There’s empowerment in learning.

While educating is distinct from coaching, we believe there is value in integrating it into the process. As you build knowledge, you build autonomy and confidence. Therefore, you can fully engage as a participant in your health and wellness and, your life.

 

Domains of Wellness

 Health and wellness coaching is a holistic approach because health and wellness is multi-faceted. We explore your levels of satisfaction in these areas of your life, as they all contribute to your wellbeing. As we start working together, we look to see where you stand now in these areas. Then, we explore where you desire to be. As we work through the process, we also continue to consider how these areas affect your ability to reach sustainable change and your goals. It is a way to see the “full” YOU. We may never be fully satisfied in all areas at one time, nor may they all be important at the same time. However, we have the power to decide where we want to focus our energy.

 

  • Spirituality

  • Career/Work

  • Environment

  • Nourishment

  • Sleep

  • Movement

  • "Being"/Play

  • Relationships

For the love of learning…

As I value learning for you as a client, it is one of my top signature strengths. I’m unique in the wide-range of influences that have shaped my approach. I give them credit here and you can continue to learn by subscribing.

Influences

 

Health and Wellness Coaching

 

Health and wellness coaching is a relatively new field whose definition is evolving. The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) is leading these efforts by establishing standards for coaches and coaching programs.

NBHWC defines coaching:

Health & wellness coaches partner with clients seeking to enhance their well-being through self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values. In the course of their work, health & wellness coaches display an unconditional positive regard for their clients and a belief in their capacity for change, honoring the fact that each client is an expert on their own life, while ensuring that all interactions are respectful and non-judgmental.

 

Coaching

 

International Coach Federation (ICF) is a more established coaching organization, not specific to health and wellness coaching.  

ICF defines coaching as, “ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.”

 

Nurse Coaching

 

A skilled, purposeful, results-oriented and structured client interaction that is provided by Registered Nurses for the purpose of promoting achievement of client goals.

Nurse coaches promote and facilitate the growth, healing and wellbeing of the whole person by using coaching principles and healing modalities that integrate body-mind-emotion-spirit-environment. (www.ahna.org)

 

Integrative Health Coaching

 

Empowers you to make lasting health behavior changes that are the cornerstones of lifelong well-being. It bridges the gap between medical recommendations and your abilities to successfully implement those recommendations into your complex life. (dukeintegrativemedicine.org)

 

Wellness & Wellbeing

 

Is there a difference?

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) defines wellness as: “the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.”  The National Wellness Institute references Dr. Halbert Dunn’s definition of wellness, “wellness as “a condition of change in which the individual moves forward, climbing toward a higher potential of functioning.”  To conclude, wellness is the program, the initiative, the event, the strategy. Well-being is the result.

Wellness is multi-dimensional considering many factors such as physical health, mental health, spirituality, social networks, and environmental influences.

Positive Psychology

 

Coaching is a practice with roots in the theory and science of positive psychology. 

Positive psychology is the study of five elements from the theory of wellbeing: positive emotion, engagement, meaning, accomplishment, and good relationships. It attempts to measure, classify, and build these five aspects of life. The goal of positive psychology in wellbeing theory is to increase the amount of flourishing.  We leverage your strengths and strive to build these elements of well-being. While it is a science, "The 'heart' matters more than the 'head.'" Meaning unconditional caring is as valuable as critical thinking. (Seligman, 2011)

 

Creative Confidence

 

The belief that everyone is creative, and that creativity isn’t the capacity to draw or compose or sculpt, but a way of approaching the world. (Kelly, D., n.d.)

 

Design Thinking

 

A way of finding human needs and creating new solutions using the tools and mindsets of design practitioners. When we use the term ‘design’ alone, most people ask what we think about their curtains or where we bought our glasses. But a ‘design thinking approach’ means more than just paying attention to aesthetics or developing physical products. Design thinking is a methodology. Using it, we can address a wide variety of personal, social, and business challenges in creative new ways. (David Kelley, IDEO founder, and Tom Kelley, Partner)

 

Integrative Medicine

 

Integrative Medicine (IM) is healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person, including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between practitioner and patient, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies.(integrativemedicine.arizona.edu)

Lifestyle Medicine

 

Lifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention—including a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, and positive social connection—as a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease. (www.lifestylemedicine.org)

 

Functional Medicine

 

A systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.

 

Naturopathic Medicine

 

A distinct health care profession that combines the wisdom of nature with the rigors of modern science. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) are trained as primary care providers who diagnose, treat and manage patients with acute and chronic conditions, while addressing disease and dysfunction at the level of body, mind and spirit. (aanmc.org)

Holistic Medicine

 

A form of healing that considers the whole person -- body, mind, spirit, and emotions -- in the quest for optimal health and wellness. (www.webmd.com)

 

Complimentary Medicine

 

A term that describes a non-mainstream practice that is used together with conventional medicine. (www.nccih.nih.gov)

 

Conventional Medicine

 

A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called allopathic medicine, biomedicine, mainstream medicine, orthodox medicine, and Western medicine. (www.cancer.gov)

 

Yoga

 

Sanskrit root: yuj. To bind, join, attach and yoke. To direct and concentrate one's attention on, to use and apply. "It is the true union of our will with the will of God" (Iyengar, B. K. S., 1979)