Reflections from C-MHC 201: Mental Health Coaching Skills
As I continue the online trainings to become a certified Professional Mental Health Coach, I have gained a clearer understanding of how distinct this role is from licensed mental health professionals such as Licensed Professional Counselors or Licensed Mental Health Counselors. Coaching is not clinical work. It does not diagnose or treat. Instead, it supports individuals as they rebuild purpose, set meaningful goals, and move toward a healthier future. That future-focused approach resonates deeply with me because of my own journey with mental illness, recovery, and my long-term desire to serve as a Peer Recovery Specialist. I know firsthand how accountability, encouragement, and lived experience can shape someone’s healing, because these were some of the very things that strengthened mine.
Recently, I completed C-MHC 201: Mental Health Coaching Skills, a course that helped me see how coaching, counseling, and faith each play a meaningful role in the healing process. As I moved through the lessons, I reflected on the responsibility of walking with people through their struggles, their questions, and their hopes. This training reinforced that coaching is not about fixing someone. It is about offering presence, encouragement, and practical wisdom shaped by Scripture and compassion. It reminded me that healing grows when someone feels seen, supported, and guided with both clarity and grace.
One of the earliest insights involved the distinction between therapy and coaching. In my own journey, I never had a mental health coach, and I did not recognize the value of peer support until much later. It took the professionals in my life encouraging me to explore this path before I began to see strengths in myself that I had not yet noticed. My experiences also taught me important lessons about fear and misunderstanding. When someone is hurting, everyone in a position of authority can feel threatening. Over time, I learned that probation officers, police officers, prosecutors, judges, psychiatrists, and therapists are not adversaries. Each serves a different purpose in guiding people toward safety, rehabilitation, and healthier lives. Therapists, like the others, carry a professional responsibility that supports a person’s stability and emotional processing. Coaching, on the other hand, offers a different kind of support. It focuses on movement, clarity, and future direction. Both roles matter and work best when they operate side by side, each contributing to a person’s growth in its own way.
Throughout the course, a significant focus was placed on the practical skills that shape effective coaching. Championing was one of the first skills introduced. Championing means affirming a client’s God-given potential and helping them believe in what they are capable of. Transformation often begins when someone hears that they have value and possibility. This skill is not about making exaggerated promises. It is about helping clients see strengths that may be overshadowed by fear, trauma, or discouragement.
Reflective listening was another central skill. Listening has layers. Reflective listening helps a client feel understood by naming the emotion beneath their words. This requires staying with their experience without shifting the focus to our own stories. Spiritual listening also plays a role. It invites wisdom, discernment, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit into the moment. Both forms of listening create safety and clarity, especially for people who have rarely felt heard.
The course taught the importance of asking thoughtful and open-ended questions. Coaching is not about solving problems. It is about guiding individuals toward their own insight. Questions such as “What matters most to you right now” or “What feels like the next manageable step” help clients reflect, clarify, and take ownership of their decisions. This approach requires curiosity, humility, and respect for the client’s autonomy.
Developing action steps is another essential coaching tool. Action steps do not need to be complicated. Small, consistent commitments create real change. The example from the course reminded me that healing is often built on simple rhythms practiced over time, not dramatic breakthroughs. Coaching supports clients as they create these steps and remain accountable to them with encouragement rather than pressure.
Healthy boundaries were emphasized throughout the training. Coaching is not clinical work. It does not diagnose or treat. The course clarified the limits of the coaching role and highlighted the value of referring clients to licensed professionals when needed. Coaching and counseling work well together, but each serves a different purpose. Boundaries protect both the client and the coach, and they ensure that the coaching relationship remains safe, clear, and ethically grounded.
The course explored emotional awareness, guilt and shame, and the spiritual dimensions of healing. Guilt says something went wrong. Shame says something is wrong with you. Understanding this difference helped me in my own healing journey, and it helps me understand the burdens many people carry. Shame can be heavy and hidden. Coaching provides space for clients to replace destructive beliefs with truth. Scripture reinforces this shift. Identity rests in Christ, not in past mistakes or painful labels.
Post-traumatic growth was another meaningful topic. Post-traumatic growth is not simply recovery. It is the emotional and spiritual strength that can emerge after suffering. The course showed how growth becomes possible when people feel supported, understood, and grounded in something greater than themselves. For individuals who hold faith close to their healing, God becomes a steady foundation as they rebuild.
The importance of emotional language was also highlighted. Many people struggle to name their emotions. Using simple feeling words such as mad, sad, bad, glad, and bored can bring clarity to internal experiences. Naming emotions helps clients understand what they are feeling, which creates direction for next steps. This clarity often becomes a turning point in the coaching process.
Another essential skill discussed in the course was the ability to be a conversationalist. Effective coaching conversations are shaped by curiosity, presence, and thoughtful engagement. Humor, used wisely, can help ease tension and build connection. Flexibility is vital because coaching is not scripted. It adapts moment by moment to the needs of the client. These skills create a steady, supportive environment where clients feel safe to explore their fears, hopes, and direction.
Attachment and communication styles were also part of the training. Secure attachment produces openness and confidence. Other attachment patterns may reflect fear, guardedness, or emotional retreat. Understanding these patterns helps coaches respond with empathy rather than judgment. Coaching is not about changing someone’s identity. It is about helping them understand themselves with honesty and compassion.
The course acknowledged the importance of relational support. Not everyone has biological family, and many people carry wounds from religious spaces that make them cautious about spiritual community. Even so, God offers comfort and redemption to those who seek Him. These realities are part of why peer support matters. Coaching becomes a meaningful tool for guidance, encouragement, and structure. A coach or peer-to-peer specialist can help someone discover chosen family when biological family is absent or unsafe. They can also help individuals find a faith community that truly fits. Not every faith community is equally affirming to people who are reassimilating, and every person deserves a place where they feel welcomed, understood, and supported as they rebuild their lives.
My own journey has taught me the importance of having a balanced foundation, which is why I created The Four Pillars Model to show how biological stability, psychological insight, relational support, and spiritual grounding work together to strengthen healing.
Encouragement emerged as a powerful theme across the training. Encouragement literally means giving courage to someone. Scripture, personal experience, and psychology all affirm its importance. Encouragement strengthens resilience and helps people continue forward when circumstances feel overwhelming. A single word of hope can change the direction of someone’s life.
Across every lesson in C-MHC 201, coaching was shown to be a blend of skill, presence, faith, and practical action. I am learning how to offer clarity, safety, compassion, and encouragement. Healing grows through connection, emotional awareness, Scripture, and the gentle work of the Holy Spirit. My journey is not finished. I am a lifelong learner. My healing continues every day. It is a privilege to walk with others as God brings renewal to their lives, just as He has brought it to mine.
To learn more about my journey and the lessons I’ve gained, I invite you to explore My Story and additional Pillar Posts.
