Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between counseling and coaching?
In counseling the focus is often on helping people understand their behavior, facilitating healing, looking at and resolving underlying issues from the past, understanding symptoms, looking for the root causes of behavior, improving mental health and emotional health, helping people make new choices, and looking at and resolving family and relationship issues. Counseling sessions are normally face-to-face. Counseling is regulated within the medical field and can sometimes be covered by medical insurance.

Coaching normally focuses on the client’s growth and forward movement in the present and future, helps people achieve personal and professional goals, facilitates learning, growth and transformation, and avoids asking “why”. The client is held as the expert in their life who has the answers. The coach helps draw out the answers by asking powerful questions, shining the light on possibilities, helping to generate insightful discovery and conscious choice, and providing support in those choices. Coaching can sometimes be conducted via the telephone. Professional standards, code of ethics, and coaching accreditation are managed through the International Coaching Federation.

Counseling and coaching are very compatible and many people choose to do both.

How do I get started?
If you are interested please contact me via phone at 360-455-1177 or email at kerri@passagewayscc.com to schedule a free confidential consultation where I can answer your questions and we can decide if counseling or coaching is the right path for you.

How often do we have sessions?
How often we meet depends on each client and situation. We will discuss frequency at your first session. I generally recommend coming in once a week to start with, and normally meet with clients on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

How long will I work with you?
It is difficult to put a time frame on counseling or coaching because it is very dependent on the issues you wish to work on. Our time working together can last from just a few months to up to 12-18 months or more.

I use practical approaches that often lead to significant changes and growth in a relatively short period of time.

Why did you name your business “Passageways”?
Webster’s definition of “passage” includes: “movement from one place to another, change or progress from one process or condition to another; transition, a journey, a road or path, and what takes place between persons.” I feel this helps describe what takes place in both counseling and coaching!