The Mental Health Coach: A New Fad, or Worthwhile Investment?
- Joan MacMillan
- Feb 21, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 5, 2024
I want to speak directly to mental health coaching and offer some insight as to why Mental Health Coaching might be a worthwhile investment, because too many people are struggling with mental health right now, and more access to help is needed.
This article will review mental health, mental health struggles, and how
they differ from mental health illness and disorder, and it will help you to better understand the benefits that are associated with mental health coaching.
Mental health refers to a state of mental wellness and encompasses cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioural wellbeing.
We are mentally healthy when we have the psychological skills and abilities that allow us to cope with life stressors, find resilience through hardship, and contribute to our social communities in a positive manner. When we are unable to cope, find resilience, or contribute to our social communities in a positive manner, we may be experiencing mental health struggles. Mental health differs among each person and is continually in flux for all. A mental health coach can aid you in finding this state of cognitive, emotional, and social wellbeing by helping you to understand how your thoughts, decision-making processes, and actions might be weighing on your resilience and mental coping capacity.
Mental health illnesses and disorders, on the other hand, are diagnosable conditions that involve a disruption in a person’s cognitive, emotional, or behavioural function that can lead to distress, self-harm, and a myriad of additional symptoms that can negatively impact mental health and wellbeing. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorders, however, others include bipolar disorder, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to name but a few. Usually, when a person experiences unmanaged mental health illness or disorder, their mental health and wellbeing suffers.
Did You Know?
Globally, 450 million people are currently struggling with mental health issues, and this include 6.7 million Canadians (CMHA, n.d.).
Not all these issues involve mental illness or disorder. REMEMBER though, we don’t have to have a mental illness or disorder to find ourselves unable to mentally cope with life stressors, or to struggle with mental health. While not all mental health conditions are the same and not all people are impacted equally, a vital step to managing any type of mental health struggle is to develop the executive functioning skills that allow us to gain better understanding of ourselves, increased emotion regulation, enhanced empathy for ourselves and others, and to find a sense of belonging in our social networks.
Please note, suspected mental illnesses and disorders should always be explored with a psychiatrist, psychologist, or physician to ensure they are properly diagnosed and managed. With the proper help and management, it is possible to live a balanced, meaningful, happy, and productive life with mental illness or disorder. I know this for certain because I’ve been doing it for the past 4 years!
Mental Health and EQ Coaching Helps!
Mental Health Coaching is a relatively new field with its inception in the early 2000s. Since then, however, more than a dozen research studies have been conducted on mental health coaching and the findings demonstrate that mental health coaching offers a range of positive health benefits, including:
- Poor mental health symptom reduction,
- Improved self-management,
- Enhanced social functioning, and
- Better attainment of life goals relating to education and employment (Bishop, 2017).
And that’s not all!
Working with a competent mental health coach offers several benefits, while none of the studies conducted found negative repercussions of doing so (Bishop, 2017). With the right mental health coach, you can also strengthen your emotional intelligence skills which are highly related to maintaining good mental health.
One of the main reasons that working with a Mental Health Coach can offer such benefits related to health and wellbeing is due to the client-centric nature of the coaching approach. The coaching sessions provide opportunity for supported guidance through personal development geared toward empowering the client to authentically recognize who they are, accept themselves as they are, and develop the executive functioning skills and abilities to close the gap between that and who they strive to become. If anyone has ever worked with an athletic, or musical coach, for example, they’re familiar with the coaching process already!
The basketball coach 🏀 helps the athlete learn the technical and mental skills of play so they can succeed on the court against their opponents
The musical coach helps the violinist 🎻 develop the technical and mental skills necessary to help them maintain their flow and focus so they can succeed, perhaps, as part of an orchestra, and
The Mental Health Coach helps the client develop the technical and mental skills necessary to succeed at life and work 🏆 despite the challenges that continually arise as they’re doing so.
Most of us have no issue investing in our vehicles to keep them running smoothly, putting money into our clothing and accessory game to keep things fresh, or spending wads of cash on vacations, outings, and parties for sake of ‘a wellbeing getaway.’
More of us need to be willing to make the same investment in ourselves in a way that can offer balanced mental health and wellbeing in the long-term, and not just one getaway at a time.
Is Mental Health Coaching a new fad?
No, it’s not! It may be considered ‘newer,’ but definitely not a fad. Mental health coaching, when conducted by a competent coach, offers proven value and benefit to those willing to give it a try. You’ve got to find someone who has necessary qualifications, certainly, but all therapy and coaching is more effective if you find someone to work with who you can relate to, and feel comfortable engaging with. For the record, I completely recognize that I’m in a huge position of bias to say “yea, I believe Mental Health Coaching is a worthwhile investment…” because I’m a mental health coach. But if you look me up, you’ll find that I quit a steady, well-paying job to find my way into what I’m doing right now, and that I’ve had my share of mental health struggles that I’ve found my way through.
I’ve spent the last few years doing my doctoral studies in developmental psychology,
becoming certified as an
Emotional Intelligence Assessor, becoming an MNRI Core-in-Training, and more recently began working with coaching clients because putting all of the psychological and behavioural pieces together to help people feel balanced, whole, and happy is the most worthwhile career I could want. I found the help I needed when I was feeling uncertain with my mental health, and I now strive to provide an evidence-based, authentic, personable, and client-centered source of help to others who are looking for it.
Main Takeaways from Today’s Blog:
If you’re struggling with mental health issues, in any capacity, you are definitely not alone.
Mental Health Coaching is a proven method to positively impact your mental health, helping you to enhance coping skills, resilience, and the ability to be an asset to yourself, and all those in your social network and community.
Your long-term health and wellness is more than worth the short-term investment in Mental Health Coaching.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll join me again for some other blog posts, and to check out the services we offer that can help you gain some well integrated, and holistic balance in your life! Until next time, take care and stay well!
DO YOU NEED HELP RIGHT NOW?
If you ever find yourself struggling with your mental health to the point that you don’t feel as though you can manage, or you feel as though you may cause self-harm, please contact Talk Suicide, Canada, or a local suicide helpline, immediately. I’ve included links below for quick access to either. Please know, you are worth it, and the world does need you in it even if you’re struggling to believe that in this moment.
- Talk Suicide, Canada. https://talksuicide.ca/
- International Suicide Hotlines. https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/
For more information related to the main topic in this article, you can check out the links below
Bishop, L. (2017). A scoping review of mental health coaching. https://www.trishturner.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A-scoping-review-of-mental-health-coaching-2017.pdf
Canadian Mental Health Association. (n.d.). The crisis is real. https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real
World Health Organization. (2022, June 8). Mental disorders.
World Health Organization. (2022, June 17). Mental health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response
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