Your Guide to Choosing a Health Coach

Are you looking for some motivation as you embark on your journey of wellness? Do you have plans for improving your health, but you need help putting the pieces together? Do you feel stuck?

Health coaching may be the answer you are looking for.

You are the expert of your own life! That doesn’t mean you don’t need support and accountability, though. A health coach will partner and collaborate with you as you strive to personalize your path to health and wellness. Develop awareness, discover your strengths, and lever these strengths for positive behavior change. These three steps outline a plan that will lead you towards a healthier version of you! A health coach can help by walking alongside you on your path to wellness.

What is a health coach?

Coaching is a collaborative partnership process that aims to elicit positive behavioral change. You are the expert, and the coach will assist you with any health goals you have in mind.

Coaching is not counseling, therapy, or nutritional prescription meal planning.

People hire health coaches to help them implement improvements in their life that they’ve already identified as necessary for a holistic well-being. Health coaches may help with exercise, stress management, eating habits, sleep hygiene, behavior modification strategies, social well-being— all aspects of health and wellness. A health coach’s role varies by client because each client has different needs. No plan is the same as we are all uniquely and wonderfully made!

A health coach will:

• Partner with you to develop a personalized action plan, so you can consistently meet your health and wellness goals.
• Empower and motivate you to reach optimal wellness, encouraging you every step of the way.
• Discuss options for positive, realistic expectations.
• Prepare you for those bumps in the road.
• Collaborate with you to overcome the places in your wellness journey where you feel stuck.
• Assist and support you as you find ways to promote positive, lifelong changes for a healthier version of you.

The most important thing to remember is this: Health coaching is a partnership. You decide what you want for your health and share these desires with your coach. Your coach offers support, guidance, and accountability as you work towards achieving and maintaining your wellness goals. Health coaches ultimately want to help you develop sustainable, healthy habits and behaviors. It’s a lifelong approach to wellness.

Is health coaching right for me?

Consider these questions:

• Are you presently feeling stuck?
• Are you seeking self-directed, lasting change for enhanced well-being?
• Are you working on your health but finding it a challenge to stay on track?
• Do you know what you need to do for your health but haven’t done it yet?
• Do you have several ideas and goals for your health but don’t know where to start?
• Do you have some ideas for improving your health, but you need support to help you execute your plan?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, health coaching may benefit you. A coach can help you find motivation, direction, and confidence when you are ready.

If this sounds appealing but you still have some questions, consider scheduling a consultation with a health coach. A health coach can help you evaluate and identify your readiness level through some key questioning. Usually, these consultations are free. You just need to ask.

What should I look for in a health coach?

First and foremost, you should feel comfortable and safe with your health coach. Honest discussion is an important part of the health coaching experience, so make sure you choose a coach that you feel comfortable opening up to. It is important to choose someone who supports you and uses a no-shame, non-judgmental approach—embracing you for where you are in your journey with unconditional positive regard. Look for a coach who sees your potential, recognizes your strengths, and believes wholeheartedly in you.

Choose a coach who is certified by a reputable organization. Although the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching has created national standards for health coaches in the US, laws do not mandate these standards. Look for health coaches that have been certified by credible organizations like the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching

Health coaches provide you with ways to keep a positive mindset. They motivate you while building you up. Make sure your coach does this for you.

A health coaching relationship is collaborative. Your coach will offer guidance, but they will also encourage autonomy. Coaches utilize motivational interviewing— a process in which they ask open-ended questions to help you process thoughts, explore your own motivations, and develop strategies for changing your behavior. Choose a coach who listens well and gives you the opportunity to find the right path for you.

Finally, take some time to evaluate your needs before committing to a health coach. Keep in mind, health coaches aim to promote wellness through positive behavior change. You can only achieve change if you are ready to do so. Not sure if you are ready? Find a health coach and ask for a Readiness Questionnaire. As mentioned before, health coaches can work with you and help you evaluate whether or not their services are a good fit. All of us experience seasons in life. We are ready for change at different times in our lives, and we all need a little push to get there!

What does health coaching look like at Personalized Fitness For You?

You are the creative designer of your own health and wellness. Joy, an ACE-certified health coach, will help you reach your health goals by listening, supporting, and partnering with you through a creative motivational style.

Here is what to expect. Joy will:

• Check in with you and celebrate with you throughout your wellness experience.
• Meet you where you are with unconditional positive regard— “No Shame” zone.
• Believe in you as you discover and personalize your health and wellness plan.
• See you just as you are—beautiful and unique.
• Meet you where you are and encourage you every step of the way.
• Collaborate, listen and assist you in a holistic plan

Joy is ready when you are!

She works with individuals in all stages of life, and she strives to grow in her field, aiming to provide the best service possible.

Joy has her Bachelor of Science in therapeutic recreation, and she has 30 years of experience helping women reach their personal potential. Joy is a certified health coach, functional movement specialist, personal trainer, orthopedic specialist, and functional aging specialist.

Joy enjoys spending time with her family, experiencing the outdoors, hiking, running, walking, watching sunsets, trying different coffee shops, and most of all looks forward to meeting you!

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14)

Contact Joy to learn more about her approach to health coaching.

Final Thoughts

We are all capable. All of us have strengths to draw from. Let health coaching help you discover the path and direction you desire for a healthier you. If you are ready, then a health coach is ready to support and partner with you!

Interested in starting your own personal fitness journey? Need a personal trainer or health coach? Contact Joy.

Personalized Fitness For You is also on Facebook.

Joy Grout, the owner of Personalized Fitness For You, has more than 30 years of fitness and health experience, supported by a Bachelor of Science degree in therapeutic recreation. She has worked with a variety of populations in clinical and community-based settings, and she possesses various certifications from national fitness organizations. Her diverse set of experiences allows her to focus on your individual needs and design a program specifically for you. Joy offers effective virtual training sessions as well as in-person training sessions in Winona Lake, Indiana. Joy meets women wherever they are in their journey or stage of life, and she helps them dig deep to find their inner strengths and skills.

Sources:

American College of Sports Medicine “FIT Journal Feature | Wellness Coaching: Deliver Change that Lasts”

The Washington Post “Health and wellness coaches are fairly new. Here’s what you need to know about them.”