What is the Difference Between Coaching and Therapy? An ICF Accredited Coach Trainer Explains

By Nina Madden, ICF Accredited Coach Trainer (PCC) | Published 19 July 2026

What is the difference between coaching and therapy?

Therapy is concerned with the past. It explains your current situation through the lens of the past. It talks about your childhood, parents, past traumas. Life Coaching is about your future, solutions, outcomes. It is about where you are going and who you are becoming.

Life Coaching is about creating the life you want to live in, today.

You don't have to talk about the past to become happy today.

Not because it doesn't matter, but because you are so much more than your past. With the right guidance anyone can create a life that makes them happy.

Nina Madden's Three Levels of Life Coaching

• Grand overview life design. Gaining clarity on the big picture, such as where you want to live, what you want to do with your career, what you want your relationships to look like. Shaping that vision based on your core values, beliefs and desires. Designing exciting action plans to make it happen.
• Day to day issues. Workplace challenges, family challenges, relationship challenges. How to deal with problems of a difficult boss, an unhappy teenager, a chaotic schedule, or a stuck career.
• A single goal or dream. Want to wander the streets of Istanbul, hop on a flight to Vienna, and explore the ancient streets of Mumbai? Looking for that dream relationship, spiritual, intellectual, physical?

Life Coaching helps create a life that makes you proud. No amount of talking about the past will help you achieve that. 

Life Coaching is an open discipline. At Life Changes we integrate NLP, Archetypes, Hero's Journey, Metaphors and other healing or personal development methods. 

Who Is Life Coaching For?

Whether you're fifty going through a divorce, or thirty figuring out your life path, life coaching helps you dig deep, understand yourself better. A Life Coach will support you to shape a life that is a true reflection of who you are. 

Life Coaching is for people who want to resolve a particular issue, who have a certain goal, or who want to make  big changes to several, or all areas of life.

Therapy is for people who want to talk about the past, heal past traumas and come to terms with the past. Life Coaching is for people who want to shape the future. They want to bring creativity and imagination into a life that makes them happy, fulfilled and aligned.

Life Coaching helps you access the power and resources within to change the things you are unhappy with, and create more of what you want in life.

If you want to become a life coach you need a training that is accredited and based on real skills.

You can discuss the details of the programme with me here. 

I'm here to guide you on this journey of becoming a Life Coach today. With a new world opening up in front of you, regardless of the past and where you are right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between life coaching and therapy?

Therapy is concerned with the past. It explains your current situation through the lens of the past. Life Coaching is about your future, solutions, outcomes, where you are going and who you are becoming.

Do I need to talk about my past to work with a life coach?

No. You don't have to talk about the past to become happy today. Life Coaching is about creating the life you want to live in, today.

What does a life coach actually help with?

Life Coaching can operate at three levels: big-picture life design, day-to-day challenges, and specific individual goals or dreams.

About Nina Madden

Nina Madden is an ICF Accredited Coach Trainer (PCC) and Accredited NLP Trainer (ABNLP/INLPTA). She is also an EMDR Therapist, and she has 19 years of experience in private practice in Kensington, London and globally. She has been coaching since 2007 and training coaches since 2012. Her ICF & ABNLP Accredited Diploma in Life Coaching and Advanced NLP is delivered through Life Changes - The Academy by Nina Madden. The programme was founded in 2017. Nina holds 103 Google reviews with a 4.9 average rating.