We all want to lead healthy, happy, satisfying and productive lives. Most of us have the foundation to do that but we just need a little help getting there. That is where coaching comes in. A health and wellness coach is a health professional, often a nurse, with additional education in human motivation and behavior change. Health coaches guide individuals to live their best lives by helping them define their vision for physical and emotional well-being and then by setting specific goals to achieve that vision. Health coaching is for anyone who is ready to work on keeping themselves healthy or, if they have a chronic illness, getting as healthy as possible and staying that way.
What is health coaching?
Health coaching is a holistic approach to achieving good health by establishing healthy habits, and letting go of the “bad” ones. Goals are set around lifestyle choices and behaviors that positively influence health and well-being: movement and activity, nutrition, stress management, sleep hygiene, social connections and personal relationships, social behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol use, and preventive care such as having a primary care provider and attending recommended health screenings. In addition, health coaching addresses specific risk factors for chronic disease and for those individuals with chronic illnesses, adherence to the medical plan of care. Health coaching is grounded in the most current evidence about health and wellness and the coach teaches, informs, supports and guides people toward heathy lifestyle change.
UR Medicine Employee Wellness
UR Medicine Employee Wellness has coaching programs for lifestyle change and chronic disease management with a well-established record of success. The core of our success is our coaches who are the heart of our programs. While the relationship that our coaches build with their clients is deliberate and prescriptive, it is also intensely personal and unique with each client. The relationship is transformative for a client because the client is in the driver’s seat, the coach is a facilitator and together, they explore ideas, issues, motivators and strategies for healthy change. Our coaches use positive psychology to help clients refocus their negative self-talk toward confidence and achievement based on what the client believes can, and will work best for them. During the coaching engagement, the client, with our coach’s support, harnesses their strengths and realizes their abilities through self-discovery, self-monitoring and personal accountability.
The relationship between our coaches and their clients relies on a trusting interpersonal relationship built on positive, non-judgmental regard, authentic communication, mindful presence, and attentive curiosity. Our coaches are there to guide, support, challenge and cheer as a person sets their goals, overcomes barriers, and develops a plan that will work with their lifestyle, desires, needs, and resources. We know that our clients are most successful in making and sustaining healthy changes when it is on their own terms, for their own reasons, and based on their own culture and values.
Successful Results
As the lens of healthcare has shifted from the traditional western approaches to a more holistic, client centered focus, health coaches with clinical expertise have taken center stage. Health coaches are now fully integrated in many settings including non-traditional ones such as corporations and not for profit organizations. UR Medicine Employee Wellness has shown best in industry outcomes in the employee space demonstrating our health coaching programs are cost effective, successful in helping employees improve their health and reduce their risk and in meeting the needs of a workforce that expects employers to care about their physical and emotional wellbeing.