Wellness Coaching, Part IV: Who Can Benefit From Coaching And How Does It Work?
Wellness Coaching
A blog series to answer your questions about the collaborative approach to well-being with meaning
Part I: What is a wellness coach?
In “Part III: How does a coach fit into health care?”, we took a closer look at how certified coaches have the ability to step in to meet previously unaddressed needs in health care on a personal level.
In this post, we’re going to lay out what you need to know about how coaching works and who can benefit from working with a certified coach.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM COACHING AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
Anyone who needs or wants support in living a healthy lifestyle or achieving a health-related goal can benefit from health and wellness coaching. Working with a certified coach that specializes in your area of interest is the best way to benefit from coaching. People seek coaching for many aspects of their health and wellness.
A short list of reasons people seek health and wellness coaching:
Getting solid footing after a new diagnosis of a chronic or acute illness
Managing and living well with chronic conditions, like
type 1 diabetes (and other autoimmune diseases)
type 2 diabetes (and other metabolic-related issues)
Managing weight
Making healthy lifestyle shifts
Maintaining health/preventing disease
Learning to support someone else in their life who is dealing with a health challenge or working towards a goal
My coaching philosophy involves approaching aspects of wellness as being interrelated. When it comes to T1D or chronic illness in particular, living well becomes all-encompassing and it is difficult to keep areas of health and wellness separate. Physical wellness is one important piece of the puzzle, and it is connected to things like our emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, and environmental wellness.
I’m fortunate that I get to work with all kinds of people with all kinds of goals. My clients are typically women newly diagnosed with T1D, emerging young women transitioning into independence with their diabetes, or veteran T1Ds who are open to a refresh on their management approach. Sometimes my clients are families with a child living with T1D. Others live with T2D, or Celiac, or thyroid issues, or are at risk for chronic illness. Some of my clients don’t have any chronic illness at all and are on weight loss journeys or have goals around getting into a healthy routine for themselves and/or their families.
They come to me with an idea of the goals they want to accomplish, or at least an idea of what they would like to see change, and then we work together to form a plan of action that leads to the life they envision. Along the way, there are a lot of open-ended questions, realizations, education, resources, moments of self-discovery, and concrete steps to achieving and maintaining the individual’s unique vision for a life well-lived.
The coaching relationship is collaborative. On one hand, your coach cannot do the work for you. On the other hand, you also don’t have to do this all on your own.
The bottom line is that as a team, you and your coach will create a vision, and the steps to achieve it, with the end result accomplished through sustainable behavior changes.
Seeking coaching is not a bandaid or quick fix. It is a declaration that you are ready and willing to do the work to change your life for the better with the support of a qualified professional. If that sounds like you, I invite you to join me on a free call to see how coaching will make an impact in your life.
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WOAH. That was a ton of information in just a few short days. I hope that this blog series helped to address your curiosity about wellness coaching. We could keep digging into what we’ve discussed here, as we have really only just brushed the surface. Now you have enough information to figure out how to explore coaching in a way that makes sense for you.
Please reach out if we can help you answer any further questions, point you in the direction of a resource, or explore whether working together would be a good fit!
You can send a message below or book a free call here.