Coaching guide
Coaching, psychotherapy, consulting, mentoring and training
The choice depends on the need and the expertise required.
When facing a difficulty or change, you may need clarity, a specialist answer, a new skill, someone’s experience or support for distress requiring psychological treatment.
Understanding what you ask of the professional relationship helps you choose the most relevant support.
Finding your way among formats
Explore the guide
Five forms of support, different purposes
Coaching
Helps you clarify a situation, consider perspectives, choose and turn a decision into actions.
Psychotherapy
Offers psychological assessment and treatment through a therapeutic relationship and specific clinical expertise.
Consulting
Brings analysis, specialist knowledge and recommendations about a defined problem or field.
Mentoring
Allows you to learn from the experience and knowledge of someone familiar with a role, sector or transition.
Training
Develops knowledge and skills through a structured learning programme.
Several forms of support can coexist, provided objectives, roles and boundaries are clear.
Before choosing, clarify what you ask of the professional relationship.
Coaching
To clarify, choose and act
The central question is:
What do I want to address, and which step am I ready to take responsibility for?
Coaching may concern a decision, a change, priorities to redefine, alternatives to explore, a behaviour to try or a situation that is still unclear.
The coach brings listening, questions, observations, perspectives, tools and review points. The person brings their situation and remains responsible for decisions.
Coaching does not diagnose, treat psychological or medical conditions or automatically provide a specialist answer.
Psychotherapy
To understand and treat psychological distress
Psychotherapy can work on symptoms, traumatic experiences, emotional or relationship patterns, disorders, crises and difficulties that impair everyday life.
It can address the past, present, relationships, choices and future. The difference from coaching concerns purpose, expertise, assessment, methods and professional responsibilities, rather than a simple division of time.
In Switzerland, the professional designation of psychologist is protected. Federal postgraduate titles in psychology professions, including psychotherapy, also belong to a regulated framework distinct from coaching.
Coaching does not replace this work.
Consulting
To receive analysis and specialist expertise
The central question is:
Which solution, recommendation or expertise do I need to address this problem?
A consultant analyses the situation, gathers data, identifies issues, proposes alternatives, makes recommendations and may support the design or implementation of a solution.
Consulting can concern strategy, organisation, careers, communication, finance, law, technology, health or business processes.
The client decides whether to apply the proposal; they expect the consultant to contribute expertise about the substance of the problem. In coaching, the professional is mainly responsible for the quality of the process.
Mentoring
To learn from someone’s experience
The central question is:
What can I understand from someone who already knows this role, sector or transition?
The mentor shares experience, knowledge, examples, mistakes, criteria, contacts and perspectives gained in practice.
Mentoring can support entering a role, professional growth, an entrepreneurial transition or entry into a sector.
A mentor can ask questions and, at the same time, say openly: “In my experience, this situation required…”. The direct contribution of experience distinguishes mentoring from coaching, while leaving some areas of overlap.
Training
To acquire knowledge or skills
The central question is:
What do I need to know, understand or be able to do?
Training starts from learning objectives and may include content, models, explanations, exercises, practice, feedback, assessment and learning materials.
The programme can be adapted to participants, but starts from defined skills the trainer must teach and provide opportunities to practise.
One situation, five possible programmes
Imagine wanting to change jobs without having decided whether to leave your current role, which direction to choose or how much risk you can take.
With a coach
You could clarify what matters, which priorities have changed, what you want to keep, which alternatives you see and which first step to try.
With a psychotherapist
You could work on distress, intense fear, a recurring pattern or an experience that deeply influences your choices and requires clinical treatment.
With a careers consultant
You could receive an analysis of your profile and the market, a review of your CV and an application or positioning strategy.
With a mentor
You could talk with someone who knows the sector, has gone through a similar transition and can share mistakes, criteria, opportunities and unwritten rules.
Through training
You could acquire a technical skill, a language, a qualification or a tool required by the new role.
Forms of support can be combined when they respond to distinct needs and the roles remain clear.
Roles can coexist, provided they are declared
Someone may have expertise as a coach, consultant, mentor, trainer, psychologist or psychotherapist when they hold the required qualifications.
Clarity becomes crucial when the role changes during the relationship.
If a coach moves into consulting, they may say: “I can offer you a specialist assessment. Would you like it?”
When sharing personal experience, they present it as experience rather than a universal rule. If teaching a model, they are taking a training role. When a need calls for diagnosis or treatment, they recognise that coaching is not the appropriate scope.
Transparency allows the person to know what they are receiving and make an informed choice.
Different professions can collaborate
Coaching, psychotherapy, consulting, mentoring and training can follow or work alongside one another during different phases of the same change.
Collaboration requires distinct objectives, clear roles, the person’s consent, respect for confidentiality and professionals able to recognise their own scope.
Several forms of support can coexist without confusion when it is clear who is doing what.
Five questions to help you find your way.
These questions do not replace a professional conversation. They can help you understand what you are seeking.
1. Do I need to understand and choose?
Coaching may be relevant when you want to clarify a situation and take responsibility for a step.
2. Do I need psychological assessment or treatment?
In this case, you need to consult a qualified mental health professional.
3. Do I need a specialist answer?
Consulting may be more suitable.
4. Do I want to learn from someone’s experience?
Mentoring can offer discussion, guidance and knowledge gained in practice.
5. Do I need to acquire a skill?
Training can offer content, exercises and structured practice.
A single situation can contain more than one question. Separating them helps you choose better.
A trustworthy professional explains clearly what they can offer.
The scope of my work
I work as a coach, helping people understand a situation, recognise priorities, explore possibilities, choose and review actions.
I do not diagnose, provide psychotherapy or replace medical, psychological, legal, financial or specialist professionals.
Observations are offered as hypotheses to review together, never as truths about the person’s life.
When a question requiring different expertise emerges, we name it: we can stop the programme or involve a more appropriate professional.
The relationship works better when we both know what work we are doing.
In work with teams
In businesses too, different formats respond to different objectives.
A Team Experience creates a practical situation the group can reflect on; facilitation structures a conversation or decision; training develops skills; consulting analyses problems and proposes solutions; team coaching supports the team as a system over time.
“Building together” is a Team Experience, rather than organisational consulting or team coaching.
Frequently asked questions
In coaching, the professional should not prescribe which choice you should make.
They can offer observations, perspectives and tools.
If they propose a specialist solution or directly share their own experience, they should clarify that they are temporarily taking a consulting or mentoring role.
In mentoring, the mentor’s experience and knowledge are central to the relationship.
In coaching, the professional does not need to have lived the same journey or know the same sector from within.
Psychotherapy can work on resources, relationships, choices, the present and future.
Its distinctive feature is clinical expertise and the ability to assess and treat psychological distress, rather than addressing only the past or extreme situations.
It may be possible when:
- the objectives are distinct;
- the roles are clear;
- coaching is appropriate;
- it does not interfere with the therapeutic programme.
The actual situation must be assessed.
When you need:
- specialist analysis;
- information;
- recommendations;
- design;
- a solution connected to a specific field.
Coaching can help you decide what to do.
Consulting can explain how to address a problem technically when the consultant has specific expertise.
A training programme can be adapted to participants, context and starting level while retaining the objective of developing defined knowledge or skills.
Start from the primary need.
Ask yourself which result you are seeking and what contribution you expect from the professional.
You can also ask directly:
- In which role will we work?
- What can you offer me?
- What falls outside your expertise?
- How will we know whether different support is needed?
Explore further
What is coaching?
A clear definition of the coach’s role, the person’s responsibilities and the programme’s boundaries.
Federal Office of Public Health — Psychology professions
Official Swiss information about the protection of professional designations and the distinct framework of psychology professions.
Closing
Depending on the need, a conversation, specialist expertise, a learning programme or a care intervention may be required.
Recognising the difference helps you choose suitable support.
The professional you consult should be able to explain their role, boundaries and what they can actually offer.
