What is Health and Wellness Coaching?
Have you ever had a health or wellness goal and felt overwhelmed about where to start? Or maybe you’ve tried to make a health-related behavior change, only to get frustrated a few days later and give up. Well guess what? You’re human and this is very normal!
Many of us aim high with our health goals and then end up disappointing ourselves because we get confused, exhausted, overwhelmed after we try to do too much too soon and don’t have a clear strategy in place.
Enter Health and Wellness Coaching!
Health and Wellness Coaching (HWC) is an evidence-based discipline that has grown exponentially in popularity over the past few years. Health and wellness coaches partner with clients in a collaborate and empowering process to help them identify and work toward their wellness goals.
A robust body of research backs up HWC’s effectiveness for varied health concerns such as weight loss, diabetes, cardiovascular health, stress reduction, and even mental health. Pioneers in the field consider HWC a promising response to the numerous chronic disease epidemics we are facing.
Health and Wellness Coaches are trained professionals with expertise in helping people build sustainable health-promoting habits that align with their values and goals. The coaching process typically involves building a trusting rapport and supportive relationship, eliciting a client’s optimal wellness vision, constructing actionable goals, providing accountability, problem-solving, working through obstacles, and celebrating successes. A coach may have expertise in certain specialties and may provide education or resources when appropriate.
It is important to note that health and wellness coaches are not necessarily licensed healthcare providers (unless they hold other state-issued licenses). In fact, anyone can call themselves a coach! However, organizations such as the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching are working to bring more credibility to the field by setting credentialing standards and outlining important guidelines regarding competencies, ethics, and scope of practice. If you choose to hire a health and wellness coach, you can have more confidence that the coach has met certain baseline competencies if they have been certified by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching.
If you feel stuck with a health goal and feel you need support, a health and wellness coach may the key to unlocking new possibilities.
If you would like to learn more about health coaching, please reach out by email or book a 30 minute discovery call. I would be happy to tell you more about it!
