What is Health Coaching?

Health coaching is gaining an ally to change lifestyle behaviours and habits. Coaches calmly guide you and help you develop your own unique plan to get motivated, organised and build confidence.  You find your own way to develop healthier habits that you can actually stick to.

Changing ingrained habits is hard. It is about you making wise decisions that work for your health and wellbeing to meet your goals. Your coach gives you unwavering support and accountability as you make change. I am trained in brain-based coaching, so I focus on your habits of thinking as well as what you do.

Everything you do impacts on your health. And your health has an impact on everything you do!

Some ideas for you:

• Health coaching is the art of facilitating an increased understanding about a person's condition, self awareness and the responsibility to encourage self care.
• Health Coaching is unlocking a person's potential to maximise their own health. It is helping them to learn rather than simply telling them what to do.
• Noone can make a person do anything. They can only help that person help themselves.

What should you expect?

Expect regular sessions where we talk frankly about your life, where you want it to go and your habits. Together, we make a plan based on the goals you want to achieve. That plan is chunked down into manageable steps. One by one we work together, you set the actions that will get you to reach those goals. I hold you accountable at the same time give you maximum encouragement.

Health coaching is designed to help you improve your lifestyle behaviours so that you are living well in a very conscious way. I help you identify your strengths, and plan specific changes you want to make to improve your health and satisfaction with life.

We can do this in person, by phone or on videolink such as Skype. You will be surprised how well phone coaching works. I have noticed some of my clients have enormous concentration when there are no visual distractions.

See Face to Face Support

How does it work?

We have a conversation each time we meet.  I ask you questions and guide you toward the changes you feel you can make. You set the actions and I hold you accountable when we next meet.

I could ask you questions like these:

• How well do you understand your health issues?
• Do you know what your options are and where to start?
• What have you tried so far and just how committed are you?
• What is in the way for you?
• How would your days be different if you made some lasting positive changes?
• Have you a clear vision of the life and health you want?
• Do you have a dream for yourself, especially one you have given up on?
• Are you really ready to turn your life around and live a full life?
• Are you in for the long haul?
• Can you imagine having someone totally focussed on you providing you with the perfect mix of challenge and support?
• Are you ready and able to take action?
• Are you ready for a partner in change?
• Do you have the necessary commitment and effort?
• What action will you commit to right now?

If this sounds like a conversation you are up for, then let's talk!

Why does it Work?

Traditional approach	Health coaching approach
Health professional is viewed as the expert	The client is the expert in their own life
Client told what to do	Client finds their own solutions
Extrinsic motivators	Intrinsic motivators
Client required to facilitate change	Collaboration and assistance in facilitating change

 

It works because I am professionally trained to:

• Give you personalised attention and build your confidence
• Give you a fresh perspective and feedback on what I notice
• Ask plenty of questions and make some suggestions
• Set goals, a roadmap and monitor progress with you
• Identify and question your current habits of eating, moving and especially thinking
• Help you plan strategies for success, little ones and big ones
• Help you select all sorts of activities, foods and menus that work for you and as nature intended
• Give you tips to improve your mood, energy and thinking
• Help you improve your digestion, immune system and activity level
• Show you how to reduce the risk of long term health conditions like diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease
• Support you to manage your health with your service providers

The emerging profession of health coaching helps to deliver mastery of health and well-being to many of us who are struggling.

• Most adults and many children are struggling with a declining quality of life and face financial risks related to overeating, under-exercising, and demanding lives
• Most of us want to be well but are stuck because we lack confidence in our ability to change
• Our reliance on experts telling us what to do is undermining our confidence or self-efficacy
• We need a partner who focuses on strengths and opportunities, rather than on illness and risks
• Who works with us at home where we make our everyday decisions
• Who asks us to do the work required to make lasting change

 

Is Health Coaching for you?

1. Lasting change - I know accountability and encouragement will increase my success rate for true change.
2. Quick Fixes Over - I dont want quick fixes and now I'm focused on making changes that last.
3. Precious Asset - I decide that health is my most precious asset and now I invest for the long term.
4. Get off the Fence - I am fed up with sitting on a fence and avoiding the tough stuff.
5. It's not about Weight - I realize it's about wellness and not weight or size or looks.
6. Be the Boss - I want to be the boss of my health and wellness and quit giving responsibility to others.
7. Health Approach - I want to develop my unique health plan rather than use one-size-fits-all.
8. Mental Game - I want to master the mental game and make things really happen.
9. Peak Performance - I recognize that to reach peak performance at home and work, I need peak wellness.
10. Big Picture - I know that an extreme makeover is not the answer and I choose to take small steps which are powerful.
11. Confidence - I am finished with self-doubt and I now focus on building confidence in my abilities.
12. Winning - I am focussing on winning the wellness game, not losing or quitting.
13. Close the Gap - I will close the gap between where I am and where I want to be when it comes to my health and wellbeing.
14. Financial Incentive - I know I am more likely to make a serious commitment to change, and less likely to quit when I am paying a coach.

 

Top 10 BEST Things About Having a Coach

1. You get personal time to focus on YOUR concerns and priorities every month. It is a wonderful thing to have a personal, private, intimate and challenging conversation focused exclusively on helping you move forward with confidence. How often do you get the support you need to be your best?
2. Having a coach challenges you to play harder. Having a coach focuses your attention; it clarifies your goals and encourages you to aim higher. Your coach is your biggest fan - and at times the person you love to hate the most!
3. You become more productive. You become more efficient, more effective, more results-oriented. Many clients work less and accomplish far more in less time, with less effort and with fewer false starts.
4. You become more honest about what you REALLY want. Do you want the promotion or more time off? Do you want more money, more prestige, or more time to work on your novel, build your boat or be with your family? Telling the truth (to yourself and to your coach) makes life much easier.
5. You have fewer frustrations. A coach will challenge you to eliminate the distractions, the frustrations, irritations and annoyances of life. They waste your time and energy, and they hold you back.
6. You'll likely have more money when you invest in a great coach. How? You'll simplify your life, take control of your finances, and live, work and spend smarter. You'll make fewer impulse purchases, have fewer unexpected bills, and stay on your budget.
7. You'll clarify your values and live with greater integrity. You'll discover what's really important to you, and devise a strategy for having more of it in your life.
8. Your relationships will improve. You'll speak with greater clarity, more confidence and more power. You'll expect a higher level of intimacy, honesty and respect from those around you. And, you'll set boundaries so that your needs are met, while honouring the needs and boundaries of others.
9. You'll set much higher, larger and more astonishing goals! You'll simply aim higher and live larger. The daily grind will no longer be enough, and you'll expect and pursue a life that is satisfying, fulfilling and challenging.
10. Life will be easier and richer. Expect that, with a personal coach, your quality of life will be transformed. You'll get up earlier, stay up later, work harder, play more, and do it all with a level of relaxed enthusiasm that is rare for adults. Kids know about it, but most adults have forgotten what it means to live and work with PASSION!

 

Health Coaching is not:

• Teaching
• Mentoring
• Training
• Counselling
• Giving advice

If this sounds like a conversation you are up for, then let's talk!