The Benefits of Working With a Health Coach
The topic of health and wellness is one that is deeply personal to the individual. There are many intricate details of a person’s lifestyle, genetics, environment, and medical history which play into health. Taking care of yourself and your health can at times seem like an overwhelming process. Understanding more about yourself can help to pave the direction for what to focus on to support healthy practices.
Healthy behaviors can be something a person is aware of or understands what would be the best choice, but learning how to start and maintain behavior change alone can be challenging. Having a support system and professional guidance is a great way to take a lot of the pressure off. Working with a health coach can be extremely beneficial for creating behaviors and managing a healthy lifestyle.
Getting Started with a Health Coach
Some of what a health coach does is work alongside the client to help them define their goals and create a plan of action that works best for them. A health coach is not a person who is forcing any agenda on a client, they are a supportive professional who is trained on the best ways to help a client succeed. “The coach is a healthcare professional trained in behavior change theory, motivational strategies, and communication techniques, which are used to assist patients to develop intrinsic motivation and obtain skills to create sustainable change for improved health and well-being” (Perlman & Abu Dabrh, 2020).
The increase in awareness of health coaching has come about from what specific role they play within the health sector. “Although sound clinical reasons exist for emphasizing lifestyle intervention in day-to-day medical practice and national clinical guidelines advocate a multifactorial lifestyle approach to chronic disease risk reduction, studies show that physicians often fail to provide adequate counseling on lifestyle management” (Gordon et al., 2016). This often stems from the particular role a physician does within their occupation, the “observation is not entirely unexpected, given that physicians generally work in an intensely busy environment; typically do not have the time, infrastructure, or resources to focus adequate attention on lifestyle management; and receive little or no compensation for the provision of such preventive services” (Gordon et al., 2016). A health coach, however, is a person trained and educated specifically for this reason and to help support patient-centered care.
Health coaches work alongside the patient and the rest of the health care team to ensure the patient or client finds the absolute best care. “There is a need for more comprehensive approaches to delivering healthcare to patients that address illness and wellness within and outside healthcare settings” (Perlman & Abu Dabrh, 2020).
Homework may be given by a primary care physician to change certain aspects of a lifestyle or habits, a health coach can work with the patient to find success in the development and implementation of sustainable habit creation. “Recent efforts to provide more integrated, patient-centered primary care have included patient activation, patient education, and engagement, shared decision making, and self-management support; health coaches work in all of these areas, providing patients with health-related information, navigational support, connections to community resources, and personal support” (Thom et al., 2016).
How to Make the Most Out of Working with a Health Coach
Some of the primary emphasis of a coach/client or patient relationship relies on trust that enables clients “to be honest, ask questions, and express doubts or disagreements, which allows the health coach to be more effective” (Thom et al., 2016). A congruence within the relationship in language, culture, and life experience can also be supportive of the coach and client relationship (Thom et al., 2016). Having a coach who can identify and resonate with where a client is coming from can help foster a bond and increase trust, allowing for more open and vulnerable conversation topics.
A health coaching relationship is a unique blend of support and guidance, they can help clients to reveal their own motivation and determination. This aspect can lay the foundation for positive health behaviors that are sustainable, rather than a quick fix solution. Health coaches guide “patients to identify options, create action plans, identify and overcome barriers, locate resources, and provide reminders; by providing this support, coaches enable patients a wider range of choices” (Thom et al., 2016).
In some of the more traditional medical practices, patients may not have known of many, if any, options of how to support their health and lifestyle. Exploring different options and ways to include healthy habits into a lifestyle is a way to find a very individualized plan that can be maintainable. If a person is only given one option this can feel overwhelming and discouraging if the option does not work well for them. “Data from a variety of credible sources, including epidemiological, prospective cohort, and intervention studies, have shown that regular physical activity, correct nutrition, tobacco cessation, and a few other common lifestyle interventions can help mitigate the progression of many noncommunicable chronic diseases and, in certain instances, even reverse existing disease” (Gordon et al., 2016). Each of these lifestyle factors can be very hard to implement alone.
Working with a health coach can help to hone in and focus on where to start or what may feel like the biggest priority to a person. Preventing or in some cases reversing chronic disease is possible and attainable. Having a helping hand along the journey can make the process much smoother and more enjoyable.
Tips When Looking and Working with a Health Coach
- When searching for a coach, understand the coach’s role in your personal process, they are there to help and support but it is a joint effort.
- Find a coach that you feel comfortable talking to, some people find coaches that have gone through similar struggles or have similar backgrounds are easier to resonate with.
- Practice honest communication with yourself and with your coach.
- It’s okay to be vulnerable, a lot of personal growth can happen during vulnerable conversations.
Overall, behavior change can be very challenging and beneficial for overall health. Having a coach you trust, that is educated and trained in behavior change techniques can help support you in making the process all that much easier. Evidence-based articles have shown that clients or patients who work with health coaches see results in larger percentages and find that maintaining the habit they create is much more sustainable. The benefits of working with a coach also include accountability and increased awareness of more options on how to accomplish their goals.
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References
Gordon, N. F., Salmon, R. D., Wright, B. S., Faircloth, G. C., Reid, K. S., & Gordon, T. L. (2016). Clinical Effectiveness of Lifestyle Health Coaching: Case Study of an Evidence-Based Program. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 11(2), 153–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827615592351
Perlman, A. I., & Abu Dabrh, A. M. (2020). Health and Wellness Coaching in Serving the Needs of Today’s Patients: A Primer for Healthcare Professionals. Global advances in health and medicine, 9, 2164956120959274. https://doi.org/10.1177/2164956120959274
Thom, D. H., Wolf, J., Gardner, H., DeVore, D., Lin, M., Ma, A., Ibarra-Castro, A., & Saba, G. (2016). A Qualitative Study of How Health Coaches Support Patients in Making Health-Related Decisions and Behavioral Changes. Annals of family medicine, 14(6), 509–516. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1988
