Have you ever been asked, “What is a Health Coach,” or “What exactly do you do?”
The response is quite simple…
…In a nutshell, a skilled health coach is a professional who partners with her client to implement new health beliefs and behaviour changes to achieve personal health goals.
A person facing health challenges often has tons of information about changes to make and no clear plan as to how to make them. A health coach utilizes the available information to facilitate health transformation in the client.
At the center of a person’s health care is the person herself. No one knows a person better than she knows herself. People need someone to know and understand their unique strengths, challenges, and desires; someone who is willing to be by their sides and move at their pace toward better health.
The health coach understands these needs and builds a relationship with her clients based on trust, open communication, and non-judgemental awareness. The health coach understands the process of the behavior change. As such, the health coach is able to see and hold the vision of improved health for her client and trust that the client is a capable of achieving her desired outcome.
Health coaching has been touted as one of the most cost-effective approaches in bringing about health change. For this reason, health coaching is here to stay.