How do you define and introduce yourself? Are you a consultant, a therapist, or a coach?

Sure, if you are trained as a psychologist in a university, then you’re likely a “therapist.” But some positive psychologists also claim that they are “coaches.” And other psychologists who specialize in organizational behavior call themselves “consultants.”

So, what are the differences of these three terms? Are there any overlaps?

Here are the differences according to Start it Up! Start Your Successful Coaching Business by Erik Bowman.

March 30th is my birthday. This year, I’m reaching the milestone of middle adulthood. Being in my early 40s brings both joy and a reason to reflect. In these four decades, I have met many interesting people, traveled to many beautiful places, and done many useful things.

In this reflection, I have decided to give more weight to the positive things instead of the negative ones. I have succeeded and I have failed, yet both experiences are useful and make me the way I am today.

Both the positive and the negative experiences are positive in the end. Because our default state is positive; we give valuable meanings to every experience; and every single meaning adds up to the pile of “life experiences.”

Carl Jung once said that midlife serves as an important preparation for late adulthood, “the evening of life.” He was right. I have been thinking about how I’d like to spend retirement years with loved ones, visiting places I’d love to remember, and meeting special people whom I admire. To achieve all these, I need to prepare myself for some changes: reinvesting time and resources for better purposes, and learning things that would be useful mentally and emotionally in later stages of life.

Psychology is a big topic. So big that people often have a hard time wrapping their heads around all the areas one could learn about for self-improvement and help.

Sometimes it might help to improve our lives if we had a little help. Sure, psychotherapy is always available. But so is something newer, called “coaching,” which focuses on self-improvement and building on your strengths (rather than focusing on treating a mental health issue or disorder).

I’m pleased to introduce our newest blog, Good Life with Coaching and Learning which will help introduce you to these topics. This blog is written by Jennie S. Bev and hopes to help people better understand the psychology of learning and teaching, learning styles and personality inventories, in relation to self-coaching and coaching others for performance optimization.

Jennie S. Bev is an award-winning author, columnist, and social entrepreneur based in Northern California. She has published approximately 900 articles and 80+ electronic books on the topics of business, entrepreneurship, social issues, human rights, communications, peace and justice, and multiculturalism, among many more. You can learn more about her background here.

Please give Jennie a warm Psych Central welcome!