Many people these days call themselves a Health and Wellness Coach and with such fluidity and freedom at that. We all have experiences and yes we all have a story to tell and share from those experiences.
What happened and how we pulled through many times are quite life-changing and worthy of sharing. When we begin to share our successes from maybe some of the darkest moments in our lives, we start to get followers and even some who reach out and ask if we could help them in their struggles and journey to pull through to prevail in life. However, I will share and even caution you that one size does not fit all. Each person navigates their way through life and the surprises it throws at them. But everyone may not benefit from following the same GPS to push through their own struggles. I share this because each of us have different lifestyles, thresholds, habits, values and strengths. In order for us to create change in our lives we must make sure that it fits into the way we choose to navigate our own lives. Now don’t get me wrong, if someone followed a protocol without falling off the plan will see results, whether it is a diet, exercise or bad habit cessation plan. However, the minute that person diverts from that plan and dives back into their lifestyle of choice they get right back to where they started and maybe even a little worse off. Also, I caution you to choose your coach wisely. If someone is trying to sell a product to you while
“health and wellness” coaching you, to really think about what their actual goal is. Is it to help you discover a way to lead a healthier lifestyle? Sure some of the products in the market can help you feel better but is it really for you? Wellness is not about masking the issue at hand with medication or a product. Wellness is about finding the root cause and using the strengths and values within you to make the proper behavioral changes to overcome those issues.
Now you may be wondering by now why I am going on a bit of a rampage on this following a “one size fits all” protocol. So I am here to share with you today why I chose to become a National Board certified Health and Wellness Coach by the National Board of Medical Examiners. The NBME ensures that practitioners receive high standards of qualifications not only for medical doctor practices but also for allied health professionals including Health and Wellness Coaches in order to protect the health of the public. I am a Board Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologist of 28 years and worked with high-risk Cardiac patients. One thing I learned from my practice is that about 80% of my patients came in with heart disease from symptoms that were self-induced by poor lifestyle practices. This includes type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, GERD, asthma, edema and more which all can eventually lead to heart disease. My expertise in allied health helps me understand what people need to do to make changes in their current lifestyles to create a healthier and well-being lifestyle. As a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, a Board Certified Healthcare worker, a Certified Yoga Teacher and Yoga Coach I have been given the proper training and follow certain standards to help people discover ways to create and maintain these changes in their lives.
I assist clients to discover ways to connect the dots between where they are now to where they want to be in the future. I encourage them to take small behavioral steps that will enable them to succeed with each step thus leading them to higher levels of health and wellbeing and of course reaching their goals.
The difference between health and wellness coaching and life coaching is that life coaches typically focus on aligning professional goals with improvement in the wellbeing of their performance in life and work. Health and Wellness coaches promote behaviors towards mental and physical aspects that align with evidence-based guidelines in fitness, nutrition, weight management, health risk numbers, stress management, and overall life satisfaction.
The CDC has found that 50% of deaths are from lifestyle-related chronic diseases which include heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Obesity, prediabetes, and diabetes are reaching epidemic levels in the U.S. Many of these conditions can actually be prevented with simple lifestyle behavioral changes. The CDC also reports that about 75% of these preventable chronic diseases are estimated to be of the U.S. healthcare costs.
So how could I as a qualified Health and Wellness coach help you and your organization? I help create positive emotions in the client through finding ways to be successful in making one small change at a time. I work with individuals and groups helping them find ways that work in their personal lives to make it feel easy and eventually to create a habit. My goal is to encourage clients to discover their own values and strengths to help them create their own possibilities and to find their own answers rather than me giving them or directing them. When the clients find their own values, goals, strengths, visions and plans then they are more likely to stick to their plan. I am here as an accountability partner, cheerleader and guide on the side to inspire clients to move beyond their comfort zone and do what they already could alone. I assist clients to create their own health and wellness blueprint to follow. I help my clients find the why and how to create a higher purpose in their lives for health and wellbeing. As a professional coach, I encourage my clients to be in charge of their own life journey thus building autonomy and self-efficacy.
Research literature supports the latest developments in being coached by skilled and experienced health and wellness coaches via in person or telephone for 3 months or longer have improved health and wellbeing outcomes for several chronic diseases among which are heart disease, diabetes, cancer survivors and obesity. (Wolever et al.,2010) Wellness coaching competencies are being continued to be evaluated by psychologists and neuroscientists addressing a wide range of health and wellness needs into evidence-based medicine, healthcare and consumer wellness offerings (Moore et al.).
I encourage you to try a discovery call with me, a qualified Health and Wellness Coach, to see if I am the right fit for your journey to wellness. You may actually be surprised to find out how much potential and strength you actually have to reach your wellness goals. Sometimes we need that accountability partner to give us that last push of encouragement. Many times we know we “should” be doing something but just don’t. So what are you waiting for? Try a free 15-minute discovery call with me today to find out if I am the right fit for you. You have nothing to lose but perhaps a bit of stress. Schedule your free 15-minute call.
