It’s been said that “health is not a state, but a process.” This is the logic behind the concept of coaching. The role of Health Coaching is not to deliver a specific health outcome (although it can do that), but to help individuals and teams move through the stages of change that are crucial for both personal and professional growth.
How can you define health coaching? It might look like this:
- A tool, methodology or approach that helps people improve their well-being, while centering around addressing their personal needs and the needs of their teams
- A way to integrate a strong social component into your work with clients and team members
- A way to help individuals progress towards success on personal goals as well as professional goals
- A way for you and your team to support your clients as they make decisions about their future — both personally and professionally
This definition places health coaching in the same category as mediation, counseling or psychotherapy. Almost anything goes in this area; some would argue that most things do. What makes it different from other forms of coaching is its focus on solving problems rather than simply helping individuals reach certain outcomes. For example, it might not be appropriate in many cases to provide therapy sessions on how to get over an injury or loss of interest in food, these are issues which an individual will want to solve for themselves, not just be solved by someone else. But if you are facing problems such as stress at work or low self-confidence, it might be helpful to ask if there is something more you could do in the office environment that would help you overcome these issues, health coaching can help achieve this goal.
Although it’s often framed as a tool with which one can improve one’s life, I believe that health coaching should also be considered as more than just an external service: it can serve a number of important internal purposes for people who use it (such as bringing up self awareness) and have achieved a level of comfort with themselves which allows them to better support others (which then leads back on itself).
Benefits of health coaching
Health coaching is a form of coaching that aims to help people achieve their health and wellness goals. It is characterized by a personalized, guided approach to helping people improve their physical and mental health, prevent disease, and live longer. While there are many different forms of health coaching, they all share a common core: helping you to achieve your goals.
The main benefits of health coaching are:
- Improving your physical and mental well-being
- Preventing disease
- Ensuring you live longer
There are many different forms of health coaching. Some use an online platform to connect with others who have similar goals as you. Others lead one-on-one or small group coaching sessions in your home or office. Others provide a mix of both online and offline support through group sessions or support groups. Health coaches can offer a wide range of courses covering all areas from nutrition to meditation. They can also provide advice on how to do things like changing your lifestyle, increasing your activity level, getting organized, reducing stress or improving communication skills.
The most common forms of health coaching include: Online Health Coaching. Online Health Coaching is often described as “on demand” because the coach comes into your living space when the client calls them up to schedule a time when they can go over their goals and get support in that area (see example above). This is quite popular in large cities because it allows them to be very convenient in terms of scheduling appointments as well as providing access throughout the day if needed (e.g., lunch break). The downside is that this approach requires both clients and coaches have internet connection in order for the sessions to work properly; it also means more expensive than other approaches (i.e., high fees / long time commitment).
Online Health Coaching usually involves follow-up calls where the coach will ask questions about what happened during the session(s) that led up to achieving their goal(s) . Exchanges between clients and coaches are not allowed; clients must contact coaches directly if they want information about their progress after attending a session with them (see example above). There are many platforms for this type of service but generally speaking there are two types:
- In person at locations where the coach lives or works so it may be cheaper for families
- Remotely via computers over the internet so it may be more convenient for people who don’t live near each other in order to save money but feel comfortable doing some
How can you use health coaching in your business?
I have been trying to make sense of the digital health space for years. While I think it is important to understand what is going on, it’s even more important to be able to characterize the players in it. The purpose of this article is to help you navigate around some of the key players and concepts in this space, and also provide a framework for thinking about health coaching, which is really just one particular application of what I’m talking about.
The name “health coaching” can be misleading: it implies that all healthcare professionals are doing something similar. But there isn’t much similarity between all healthcare professionals and most people who engage with healthcare: most people aren’t interested in self-help or consulting. The majority of people care about their health, whether professionally or not.
As a result, health coaches exist as an underused domain; someone who trains leaders on how to improve their performance might not be a coach at all — they might focus solely on teaching leadership skills instead — but they perform much the same role as coaches do in other aspects of life.
While many people think that health coaching is all about helping people lose weight or get healthier (and that’s what most articles I have seen start with), the reality is that these are just two examples of many different types of coaching that are now available on platforms like HealthTap and Health IQ. Others include things like mentorship (whereby you help someone become more productive), content creation (whereby you help someone write engaging material for their audience), and even earning money via affiliate programs (whereby you help someone make money from marketing content). Most importantly though, health coaching services will not necessarily work for everyone; what works for me may not work for you or vice versa. Everyone has unique needs and they are best suited to their own niche market where they can find tailored solutions with real value added by those who truly understand them.
We were inspired to write this article after my conversation with Eugene Borukhovich in my YouTube Channel. In that episode, João Bocas interviews Eugene Borukhovich, COO and Co-Founder at YOUR COACH. In this episode, we talked about the Health Coaching in Healthcare, Digital Health and Wellness. Eugene shared amazing insights on why Health Coaching is important to healthcare and digital health. We’ve also discussed what’s health coaching and the future of Health and Wellness.
Watch Episode #54 of Digital Health & Wearables Series
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