What is health coaching?
An Introduction to Health Coaching: A Self-Empowering Approach to Sustainable Lifestyle Choices
1. What is health coaching?
Health coaching is an integral part of integrative medicine. It is a uniquely self-empowering approach, supporting you to actively participate in your own care and to improve your health and wellbeing with sustainable lifestyle choices that are important to you.
Health coaching doesn’t involve a a doctor or other health practitioner telling you ‘what’ you need to do. Rather, a coaching approach supports you to put into action the lifestyle choices and decisions that are important and unique to you. It’s about working with a non-judgemental partner who can help you to discover and maintain your motivation, identify challenges and inspire you to take action… at your own pace.
2. The principle of the three-legged stool in health coaching
At the heart of a health coaching relationship is you, a unique individual, seeking to improve your condition through sustainable lifestyle change, or an individual in good health looking at preventative measures to sustain health and wellbeing. On one side, there is the health practitioner, a doctor, nurse or allied health professional with a prescribed care plan and on the other side, is the health coach, a uniquely qualified professional in supporting lifestyle and behaviour change. The power of synergies in this relationship is what makes integrative medicine so effective in improving health outcomes. Health coaching is helping you to create your health goals and to break these down into small, actionable and sustainable steps which lead you on a new journey of health-creation.
3. The difference between a clinician and a health coach
The role of clinical professionals is to advise and direct patients or clients on the best approach to treat a medical problem or an illness. They often speak from expertise in their field and they provide information about medical conditions and their management. Patients are given choices for treatment, but ultimately, those choices are directed based on clinical protocols and guidelines within the healthcare setting. Health coaches are interested in the client’s personal and medical history, as well as their social and lifestyle habits because all those aspects are usually linked to the manifestation of medical conditions. In other words, health coaches do not see individuals separate to their medical conditions(s), they see them holistically. Health coaches address all 6 lifestyle lenses – physical, emotional, spiritual, social, intellectual, occupational, as these all play a role in health and illness. The role of the health coach is not to advise people about their condition or what to do to improve their health and wellbeing. Instead the health coach supports individuals to make lifestyle changes that are right for them, at a pace that feels right to them.
4. How does health coaching work?
We all want to feel that we’re making choices that improve and support our health and wellness. But very often, although we may know ‘what’ we need to do, we don’t know where or how to start. And even if our motivation is strong, it can be overwhelming – and very challenging – to change the habits created over a lifetime. It can leave us stuck.
Health coaching starts with where you are, working on your agenda, at your pace,
A health coach helps you to get clear on what really is important to you – to find your strong ‘why’ and to keep it front and centre to make new (and sometimes challenging) goals and choices for your future. A health coach is your ally with the knowledge, skills and a tool bag of resources to help you to break-down those challenges and overcome the barriers that can keep you stuck, to keep you accountable in reaching your goal(s).
A health coach is a professional who works with you as a client directly, or alongside a doctor or other healthcare professional. Some work face-to-face, although most work remotely through video conferencing, giving you the freedom to choose a coach whose experience and skills resonate with you, irrespective of their location.
5. How can health coaching help people affected by cancer throughout their journey?
More that 50% of all cancers are caused by lifestyle factors, including sedentary lifestyle, overeating and eating highly processed foods, obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption. There are other risk factors including exposure to toxins in our environment, constant stress and lack of sleep, which are connected to cancer, but the precise connection is not yet well understood. The understanding of the lifestyle root causes of cancer can be the impetus for change. This is where health coaching can be most effective, supporting people to make those changes, regardless of the stage they are in the cancer journey.
There is plenty of literature which suggests that health coaching interventions improve physical activity levels, lead to reduction in cholesterol levels, better diet self-management, reduction in diabetes risk, decreased in hospitalisation rate and improved pain severity.
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) Compendium of Health and Wellness Coaching and 2019 Addendum, provides evidence for the application of health coaching as a behaviour change methodology for the prevention and treatment of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic disorders. The ACLM concludes that diabetes and heart disease patients may derive the most valuable benefit, but obesity continues to be widely investigated, with positive outcomes apparent from coaching intervention.
6. What can you expect from the process?
The first session is usually exploratory between the health coach and the client, where information about health coaching is offered to the client and an understanding of whether health coaching is for them is established.
The subsequent sessions are all about individuals’ vision and purpose, values and strengths, priorities and challenges, establishing goal(s) and eliciting internal motivation for change.
Routine checking of goal accomplishments takes place in the sessions to follow, celebrating successes and also overcoming feelings of ‘failure’.
The closing session is a reflection of the client achievements and a commitment to sustained change.
The power of health coaching lies in the open questioning, active listening and affirming from the health coach, whilst the client is doing the hard work of self-discovering themselves and holding themselves into account for the goal(s) they have set.
7. How can I be sure that the professional working with me is suitably qualified?
Health coaches come from a wide variety of backgrounds and training and bring different skills and experience to their practice, and it’s important to work with a well-trained, experienced professional.
Health coaching is not one of the ‘regulated’ health professions like nursing or medicine. However, it is strongly self-regulated by the UK & International Health Coaching Association (UKIHCA), the professional body for health coaching. The Association sets robust professional standards for the education and training of health coaches, approves education and training courses that meet those standards and admits course graduates and other healthcare professionals who satisfy the criteria for Full Membership and have appropriate insurance.
UKIHCA Health Coaches are professionally bound by a clear ‘scope of practice’ which defines the boundaries of what they can – and can’t – do and must always explain what this means to their patient or client.
An increasing number of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, nutritionists or integrative practitioners are also qualified as health coaches and can offer both ‘expert’ clinical advice, make recommendations for an intervention and health coaching support. No matter their background, in such cases a clinician must always help their patient or client to understand which role they are taking at various points during the consultation and stay within their scope of practice.
8. What can a Health Coach do… and not do?
Just as it’s important to work with a qualified health coach, it’s important to understand what health coaches can and can’t do when working with you.
As we’ve seen, a health coach is a uniquely qualified expert in supporting lifestyle and sustainable behaviour change. In practice, this means using a wide range of self-empowering tools and techniques to help you to find your ‘why’, identify your health goals, create small steps that lead to big ‘wins’, sustain your motivation - ultimately creating new lifestyle habits to support your health and wellbeing. All at your own pace.
A health coach is not a doctor, a dietitian, a nutritional therapist, a psychologist or a counsellor. Health coaches (unless otherwise qualified) don’t assess symptoms, make diagnoses or treat specific conditions, but they can and do work alongside doctors, registered dietitians, registered nutritional therapists and other health care practitioners.
The UKIHCA have published a Health Coaching Scope of Practice to guide anyone wishing to work with a Health Coach.
9. How to access health coaching for cancer - free (charity-based) and paid options with details
There are some charity-based health coaching opportunities for people with cancer at any stage in their journey as follows:
Penny Brohn UK https://www.pennybrohn.org.uk/
Yes to Life https://yestolife.org.uk/
Boutros Bear https://boutrosbear.com/
For paid health coaching sessions, whether one-to-one or group health coaching, please visit the UK and International Health Coaching Association and search amongst a range of fully qualified and credentialed health coaching professionals. Do ask if your health coach has had additional training or experience in working with people affected by cancer.
10. Choosing your health coach
Health coaching in not a ‘quick-fix’ – it’s an investment in process for making long-term, sustainable lifestyle and behaviour change. Before reaching out, set aside some time to give some thought to your goals and expectations.Most coaches will encourage you to commit to a three-month programme as it takes at least this amount of time to create the new lifestyle and meaningful change.
Browse the UKIHCA’s Health and Wellness Coach Directory and make a short-list of the Coaches who you feel potentially match your needs.
Study the coach’s business website (if they have one) - does the content and the tone resonate? Do you get a sense of the person behind the website?
Health coaches are not doctors or dietitians or nutritional therapists - is this made clear on their profile?
However, many health coaches are also specifically qualified in other modalities, such a nutrition, personal training, psychotherapy or counselling or they may have medical or nursing qualifications.
From the outset, it’s important to confirm that a potential coach's qualifications, experience and Scope of Practice and insurance will cover your particular needs.
Read about the coaching packages or programmes on offer and consider the testimonials – do they resonate? Is the price structure clear?
You may now want to progress to a call with a potential coach and explore whether you are both a good fit – remember this is a two-way process!
Notice how the conversation makes you feel? Are you being given the opportunity and the space to express your concerns and ask questions? Do you feel heard? Are you receiving responses that feel appropriate and genuinely encouraging?
Is the coach clearly explaining their Scope of Practice, their methods of working and the approach they will take to helping you to achieve your health and wellness goals?
The coach will set out the service and/or programmes they offer, discuss the price and the terms of business. Are you clear on this?
Are you clear on what the coach can help you with and is the conversation leaving you feeling hopeful, optimistic and eager to start your journey?
11. Your next steps
The idea of engaging with a health coach may seem daunting at first, especially if you have been interacting with many healthcare professionals during and after your cancer treatment.
Health coaching can be a transformational and life-changing experience for many people even at the most difficult times in their lives and we hope that we have given you the knowledge and tools to make the next step in your health coaching journey.
Remember that it is ‘you’ that matters in the relationship with your health coach and it is about you achieving your vision for optimum health and wellbeing.
Expert content written by
Dr Penny Kechagioglou, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Co-Founder of Oncio CIC
Reviewed in collaboration with Izabella Natrins, CEO of UKIHCA
