Is this Coaching or Therapy? What's the difference?

Coaching is not Counseling or Psychotherapy—I am a trained and experienced Psychotherapist/Counselor and Life Coach and Yoga & Meditation teacher. This website and the service offered and provided is NOT Psychotherapy or Counseling. Psychotherapy/Counseling is an intimate, one on one experience, an art form, an unfurling of the psyche slowly over time with the Therapist acting as guide and witness as the client works toward agreed upon treatment goals for a diagnosable mental illness.

I do not diagnose or treat mental illness as a coach. Though I don't 'push' or pressure, I go as quickly (safely) with the work as I can as a coach, and influence the process. 

I coach high functioning human beings dealing with the natural feelings that come from living life, all that life brings. I coach coping, emotional release, resiliency, self esteem, productivity, communication, self regulation, grief process, as examples. 

My master’s degree was not just a higher education degree in Counseling, it is a Master’s of Education in Community Counseling. I was trained by amazing educators and connect to education as a road to empowerment in ways that may differ from other professionals whose higher education mental health degrees were via different paths. My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor's of Art in Psychology from the College of Science. If you didn’t go to college and the terminology is confusing, it’s not you—it’s confusing. Basically, I learned just as much about teaching as mental health. Coaching allows me to utilize this educational and experimental background to actively participate in your process as therapists do not. Traditionally the therapist's role was to remain utterly neutral, to allow the patient's psyche to 'bounce' on the blank canvas of the therapist. 

If you have a current or chronic mental health diagnosis and/or are medicated from a medical professional for anything related to emotional or mental health I believe you should be required to work with a Licensed Professional Counselor/Psychotherapist(LPC) or Licensed Clinical Social Worker( LCSW). Currently, medical professionals have no requirements to enforce mental health treatments when prescribing drugs for mental health issues. Consider this in our current national climate of power and influence of Pharmaceutical lobbyists, addiction, and overdoses in America. You must be smart, informed, and above all your own health advocate. Always follow your doctor’s orders and never adjust your meds on your own. Seek a different medical opinion if you need or desire—this is your right, and more, your responsibility. If your professional is resistant to your questions about your care or dismisses your concerns, know you have every right to seek other opinions.  A coaching session or 2 can help you work through fears or find the next right physical for you with support and guidance. Your local pharmacist is an accessible, available and free resource to check-in about the combinations of all medications and supplements, in addition to your prescribing physician. Again, always follow doctor's orders and seek out other opinions as needed for your care and safety. 

You and your Counselor/Psychotherapist may choose to work with me as an additional resource to the professional one-on-one experience of Psychotherapy/Counseling. My service can be a helpful adjunct to your work with your therapist, and I am open to consulting with your therapist if it will help you--no extra charge and I keep the same strict confidentiality standards as a therapist. Psychology Today is a fantastic resource to link you to professionals in your town and many offer a free phone consultation. If you are here, you are probably a Feeler, and how you process is through feeling. So stop being ‘on the fence’ or overthinking it and give yourself permission to feel out the potential of a healer in your life by talking to a few. If you decide to schedule with me for Coaching and/or Life Consultation and a better fit would be a traditional counselor or medical professional, I have the background to offer you helpful and well informed referrals so you get the care you need as soon as possible. 

Coaching is not a gateway to counseling/psychotherapy with Nikki Eisenhauer. I'm not trying to make a simple thing difficult here. This is due to regulation in healthcare. I do a lot of spiritual work with clients, too--even considered becoming a Church-understand most people don't care about the regulations surrounding healthcare these days; they care about their peace of mind, not the label of the healer or how they are regulated. But I am required to alert clients of the difference between coaching and professional counseling.  If you, me, or both of us decide we aren't a good fit for any reason, we will use the session to make a plan so you can connect with a better fit asap. 

Nikki Eisenhauer LLC  IS NOT AN EMERGENCY SERVICE—If you are in emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room immediately.