FAQs About Menopause Therapy, Counseling, and Coaching in Chicago
Finding support during the menopause transition can be confusing. Let’s explore the difference between menopause therapy versus coaching.
Menopause has come rushing into the spotlight in the past few years. With that increased exposure comes a lot of increased opportunities to find support for all aspects of this life transition. Being able to find the correct support system for your menopause journey is important, but it can be perplexing. One point of confusion that many people run into is whether to turn to a menopause therapist or a menopause coach. For people searching for a menopause therapist, they can refer to the blog post here for a guide about finding the right menopause therapist for you. Below, we will explore a little more to clear up common questions about therapy versus coaching.
Is Therapy the Same as Counseling?
Yes and No. In day to day language, therapy and coaching are often used interchangeably. When used like this, people are usually referring to helping professions that help people’s mental health and help improve some areas of their life. However, while there is some overlap in services, they actually are not the same thing, and they are actually two completely different professions.
In general, therapy tends to explore people’s past experiences and their personal history. It’s goal is to help people process adverse life experiences, work to heal emotional wounds, and mange symptoms by learning and practicing a vareity of coping skills. Throughout the work of therapy, a number of different tools are used including ones related to goal setting, improving communication skills, and challenging unhelpful thoughts that create road blocks to success.
By contrast, coaching’s main focus in on the present and future. It looks at building skills, improving performance, and working to achieve a specific goal. While coaching does involve supporting clients, it is not mental health care.
What’s the Difference Between Therapy and Coaching?
Both menopause therapists and coaches have the potential to be wonderful supports. However, there are some significant differences for potential clients to be aware of before they choose which route to pursue. The biggest potential limitation with coaching is that the profession is largely unregulated. Technically, anyone can call themselves a coach. Of course, there are a number of great coaches who hold certifications from reputable programs. But even those professionals cannot legally treat or diagnose mental health concerns. The rule of thumb for coaches is that they need to refer out to a licensed therapist is any of these 3 things occur:
Client presents with signs of a clinical mental health concern such as major depression or anxiety
Client’s day to day functioning is being impaired due to emotional distress
Client is at risk of being a harm to themselves or someone else.
By contrast, therapists are required to have an advanced degree (masters or doctorate), state licensure that is renewed biannually, have completed a minimum number of clinical hours supervised by a licensed clinician, and they must adhere to a strict ethical and legal code. These strict standards help ensure additional protections for clients.
What Do All the Letters Mean? (LMFT, LCSW, PsyD, PhD, etc.)
When you are searching for a menopause therapist in Chicago, you will likely find people who have various degrees and letters behind their name. They likely can all provide therapy, but what is the difference? Here is a quick explanation of some of the more common acronyms.
LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Workers): Professionals who focus on both mental health and helping clients access resources.
LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist): Specialized in relationships, couples, and family work.
LPC/LCPC (Licensed Professional Counselors/Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor): Focus on diagnosing, treating, and providing psychotherapy for mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.
PhD/PsyD (Psychologists): Provide therapy and psychological testing services
MD (Psychiatrist): Medical doctors who can prescribe medications
Therapists need to complete many requirements in order to become licensed including taking multiple state licensing tests.
In addition to the degrees that someone holds, many therapists also have specialized training. As an example, I have Certificates in Menopause Mental Health, a Trauma Certificate connected to my Masters of Social Work, and Yoga for Trauma certificate. These specializations allow for therapists to grow their practice and also create paths for clients to connect with people who focus on the things that clients really want and need.
As a real world example, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). In order to become a LCSW, I needed to do the following:
Complete a 2 year Masters of Social Work degree program which included 2 full year clinical internships. The first was working as a case management intern with clients at a women’s homeless shelter. The second was as a domestic violence advocate intern at a hospital.
Take a state licensure test to get provisional licensure that allowed me to work as a therapist under a fully licensed social worker. During that provisional period, I needed to work for at least 2 years and accrue 3,500 clinical hours working under my clinical supervisor.
After completing the 3,500 clinical hours, take an additional state licensure test to become a fully independent LCSW.
Once licensed, I am required to renew my license biannually and take 30 continuing education credits to make sure my skills are up to date and appropriate for continued care.
As you can see from the example, the requirements are quite rigorous and help protect clients by ensuring that their care providers are appropriately trained to manage their mental health concerns.
Do I Need Weekly Therapy?
There is no one size fits all for how often someone needs to meet with a therapist. There are a ton of factors that determine session frequency including client readiness to engage in therapy, therapist’s availability, scheduling concerns, cost of treatment, and which interventions are being used. All that being said, many therapists, myself included, advocate that new clients begin by meeting weekly.
When I meet with a new client, I explain my preference for weekly sessions at the beginning of our relationship for two main reasons. First, good therapeutic relationships are built on trust. In order to build trust, you need consistent face-time with one another. The more often you meet, the sooner that trust will build. Secondly, I want my clients to reach their goals, and one of the main predictors of success is consistency. Imagine that you worked out once a month. It is a good habit, but it will take you a long time to reach your fitness goals compared to if you went weekly. The same is true for your mental health. Better and quicker outcomes are tied to consistent work. If a client is unsure about weekly sessions, for whatever reason, I usually suggest that we try it for three months at a weekly cadence. Then, we can re-evaluate. I find that most clients end up wanting to stick to weekly sessions after that first 3 month trial because they are happy with the progress that they are making.
How Long Does Therapy Usually Last?
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a standard answer for how long therapy last? But, therapy is individualized to each person. As such, there is not one standard length of time. The length of treatment depends a lot on each person’s goals for therapy. For example, some specific goals such as helping to change behavior patterns with parenting can use time limited interventions such as SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions). SPACE focuses on developing a specific set of skills over 8-10 sessions. However, other goals such as learning to challenge and change core negative beliefs about yourself require longer-term interventions to begin to tackle deep seated internal beliefs.
Since there is such a wide variety for treatment lengths, it is important that a therapist tracks outcomes for their clients. When talking with a therapist, you want to ask how the therapist tracks outcomes and how they determine when and if a client is ready to change their frequency (such as moving to biweekly sessions instead of weekly) or if they are ready to discharge. For example, in my practice, on average, my clients see me weekly for a year. At that point, most clients are ready to either change to meeting biweekly, monthly, or as needed. However, throughout that first year, I work to check in quarterly with clients about their goals to make sure that we are on track. Sometimes people transition to discharge or less frequent sessions earlier than the one year mark, while others find that weekly sessions continue to be the most supportive for their needs.
In Conclusion
Whether you decide to seek out a menopause therapist or a coach, it is amazing that you are making the time to care for yourself. If you still have any questions regarding menopause therapy versus coaching, how to find the right therapist for you, or any other question regarding finding the support that you need, please feel free to reach out. Even if I am not ultimately the correct support person for you, I am happy to help get you connected to someone who is.
Sarah Schufreider, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in Chicago, IL and the founder of Six Hearts Counseling PLLC. She focuses on mid-life transitions including menopause, parenting special needs and medically complex children, SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), grief, and postpartum depression. Sarah’s goal is to help her clients feel like they can take control of their life again through identifying their values, learning concrete skills to manage and regulate their emotions, and work to challenge mental obstacles that are creating stuck points to change. Learn more about her work at www.sixheartscouseling.com/about-1