Health & Wellness Coach?

For what?

Why?

There's much confusion and misinformation about what a Health & Wellness Coach is, what they do and don't do, and what value they offer. Many people don't even know they exist! Let’s eliminate the unknown, confusion, and misinformation and then identify some of the value. Maybe even give you a fun-fact to re-invigorate an awkward conversation during a social event.

Unless they’ve also pursued another of the healthcare professions, Health Coaches are not doctors, nurses, dietitians, or therapists. And, no, they’re not competing with those other healthcare professionals. So then, who does what?

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Doctors diagnose and treat disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. Allopathic doctors rely on surgery and prescriptive medicine, often synthetically manufactured, to treat symptoms. Functional Medicine doctors seek the root cause, such as a malfunctioning organ, and seek to repair that underlying cause such as trying to nurse the organ back to health.
Nurses deliver prescriptive treatments, observe/record a patient’s reactions to the medical care, and respond accordingly.
Dietitians assess and treat medical-nutrition conditions like malnutrition, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, etc., using prescribed nutritional interventions.
Therapists. Physical therapists use mechanical force and movements (bio-mechanics or kinesiology) and tools to exercise and heal a client’s physical mobility impairments, while Psychotherapists address mental health disruptions.

Unless they’ve also pursued another healthcare profession, Health Coaches don’t conduct medical testing, don't diagnose disease or medical ailments, don't prescribe medicines or surgical procedures, and don't perform any medical treatments. Your doctor might diagnose a medical condition and tell you to ‘clean up your diet,’ and you might walk away wondering "What, exactly, does that mean?" A Health Coach can be by your side to help you figure out what and how to do it with daily food and lifestyle choices.

A Health Coach is your professional ally who has your back to see you through to your goal. Health Coaches also enable healthy clients to protect and enhance their wellbeing and avoid many ‘age-related’ ailments that are actually the result of a depleted body and spirit.

As an Integrative Nutrition Health & Wellness Coach, I empower my clients to retain, protect, and improve various aspects of their heath and wellbeing. How?

By helping the client:

become aware of what their body is trying to tell them (e.g., cravings are messages from the body and should be understood and addressed instead of ignored),
become aware of lurking health and wellbeing concerns which are not yet obvious but can be building toward a tipping point later appearing as disease,
clarify their own true goals and motivations in ways to persevere through the tough times,
alert the client to difficulties they're likely to face (such as the difficult days in a toxin cleanse) and prepare them for how to successfully get through them,
assess various relevant lifestyle behaviors that can nourish or deplete their body, spirit, and determination,
identify options and how best for them to move toward their goals,
turn their goals into practical action steps they can sustain,
be there for the client during the difficult days, and
supportively guide the client along the way with information, insights, and encouragements so the client can find their “Aha! Victory!” Moments.

Various studies document the increased success rates when a person has the support of a Health Coach:

"One study on type 2 diabetes concludes that after six months, individuals who were coached showed improvement in medication adherence. Coaching had a positive effect on patients' knowledge, skill, self-efficacy and behavior change while a non-coached control group did not show any improvement. Additionally, coached participants with a hemoglobin A1C over 7% showed significant improvement in A1C." [1]

"A study on coronary heart disease indicated that patients in a coaching program achieved a significantly greater change in total cholesterol of 14 mg/dl than the non-coached patients, with a considerable reduction in LDL-C. Those involved in the coaching program showed improvements in secondary outcomes such as weight loss, increased exercise, improved quality of life, less anxiety, and improvement in overall health and mood." [2]

"Another study shows that telephonic coaching is an effective program for assisting individuals with self-efficacy and weight loss. Confidence to lose weight increased from a baseline of 60% to 71% at three months, 76% at 6 months and 79% at 12 months. The average body mass index significantly decreased during this interactive coaching study. Average baseline was 32.1%, and then documented at 3 months (31.4%), 6 months (31.0%), and 12 months (30.6%)." [3]

"A study on tobacco cessation concluded that after 12 months, the coached participants had a 32% quit rate compared to 18% for nonparticipants. Those that participated in the program, who acknowledged that they were ready for change, had the highest rate of quitting at 44%. Additionally, 11% of participants who did not quit reported reduction in tobacco use. This is considered a positive outcome, because other studies have shown that when individuals reduced their tobacco usage, they find increased motivation to quit entirely in the future."[4]

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Research Studies - Footnotes

[1] Wolever, R. Q.; Dreusicke, M.; Fikkan, J.; Hawkins, T. V.; Yeung, S.; Wakefield, J.; Duda, L.; Flowers, P.; Cook, C.; Skinner, E. (9 June 2010). "Integrative health coaching for patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial" (PDF). The Diabetes Educator. 36 (4): 629–639. doi:10.1177/0145721710371523. PMID 20534872.

[2] Vale, Margarite J. (8 December 2003). "Coaching patients on achieving cardiovascular health (COACH): a multicenter randomized trial in patients with coronary heart disease". Archives of Internal Medicine. 163 (22): 2775–2783. doi:10.1001/archinte.163.22.2775. PMID 14662633.

[3] Merrill, R. M.; Aldana, S. G.; Bowden, D. E. (March – June 2010). "Employee weight management through health coaching". Eating and Weight Disorders: Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. 15 (1–2): 52–59. doi:10.1007/BF03325280. PMID 20571321.

[4] Terry, Paul E.; Seaverson, Erin L. D.; Staufacker, Michael J.; Tanaka, Akiko (June 2011). "The effectiveness of a telephone-based tobacco cessation program offered as part of a worksite health promotion program". Population Health Management. 14 (3): 117–125. doi:10.1089/pop.2010.0026. PMID 21323463.

Even if you know what you should do to address your concern or goal, that's not enough. Struggling alone makes it harder

to persevere and to get back up and keep going. Having a Health Coach, a professional ally that ‘has your back’ to keep you going even if the road gets bumpy, that’s how you turn a wellness goal into a wellness reality. You don't have to re-create the wheel or spin-your-wheels. With my Health Coaching abilities, insights, and techniques, you can have a professional ally who has your back and keeps you moving toward your wellness goal.

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Together we will:

Connect the dots between your current state and desired state
Discover your unique bio-individual needs
Help you set your personalized wellness goals and motivations
Create your personalized blueprint and
Move toward sustainable change

A typical program:

Others are possible but a 6-month program is a proven duration for lasting change, and it's often:

Two 45-minute sessions per month
Between sessions action steps and support as agreed upon
Simple healthy actions, recipes, and techniques
Materials and Information specific to your needs and goals

Consider the benefits:

Tell me your health & wellness goals/concerns
Hear how, as a Health & Wellness Coach, I can supportively guide you toward success and results

Take a step now toward better wellbeing

Schedule your wellness chat