your journey.
Before beginning coaching or therapy, we start with a free consultation in which I will do a brief informal assessment of your current circumstances and what you're hoping to get from the work. The purpose of this assessment is to be sure that any work we take on together would be the best fit for your needs. Explore this page to get a better sense of the differences between coaching and therapy.
Psychotherapy
What it is:
A licensed mental health service designed to help you understand, process, and transform patterns connected to your past experiences, emotions, and relationships. Therapy creates space for healing and integration — not by erasing your history, but by helping your mind and body move through distress and find new ways to relate to it.
Best for when you’re:
Feeling stuck in patterns tied to past experiences or trauma
Managing symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, mood instability, or emotional distress.
Looking to explore deeper emotional roots, attachment dynamics, or identity
Wanting to understand why things feel hard — not just how to move forward
The Focus is On:
Exploring the “why” behind your current experiences
Using a clinical lens to help you understand what you’re struggling with, and integrating mental health treatment models in session to address and alleviate your symptoms.
Deepening self-awareness, self-compassion, and emotional capacity
Processing trauma or adverse early life experiences
Reclaiming nervous system regulation and relational safety
Structure & Logistics
Virtual therapy sessions available to California residents only, bound by mental health ethics and state licensing regulations.
Rate is $225/hour. Limited sliding scale slots are offered on a case by case basis considering factors including systemic and economic hardship.
Covered by some insurance providers (if in-network or superbill eligible)
Standard treatment frequency and duration of weekly 1 hour sessions over the course of several months to longer term
Intensive multi-hour options available for intervals of deeper, accelerated work (not currently covered by insurance)
What it’s not:
A quick fix, or linear goal-oriented coaching process
Advice giving or performance optimization
Medical treatment for crisis stabilization or psychiatric care
Available outside California (therapy is regulated by state licensure)
Coaching & Personal Growth
What it is:
A collaborative, forward-moving support service for people who feel emotionally stable and ready to grow. Coaching helps you build clarity, confidence, and aligned action — without a clinical lens or trauma processing focus.
Best for when you’re:
Feeling emotionally stable but craving clarity or growth
Wanting to change patterns that no longer serve you
Facing a transition, decision, or block in moving forward
Ready to work in a focused, goal-oriented process rather than longer-term treatment
Needing support at your back to take that next step you’re nervous to take towards what you want.
The Focus is On:
Clarifying goals and current challenges, and taking supported action
Building self-trust and experimenting with new tools and perspectives
Strengthening relational patterns and building the capacity to be authentic and connected
Practicing new ways of being in your body and your relationships
What it’s not:
A substitute for psychotherapy, trauma processing, or medical care
A space for unpacking past wounds or diagnosing symptoms
Covered by insurance or bound by mental health treatment models
Structure & Logistics
Virtual Coaching available to clients in any location
Rate is $225/hour
Not covered by insurance
Typically shorter-term than therapy; session frequency and duration are co-designed around your goals
Still not sure?
That’s totally okay — many people start here without knowing exactly what they need.
A free consult is the place where we can sort that out together.