Career Counseling Connecticut has a practical mission: help our clients find careers that lead to happiness and success. Since career has such an impact on life, our career counseling mission has to address life issues. Nonetheless, the reason why career changers come to us is for work/career issues primarily.
Therapists help clients with psychological issues. Often, those issues manifest themselves at work. If the client plans on staying in her job indefinitely but must deal with anxiety or depression that stems, in part, from the job, then therapists can be helpful. But therapists – even many who claim to help with career issues – are not career advisors. Few, if any, have genuine expertise in the world of work. The exception would be someone who has a therapy background but worked in HR for years or did something else in the business/work world outside of traditional counseling. In Connecticut, at least, there are few of these type.
Life coaches…well…I’m not sure. And, that’s not a slight against them. I’m not someone who scoffs at the notion of a life coach. Indeed, I have many clients who will say “you are not just my career coach but also my life coach.” Given that we get training in everything from tennis to cooking, why shouldn’t we get training in “life”? Unfortunately, there are two challenges: As fond as I am of the notion of life coaching and of most life coaches that I’ve met (most are well-intentioned), I can’t help but notice the same thing that I’ve noticed in therapists: most became life coaches because they had psychological issues. That’s ok. Indeed, someone who overcame a challenge is often best suited to teach how to overcome that same challenge. Nonetheless, some portion are still grappling with emotional growth and, really should deal with their own issues first. Moreover, most – like therapists – are not work experts.
In any event, if you have psychological issues but plan on staying in your work for the indefinite future, see a therapist. If you want to change or find a career path come to Career Counseling Connecticut. E-mail or call (860) 510-0410 to learn more.