Health coaching is a personalized support process that helps people improve their physical and mental well-being, develop healthy habits, and achieve health goals through self-awareness, motivation, and behavioral change.
- From cure to prevention and holistic health
- What is Health Coaching?
- When to commit to improving your health
- Health coaching is complementary to health services
- Fundamentals of Health Coaching
- The Health Coaching process
- Who needs Health Coaching?
1. From cure to prevention and holistic health
For several years, the health sector has been giving more and more space to prevention and a holistic vision of health. Health coaching has emerged as a new profession that is functional to this change since it is based on a personalized approach centered on the client that takes into account all the dimensions of daily life that contribute to determining the state of health and well-being. The focus is, therefore, on lifestyle.
It is an approach to the general health of the person complementary to those typical of health services; a profession born in the United States in the 90s to fill a gap in the health system in the approach to the patient, usually focused on the prescription and treatment of diseases and less on prevention and lifestyle changes. Unlike traditional health models, which generally focus on treating specific conditions, health coaching concerns the whole person: body, mind, emotions, relationships, and fulfillment.
2. What is Health Coaching?
Health coaching is a dynamic and collaborative process that helps individuals establish and achieve health-related goals through personalized professional support. The health coach supports the person in developing awareness of themselves, their psycho-physical state, and their current lifestyle, helping them define their health goals according to their optimal vision of well-being and the most effective and sustainable strategy to achieve them, and supporting them in implementing the identified path.
Embarking on a health coaching journey with a professional means committing to improving your quality of life. How? By identifying the current and recurring aspects of your life and daily routine (habits, behaviors, mental, physical, eating habits, etc.) that do not generate well-being but, on the contrary, limit your psycho-physical balance and the expression of your potential; understanding how to change them and replacing them with new, more functional behaviors and habits; making the necessary change and finding a new psycho-physical balance consistent with your vision of well-being.
Health coaching enables people, therefore, to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become active participants in managing their own health. It means taking responsibility for themselves and assuming a more active, aware, informed, and humanly sustainable role in improving their quality of life and, ultimately, their future.
The holistic vision of health that shapes health coaching is now widely accepted in the scientific world and sanctioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) definition: health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The person is considered in their totality (body, mind, and soul). We positively and constructively work on general well-being, not only on treating or preventing specific diseases or disorders. This comprehensive approach guarantees that all aspects of a client’s life are considered, and the result is an integrated and balanced state of health.
Check what areas of life can affect health >
3. When to commit to improving your health
Improving your health is a choice. But it can also be a necessity. It can happen when you face significant changes in your life, such as changes in work or natural transitions such as menopause, retirement, etc., all situations that can be lived well with more personal vision, mental clarity, energy, and vitality.
The necessity can also arise from specific health needs. Most chronic diseases and psychological disorders are the result of inadequate habits and lifestyles. For example, many cases of diabetes, hypertension, gastrointestinal problems, musculoskeletal problems, or psychological disorders such as anxiety, insomnia, and mood disorders.
However, the difficulty is often to face the change indicated. This is where health coaching comes into play.
4. How is health coaching complementary to health services?
Traditional healthcare usually works on diagnosing and treating specific conditions. When problems arise, patients are treated.
Health coaching is instead proactive, preventive, and focuses on the person in their entirety and, above all, on their ability to take greater control of their life. It works on improving and maintaining people’s health in all spheres of life, enhancing their autonomy. It provides professional guidance organized in a clear and codified process, with relational and communication tools specific to the profession, also providing the necessary information and education regarding the most effective and appropriate lifestyle choices, if not already indicated by professionals in the health system.
A health coach does not directly diagnose, prescribe, or treat conditions. They work with clients to help them develop the skills and strategies needed to be more autonomous and have better health and well-being in a lasting way. It is about giving clients power, what is generally called health empowerment, so that they become active and responsible participants in their journey to improve their health.
In practice, health coaching focuses on behavioral change and self-efficacy.
5. The Fundamentals of Health Coaching
Health coaching follows some founding principles and elements.
1. Personalization
Health coaching recognizes that everyone is unique, with their own set of life circumstances, values, obstacles, potential, and overall goals. The focus is on the unique needs of each client. The health coach engages clients in meaningful and mindful conversations to understand their values, motivations, and personal vision of health.
2. Active participation
The client is at the center of the process and actively participates in defining their health and wellness goals and the path to achieve them. The coach’s role is to facilitate, not direct.
3. Empowerment and self-efficacy
A key goal of health coaching is empowerment or enabling individuals to take control of their health. It aims to strengthen the client’s self-efficacy, increasing their ability to make informed decisions, manage their health autonomously, and cope with change and adversity with resilience.
4. Behavioral change
Using specific tools, skills, and a process, the health coach helps the client identify and change behaviors and habits that are harmful to health or that generally hinder their full development as individuals. This is achieved by setting so-called SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) and defining a “roadmap” for change.
5. Prevention
Health coaching focuses on prevention and long-term health promotion rather than short-term symptom or disease management. It also looks to the future with a view to healthy longevity.
6. Holistic approach to wellness
A person’s health and well-being depend on many factors: physical, emotional, mental, social, and environmental. Therefore, consider the interconnection of mind, body, and soul, seeing these elements as parts of an interdependent system.
7. Ongoing support and accountability
One of the hallmarks of health coaching is ongoing support and supervision from the coach. They allow the client to stay on track, adjust when needed, and recognize their progress over time.
6. The Health Coaching Process
Not all health coaching processes are the same in detail; it depends on the coach’s professional training and choices. The one I follow as a certified Integrative Health Coach (but which I would say is widespread among the majority of health coaches in its main elements) uses a path in phases and specific tools and skills.
You can better understand what health coaches do and how they work in this article >
The process is codified and well-structured but is conducted with the flexibility to respect the uniqueness of each client and their personal life journey. Typically, this process consists of initial assessment, goal setting and plan, ongoing support and accountability, and measuring success and progress.
- Initial assessment. The coach gets to know the client and gathers information about their health, lifestyle habits, aspirations, and goals. In this phase, the contours and modalities of their partnership are also established, which aims to be long-lasting and effective.
- Goals and Plan. You decide which areas of life to focus on, and specifically which behaviors, habits, and practices to work on, by establishing SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) and how and when to achieve them.
- Ongoing support and accountability. Once “taken action,” the process enters the continuing support phase. Coaching sessions provide continuing guidance also using external resources (informative and educational); they provide motivation and promote accountability. It can also be done through indirect digital tools, such as ad hoc apps and virtual communication, to adapt to the client’s daily lives. It is the most delicate phase. The coach helps the client overcome any obstacles or lapses in motivation, address any doubts, and review the path if necessary; if not, adjust the course regarding objectives.
- Measure success and progress. During coaching sessions, progress is highlighted and valued. Regular reviews also help you understand what is working, what is not, and where changes need to be made.
7. Who needs health coaching?
It is beneficial to anyone who decides to improve the quality of their life in a conscious, informed, and responsible way, an improvement that can be personal, professional, or even sporting.
Specifically, here is an indicative and non-exhaustive list of situations in which a health coaching path can be effective:
– Increased physical activity
– Improved eating habits
– Stress Management
– Management of chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, fatigue, etc.)
– Prevention of chronic diseases
– Post-injury or post-illness recovery
– Managing life transitions (job changes, menopause, retirement, etc.)
Regardless of the specific cases and the reasons that lead to turning to a health coach, there are several benefits that an experience of this type can give to those who undertake it:
– Motivation, personal empowerment, resilience.
– Energy and vitality.
– Improving the quality of life.
– Greater mental and emotional well-being.
– Prevention and support for healthy longevity.
By encouraging whole-person development, providing behavior change techniques, and providing lasting support, health coaching helps people achieve permanent improvements in their physical, mental, and emotional health.