Different Types Of Support

The Laundry Metaphor: Understanding Different Kinds of Support

Sometimes people ask me, what’s the difference between therapy, psychiatry, social work, and coaching?

I think this is a good and important question. These roles can overlap in conversation, but they each serve a different purpose. I like to explain it using something familiar: laundry.

Imagine your well-being as a big basket of clothes. When life gets heavy, messy, or overwhelming, the first step is often stabilization. This is where psychiatry can come in. Psychiatry can be like the washing machine helping to clean and calm things down when emotions or symptoms feel too intense to manage alone. Medication can help bring the nervous system back to a place where healing work is possible.

Next comes therapy and psychology. This part is like the dryer. Therapy helps process what you’ve been through, make sense of emotions, and begin to sort out patterns. It’s the stage where things start to soften, untangle, and feel more manageable. You begin to understand why certain clothes got dirty in the first place.

Then there’s social work. This is like folding the clothes. Social workers help organize practical resources, systems, housing, paperwork, and daily life needs. They help put structure around you so your life can function more smoothly.

And then there is coaching, my role. Coaching is like putting the clothes away in their rightful place. It’s about what happens after the crisis has settled, after the emotions have been processed, and after the systems are in order. Coaching helps you build routines, clarity, and forward movement. It supports you in maintaining balance, staying organized in your inner and outer life, and continuing the care of yourself day by day. My work is not about diagnosing, treating, or replacing therapy or medical care. It’s about helping you stay connected to yourself once you’re ready to move forward.

I can help you with:

• grounding back into your body

• creating gentle habits

• building self-awareness

• exploring what feels out of balance

• and learning how to care for your whole being in realistic ways
  
  

Each role in the “laundry process” matters. None is better than the other. They simply serve different moments on the journey.

And sometimes, people need more than one kind of support at the same time. Coaching is the space where you get to ask, “How do I want to live?”

That’s where I meet you.

Not in fixing you.
Not in diagnosing you.
But in walking alongside you as you continue becoming more fully yourself.

~ Paris ~

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