What is Life Coaching?

A certified life coach is a trained and credentialed professional who partners with individuals to help them grow with intention, navigate life transitions, overcome internal and external obstacles, and align their lives with their values and goals.

As a certified life coach, I’ve completed formal training through Oklahoma State University and am credentialed by the International Association of Professional Recovery Coaches. My training includes evidence-based coaching methods, ethical standards, strengths-based development, and tools rooted in emotional intelligence, executive functioning, and personal leadership.

But beyond credentials, coaching is about presence. It’s about helping clients uncover what’s already within—and offering the support, structure, and clarity they need to move forward courageously.

What is the difference between a:

  • Certified Life Coach

  • Uncertified Life Coach

  • Therapist

  • Consultant

  • Mentor

Certified Life Coach —

Focus: Growth-oriented. We work on mindset, habits, emotional resilience, goal setting, and aligned living.

Tools: Structured coaching frameworks, assessments, goal-mapping, and personal development strategies.

Approach: Present and future-focused. I guide you in creating sustainable change and building emotional clarity and executive functioning skills.

Scope: I help you move forward with confidence, organization, self-awareness, and peace—not by giving you answers, but by helping you find them within.

Uncertified Life Coach

An uncertified coach may have great life experience or intuition but lacks formal training in coaching methods, professional ethics, or psychological tools.

Without training, there’s risk of unintentionally overstepping, especially when it comes to sensitive topics like trauma, mental health, or belief systems.

Certification ensures that the coach knows how to create safe, ethical, and effective growth environments for clients.

Therapist

Coaching starts with your present and moves you into the future. Therapists can do this too while also helping you deal with a potentially difficult past.

I do not treat or diagnose mental illness in coaching sessions. When therapeutic support is needed, I refer clients to some of the best therapists I personally know and respect.

Consultant

A consultant is an expert who is hired to solve a specific problem or offer professional advice in a particular area. They usually come in with a set of answers or systems and tell you what to do based on their expertise.

Think: “I want someone to assess a situation and give me expert advice or solutions.”

Consultants are advice-givers and solution designers—not facilitators of self-discovery.

Mentor

The word mentor actually comes from an old story in Greek mythology. When Odysseus left home to fight in the Trojan War, he asked his wise and trusted friend Mentor to look after his son, Telemachus. Mentor became a guide—someone who offered support, encouragement, and advice to help Telemachus grow into the leader he was meant to be.

That’s what a mentor still is today:
Someone who’s been down the road ahead of you and wants to help you along the way. They share their experience, offer guidance, and cheer you on.

A mentor says:

“Here’s what helped me—maybe it will help you too.”

It’s different from coaching, which is less about giving advice and more about asking questions, helping you get clear, and walking with you as you figure out your own path.

Both are valuable—they just serve different roles in your growth.