The coach approach: what it is, isn’t, and its role in healthcare
This article discusses the coach approach, what it is, what it isn’t, and the role of health coaches in contemporary healthcare. Health coaches work to partner with clients, and/or patients, to identify health goals and co-create health programs to reach those health goals.1 Health coaches trust in clients’ strengths and motivations as they work through barriers; coaches are not authoritarian figures who educate clients or solve problems for them.1 A health and wellness coach can work in private practice or as a part of an interdisciplinary team communicating between clients and providers. The coach approach offers strategies and skills that put the decision-making power back in the clients’ locusts of control and result in health behavior change that is sustainable.1,2,3
The coach approach
What it is
Moore, Jackson, and Tschannen-Moran, authors of the Coaching Psychology Manual, state, “Successful coaching takes place when coaches apply clearly defined knowledge and skills so that clients mobilize internal strengths and external resources for sustainable change.”1 They go on to explain that health and wellness coaches help clients develop and enhance skills like, self-regulation, strengths building, navigating a journey of change, mindfulness, self-awareness, positivity, hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience.1 These skills assist clients as they co-design a wellness program with their health coach and co-create solutions for health behavior change that result in positive health outcomes for the client.1,2 Coaches “…do more listening than talking, more asking than telling, and more reflecting than commenting.”1 The coach approach is a client (and/or patient) centered service that relies on the readiness, motivation, and values1,2 of the client and the coach’s commitment to holding “unconditional positive regard”1 for her clients and their goals.
What it isn’t
Health and wellness coaches do not assume the role of an expert and coaches are not counselors.1 Health coaches do not educate, make recommendations, or tell clients what to do.1,2 A masterful health and wellness coach is not an authority, will not define your agenda, or solve problems for clients because the goal of coaching is to put the power in the clients’ hands and support them as they identify and work toward goals. Coaches and counselors are trained to ask different questions. A counselor is trained to ask, “Why?”, and a coach is trained to ask, “How?” Coaches ask: how can the goal become a reality? And how does the client want to be held accountable to her/his/their plan to reach the goal?
The health coach’s role in conventional healthcare
Health and wellness coaches can function solo or on interdisciplinary healthcare teams. They work with clients one-on-one or in a group setting to develop new lifestyle behaviors that support disease prevention and regression, and in some cases disease recovery.1,3 “Professional coaches in healthcare and wellness form partnerships with clients to optimize health and well-being by developing and sustaining a healthful lifestyle.”1 They also form partnerships with healthcare specialists and primary care providers when appropriate to ensure goals do not pose a risk to the client’s overall health. Health coaches work directly with clients and healthcare professionals to support and monitor the clients’ progress over time and guide clients into health outcomes they can maintain.
Conclusion
Health and wellness coaching is a tool that helps get clients from where they are, to where they want to be.1 Not to be confused with the expert approach, the coach approach is a client-centered approach that draws upon the client’s readiness, motivation, and values to identify and work toward health goals. The health coach’s role in healthcare is to partner with clients and healthcare providers to support the well-being and overall health of clients by evoking behavior change through one-on-one and/or groups sessions. Health and wellness coaching is a promising field in the healthcare industry and proves effective for chronic disease prevention and successful behavior change.1,3 For more details about the health and wellness coach’s code of ethics and scope of practice please click the corresponding links. And, click here to learn more about the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) testing, accreditation, and mission/vision for health coaching.
References
1. Moore M, Jackson E, T Schannen-Moran B. Coaching Psychology Manual. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer; 2016.
2. Glanz K, Rimer BK, Viswanath K. Health Behavior: Theory, Research, and Practice. 5th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey — Bass; 2015.
3. Jordan, M. How to be a Health Coach: An Integrative Wellness Approach. San Francisco, CA: Global Medicine Enterprises, Inc; 2013.
