What Does a Health Coach Do?
How can a Coach help me build healthy habits?
Most people recognize that they may need to change their habits and behaviors to lead a healthier lifestyle. However, they find themselves continuing on the same path and not seeing results. Maybe they have tried what they feel is every system or program available and have not found what works for them as an individual. Their ability to find the motivation to change to a healthy lifestyle ebbs and flows.
The emerging field of Health Coaching, within the health and wellness space, might lead you to be a bit confused. You have a doctor who has advised you to make some changes to your lifestyle to ensure a healthy future. You have a personal trainer who you love, and works you hard, to improve your movement and strength. And you probably have loving family members and friends who have provided you with tips and suggestions on ways to lead a healthier life. Needless to say, there is no shortage of people in your life who are telling you what you should change in order to achieve optimal health and wellness. But what’s missing is the how to affect all of these changes. This is where a Health Coach can play a pivotal role for your healthy lifestyle.
The word coach in itself is a history lesson in what a Coach does. In the Hungarian town of Kocs the local craft builders created kocsi, or carriages. This evolved to the French word coche which in English became coach. As with the stagecoach of the wild west, a coach assists the client from where they are to where they want to be, with the client as the driver. Interestingly enough, coche in french also means check mark which is appropriate as a coach helps check off your goals.
A Health Coach works with you to create sustainable health habits and self-directed behavior change. Instead of telling you what you should change in your life, a Health Coach works with you on how to affect your desired changes. Using a proven system based on your own vision, a Health Coach walks you through the steps you will use to build new healthy habits and create positive sustainable behavior change.
Meeting with a Health Coach starts with a discussion about where you want your health to be and why. This is followed by an assessment of where your health is today. At Nixon Health Coaching we are guided by the “Wheel of Health” developed by Duke Integrative Medicine, part of Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina. The Wheel of Health is a proven approach that explores the various dimensions of your health and wellness that come together to help you achieve the best version of you. Working with a Health Coach will even help surface new and unexpected opportunities to significantly improve your health and wellness in areas you’ve been neglecting or are completely unaware of.
