Cleveland Clinic defines a Health Coach as a "trained professional who helps you make changes that support your health. Through regular check-ins, your health coach talks to you about the changes you'd like to make and what's getting in the way of you reaching your goals". Simply put, you can think of health coaches as behavior change specialists and accountability partners.
Health coaching is a client-centered partnership with a focus on helping the client develop sustainable healthy behaviors, habits, and attitudes. What’s unique about health coaching is that the client is truly in the driver’s seat; meaning, the content of the sessions are up to you! Since you know yourself best, you tell me your health and wellness goals and we'll collaborate on action steps to achieve these goals. Each session, we'll discuss and collaborate on setting tailored action steps that will get you closer to achieving the healing and health you desire.
As humans, we have the most information available to us than we’ve ever had and we are the sickest we have ever been. This is why health coaching is in the business of facilitating transformation, rather than information sharing. Many people know things they should be doing to be healthier but what they don’t know is where to start and/or how to sustain healthy habits. At Healed by Her, you are your own healer and I am just the guide to lead you back to your healthiest and happiest self. You’ll finally have someone dedicated to understanding your holistic health goals, learning what motivates you, truly listening to you, and serving as a valuable accountability partner so you start doing what you say you want to do.
The benefits of receiving health coaching include: looking at holistic health (factors impacting health beyond nutrition), behavior change to establish sustainable habits, time management support, honing decision making skills, and support in creating realistic action steps. Health coaching tends to result in helping participants “...favorably modify multiple behaviors (including exercise training/physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco use)... [and] results in clinically relevant improvements in multiple biomarker risk factors (including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness) in diverse populations.” [PMID: 30202328] If you are curious about learning more about the value of health coaching, read this Harvard Medical School article.