You've Got Questions. I've Got Answers.

What’s a Health and Wellness Coach?

Several people have asked me, so what is a health and wellness coach, exactly? What would I get out of working with one? I don’t blame them for having questions because health coaching is a relatively new field: there are only about 109,000 health coaches in the US (compared to 1.1 million doctors as of 2015 and 550,000 licensed mental health counselors). And there are only about 1,800 National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC), of which I am one.

Answers can be found not just in what we do, but also in how we do it. Health and wellness coaches work in a variety of settings, including inpatient and outpatient medical settings, clinical settings, private practice, as well as for some health insurance companies. They can specialize in a certain area like diabetes, or their practice can be geared more toward dealing with things like stress management and relationship issues rather than specific diagnosed diseases or conditions. Generally speaking, health and wellness coaches are trained to look at the totality of a client’s life when working with them to better help them achieve their goals.

How are National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches Different?

The National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach certification (NBC-HWC) is conferred by the Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaches (ICHWC). The NBC-HWC designation means that the coach has attended an approved health and wellness coaching program that gives extensive training in motivational interviewing (MI), the foundational skill of health coaching. It also means the coach has passed a rigorous examination that evaluates their coaching acumen, understanding of health biomarkers and how social, environmental,and other factors impact health and wellness outcomes, as well as their understanding of coaching ethics and practice standards. NBC-HWCs are required to take approved continuing education and must be re-certified every 3 years.

Why Is Health and Wellness Coaching Becoming More Popular?

It’s an exciting time to be in health and wellness coaching, as the field has been rigorously studied in a variety of settings and under various study protocols, including randomized control trials, the gold standard of research study design. Coaching has been found to be effective in producing a number of positive health outcomes, including better management and reversal of metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and more. Health and wellness coaching has also been shown to increase patient compliance with medical recommendations, leading to better outcomes. In non-medical settings coaching, when utilizing motivational interviewing as a primary coaching technique, has been shown to increase client self-efficacy, goal setting, follow-through, and goal achievement.

How Do Health and Wellness Coaches Differ In Their Approach?

A common misperception of health and wellness coaching is that coaches are drill sergeants with a chip on their shoulder, health educators handing out pamphlets, or therapists with uncomfortable chaises and even more uncomfortable questions. Properly practiced, health and wellness coaching isn’t about scaring clients into exercising more, giving advice or cajoling them into eating better, or counseling them through past trauma. Fundamentally, health and wellness coaching has a forward-looking orientation. It’s goal-oriented and solution-focused, and it’s about planning for, taking, and sustaining action. When you work with a coach you may look to the past, but not to re-hash it. Rather, you look to the past to mine it for experiences, achievements, strengths, and nuggets of wisdom that will help you move forward now and in the future.

ICHWC defines health and wellness coaches this way:

Health and Wellness Coaches partner with clients seeking self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values, which promote health and wellness and, thereby, enhance well-being. In the course of their work health and wellness coaches display unconditional positive regard for their clients and a belief in their capacity for change, and honoring that each client is an expert on his or her life, while ensuring that all interactions are respectful and non-judgmental.

Within those words you’ll find the things that make health and wellness coaches different: we walk beside our clients on their journey to better health and wellness. We respect our clients' ability to effect change in their own lives, knowing that lasting behavior change only comes about if the client is at the center of what we do and if we respect a client’s strengths, experiences, and autonomy.

How Do I See Coaching?

When I think about coaching, I imagine walking side by side with my clients down a path toward better health and wellness. There are often roadblocks in the way, and my job as a coach is to work with my client, helping them to do the heavy lifting to remove the obstacles. We work side by side to clear them so we can continue down the road together.

Often, there are paths that branch off the main one, and while I don’t forbid or discourage my clients from “off-roading,” we’ll pause and work through why he or she thinks this is the best path forward now and how they can know that with more certainty; how they’ll tackle the new terrain and what tools they’ll need to bring with them or acquire along the way. We'll game out what they’ll do if the path doesn’t lead where they thought they would; what they’ll do if potential dangers like wild animals (eek!) come up along the way, and how they’ll deal with it if or when that happens. Perhaps most importantly, we'll define success parameters so they’ll know when they’ve come to the right destination; and discuss contingency plans if this particular path ultimately turns out to have led us in a circle back to our starting point or to an undesired destination.

We’ll do the unsexy, pratical stuff like make plans for how many miles to walk each day, and break that goal down into smaller, more manageable steps, and I’ll be there beside them every step of the way, encouraging them, reminding them of why they felt taking this particular path was important, helping them stay focused and moving toward their destination.

Along the way, we often uncover hidden strengths and skills the client may not have known they possessed; and they often discover they're much more resourceful than they initially thought. Sometimes at the outset of their journey, the client may already know what they want or need to reach their desired destination or goal, but they need help getting past the tipping point and taking their first steps along the path.

A trained health and wellness coach can, with what I jokingly call “Jedi mind tricks,” help a client profoundly change their thinking (or feelings) by asking the right questions, in the right way, and in the right moment. This facilitates breakthroughs—the highlight reel of every coaching relationship; however, the real results come from the thought and hard work clients put in outside of those “aha” moments. As a coach, it’s my job to help clients with this work too.

Sustaining change is hard work. It’s the reason so many of us never achieve or (let’s be honest) attempt to achieve the things we need to do to live a healthier, happier life. The distance between thinking about making a change and taking sustained action can be great, and the road frustrating and lonely. Getting a coach to take that journey with you can make it a heck of a lot easier and shorter than it otherwise would be, and you may just be surprised at where a good coaching relationship can take you on your own health and wellness journey.

How Can You Explore What Coaching Can Do For You?

If you’re curious about working with a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (who also happens to be a Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach) and want to discuss how coaching can help you get down the path toward achieving your own health and wellness goals, contact me for a free, no-pressure 30-minute consultation.