Winter '23-'24 Positive Changes & Counseling vs Life Coaching

I hope this newsletter finds you with a peaceful mind and heart.
4-minute read

Photo credit: Vie Studio c/o Pexels

"Time doesn't stop moving forward, nor should we."

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Increased Affordability, Client Choice, and Privacy

1. Sliding Scale Change: Effective 1-1-2024, my sliding scale will be $85-$125. This is a 16% reduction.
2. Client Choice: Clients choose the price that works best for them on the sliding scale. 
3. Increased Privacy: With a sliding scale not based on income, clients retain privacy over their finances. Not using insurance increases privacy due to no 3rd party involvement. HSA and FSA cards are accepted. 

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Photo credit: Arthur Brognoli: c/o Pexels

Counseling vs. Life Coaching: Understanding the Difference

When it comes to seeking personal growth or emotional support, both counseling and life coaching can be beneficial, but they serve very different purposes. My focus is counseling because it offers the depth, safety, and professional foundation that many people need to experience lasting change.

What Life Coaching Offers
Life coaching focuses on helping individuals set and reach personal or professional goals. It’s action-oriented and often emphasizes motivation, accountability, and structure to help people create external change such as improving performance at work, clarifying career direction, or developing new habits.

Life coaching can be valuable for individuals who are emotionally well and simply want direction or encouragement. However, it’s important to note that life coaching is not a mental health service. Life coaches are not required to hold advanced degrees or state licenses, and are not bound by ethics or regulations guiding their practice.

What Counseling Provides
Counseling, by contrast, is focused on emotional well-being and mental health. It provides a safe, confidential space to explore experiences, patterns, and emotions that may be creating distress or holding you back. Counseling supports both healing and growth helping clients manage anxiety, depression, trauma, and other challenges through evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and mindfulness techniques.

Sessions are led by a licensed mental health counselor who has completed a master’s degree or higher and is bound by strict ethical and legal standards as well as ongoing education requirements. This professional training ensures that counseling is guided by research, clinical expertise, and a deep commitment to client safety and confidentiality.

Why Counseling Matters
While both coaching and counseling aim to help people create positive change, counseling goes deeper. It doesn’t just focus on setting goals it helps uncover why certain patterns, emotions, or behaviors show up, and offers strategies to work through them in sustainable, healthy ways. Counseling helps you build insight, strengthen coping skills, and move toward a more balanced and peaceful life.
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If you’re feeling stuck, anxious, or overwhelmed or simply want a supportive space to understand yourself better, counseling offers a compassionate, professional path toward growth and healing.

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A little about me / my practice:

• My counseling practice focuses on helping individual adults navigate anxiety, mild to moderate depression, life transitions, grief and loss, and stress. These are all experiences I understand personally, which helps me connect with clients in a genuine and compassionate way. I often draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), mindfulness-based, and strengths-based approaches to support clients in building insight and resilience. I believe that people who seek counseling are healthy, they’re simply taking intentional steps to better understand themselves and improve their overall well-being. My Person-Centered orientation means I focus on creating a safe, accepting space where clients can reconnect with their strengths and move toward living more authentically.

I wish you a healthy winter season and look forward to seeing you when the time is right for you. Until then….
 
Tracy Hunt, MSEd, LPCC
Owner, Turning Inward LLC
937-321-9794