What is Intimacy and Relationship Coaching?
Similar to life coaching, intimacy and relationship coaching is a process that aims to assist clients by helping them to work towards and achieve their personal and/or relationship goals. Unlike a general life coach who may assist their client with organizational skills or weight loss, a coach who focuses on intimacy and relationships typically specializes in the more intimate areas of familial relationships which could include passion, partnerships, and, yes, sex.
… passion, partnerships, and, yes, sex.
Why Would I Want to Work with an Intimacy and Relationship Coach?
A professional relationship coach is skilled in asking effective questions that can help their clients have a better understanding of their own relationship and/or sexual objectives.
Isn’t Intimacy and Relationship Coaching Really Just Therapy?
No. I would refer anyone who is dealing with serious repercussions from deep sexual trauma to seek counsel with a medical professional or licensed sex therapist.
Intimacy and relationship coaches are neither sexologists nor psychotherapists. Most coaching clients are healthy, successful people from all walks of life who are likely just a bit stuck or simply want to add new dimensions to their love lives or clarity in familial relationships and want the support of a coach to do so.
Therapy is analogous to a medical doctor trying to cure an “ailment” (from a pathological perspective), assuming the patient is in need of fixing (e.g., through psychotherapy or prescription drugs). On the other hand, my coaching assumes that clients are whole, resilient beings who are simply in need of informed, educational options and a supportive advocate.
Couldn’t I Just Talk to my Best Friend Instead of Hiring an Intimacy and Relationship Coach?
Of course, you can; but, best friends are seldom trained professionals in the same areas of intimate and/or sexual relationships as coaches. Rarely are best friends able to offer truly objective insights about your love and/or sex life. It isn’t unusual for friends to fear their honest opinions may hurt your feelings, or worse, jeopardize your friendship. In a client-coach relationship, you as the client, are in charge. You set your own goals. You set the coaching session(s) agenda. You make your own decisions. An authentic coach does not have any hidden agendas.
Micki Allen 