When Coaching Is the Right Next Step
When insight is there but progress feels stuck, coaching can help bridge the gap.
How to know when your client may benefit from skill-based, goal-oriented support.
Recognizing When Insight Isn’t the Issue, It’s Implementation
As providers, we often see clients who’ve made meaningful progress in therapy: they understand their patterns, have gained insight, and want to move forward. Yet in daily life, they still feel stuck. They know what to do, but can’t seem to make it happen.
That’s where coaching comes in. Coaching bridges the gap between insight and action, helping clients apply what they’ve learned to build sustainable habits, routines, and systems that support long-term growth.
At Dreavita, we often collaborate with therapists, psychiatrists, and other providers to identify when a client might benefit from coaching, either alongside therapy or as the next phase of care.
Below are three common scenarios where coaching may be the best next step for your client.
1. A Client Has Made Progress in Therapy and Is Ready to Add More Daily Skills
Some clients reach a point where therapy has provided emotional clarity and self-awareness, but they still struggle to stay consistent in applying those insights.
Coaching builds on therapeutic work by focusing on practical implementation: goal setting, time management, organization, and accountability. It’s ideal for clients who are emotionally stable and ready to take action but need structure to translate awareness into real-world change.
Therapy helps clients understand why patterns exist; coaching helps them figure out how to move forward. Therapy is great for addressing underlying mental and emotional patterns, while coaching supports action-oriented success.
2. A Client Is Graduating from Therapy and Wants to Take Their Progress to the Next Level
When a client has met their therapy goals and is ready to “graduate,” it can be empowering but also uncertain. They may wonder how to sustain the growth they’ve achieved without weekly sessions.
Coaching offers a natural next phase. It keeps momentum going by helping clients set new life goals, maintain healthy habits, and continue developing skills that reinforce what they learned in therapy.
For many clients, this transition helps them shift from healing to thriving, ensuring their progress sticks beyond the therapy room.
3. A Client Is Motivated to Improve, but Doesn’t Meet Criteria for a Mental Health Diagnosis
Not every client who seeks personal growth requires therapy. Some are functioning well overall but want help improving specific areas like productivity, routines, or self-confidence.
These clients benefit most from a skills-based, forward-looking approach that emphasizes growth rather than treatment. Coaching provides practical tools and accountability for clients who are motivated to make changes, but don’t necessarily need emotional processing or clinical intervention.
It’s a structured space for clients to learn strategies, strengthen habits, and feel successful in their day-to-day lives.
How Dreavita’s Coaching Department Supports Clients
At Dreavita, our certified coaches help clients build executive skills, routines, and self-management strategies that align with their goals and values. We take a collaborative, trauma-informed, and neurodiversity-affirming approach, often working alongside our therapy and assessment teams to ensure clients receive holistic, well-matched support.
For clients with ADHD or executive function challenges, our ADHD-informed coaches offer additional tools to support focus, organization, and emotional regulation, helping clients translate awareness into consistent action.
When to Refer
If you’re working with a client who fits one of these scenarios, is ready to add daily structure, transitioning out of therapy, or seeking personal growth without a diagnosis, coaching may be the right next step.
To refer a client:
Contact Dreavita Coaching directly at (310) 570-2961
Together, we can help your clients turn insight into action and progress into lasting, sustainable change.