I am a certified Life coach with a bachelor’s in Biology with a minor in psychology. I focus my Coaching practice on the understanding of trauma’s effect on a client’s present-day life. Being trauma-informed simply allows professionals to recognize the prevalence of personal trauma in the histories and lives of the people they serve.
What’s the difference between a Trauma-Informed Coach (TIC) & a traditional Therapist?
Therapists are the front-line workers of mental health care. They operate under a medical model of care, whereas Coaches operate under a support model. Therapists work with and treat trauma. Trauma-Informed Coaches, do not treat trauma. They are simply aware of all of the nuances of working with clients who have experienced trauma.
Trauma-Informed Coaching is the practice of understanding the presence of past trauma in a client’s present-day experience, and how to use it as a guide for resilience and solution-forward coaching strategies. Often, people will need therapy, as well as a coach to support them in between sessions. Other times, clients have a baseline of working with the trauma but need further support to make positive changes in the present. Here’s a brief list of what coaches can and cannot do.
WHAT I DO AS A TRAUMA-INFORMED COACH:
- Trauma-Informed Coaches anchor their work in the present, not the past. They focus on the client’s current life and how trauma is affecting them today. Their aim is to utilize coaching strategies to help their client build up their strengths, healthy beliefs, and positive coping strategies rather than just extinguishing “negative” behaviors and beliefs.
- Coaches serve as guides, mentors, and support. They may provide education about trauma and recovery, or set recovery goals, but they always operate in a client-led manner.
WHAT I DO NOT DO AS A COACH:
- Coaches do not prescribe or give advice about medication.
- Coaches do not treat, diagnose, or assess their client’s mental health.
- Coaches do not work outside their scope of competence – coaches do not work with clients who are at risk of self-harm or harming others.