Hi everyone, I’m new to the EA community. My husband introduced me here, since I’m facing a career choice dilemma about helping others. I’m currently in tech, but wanted to change to a career in Coaching or Therapy.
Why the switch: I care deeply about reducing individual human suffering and I enjoy working with people 1:1. I don’t see myself in tech for my whole productive years. Causes I care the most: mental health in the workplace, career happiness, and connecting to one’s true self.
My dilemma: I’m debating between a career in coaching vs. therapy.
Coaching:
Pros:
Found it more helpful than therapy when I experienced a career burnout.
I’m in a coaching program and enjoy it.
Coached a few people who are facing career issues and those were truly rewarding experiences.
Faster and cheaper to get certification.
Cons:
Takes lots of time to find clients, and I don’t enjoy the marketing aspect. May never have a big enough practice.
Likely will serve privileged groups, since coaching is not covered by insurance.
Therapy:
Pros:
Therapy is covered by insurance = much easier to find clients and cserve all types of social groups
More established as an occupation than coaching?
Cons:
Big initial commitment both in terms of $ and time. A master’s degree can take 2-3 years, plus 2 more years of field work to get licensure.
I may not enjoy all the classes and all the types of cases I serve.
Also personally, coaching worked better for me than therapy, but it could also just be that I haven’t found a good therapist yet.
Would love to hear thoughts from anyone. Appreciate you reading thus far.
Thanks so much for the pointers here! Super helpful