What Does a Health Coach Do?
is a trained professional who works with clients in a group or one-to-one setting. The purpose of a Health Coach is to help individuals gain the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to take responsibility for their diet and lifestyle, enabling them to reach their health goals.
A Health Coach can work in a clinical environment with a natural health practitioner or a medical doctor. Health Coaches can be found in workplaces to improve working conditions and also in a private environment. The purpose of a Health Coach is to enable clients to make long-term positive health changes via good advice, motivation, and support.
The day-to-day life of a Health Coach is flexible and depends on what the Health Coach has chosen to do with their qualification. Health Coaching is a field of practice with endless career options. Here are the most common activities of Health Coaches.
1. Health Coaches give advice on nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle
A Health Coach supports clients on health issues, gives advice on how to improve fitness and coaches clients to achieve set goals. They will identify underlying causes and work out individual programs for each client.
2. Health Coaches conduct one-to-one consultations
A Health Coach provides a form of personalised care, meaning that the client has a choice and control over the way their care is planned and delivered. based on what matters to them. Health Coaches often work with clients on a one-to-one basis.
A typical day of a Health Coach involves meeting clients for 45-minute sessions of coaching. Meetings may take place in person, in an office, on SKYPE or via Zoom.
3. Health Coaches work with groups
Health Coaches can conduct what is called ‘Group Coaching Sessions’. These sessions involve groups of 6–8 or more at a time. During group sessions, the Health Coach facilitates conversations and sets health goals and targets with the group and provides advice and motivation to get healthy and fit. Group sessions can be conducted at the workplace or via online platforms such as Zoom or Skype. Sometimes group sessions are carried out as workshops as well.
4. Health Coaches deliver health talks
Providing public talks on how to achieve health through coaching gives hope for many and helps to get new clients on board so they can achieve their health goals too.
Motivating clients and helping them to stay positive about the health changes they are making is an essential part of the Health Coach toolkit. Some clients know what it is that they need to do to generate a health change – they just need a little help to stay on track.
There are clients who are doing very well and living healthy lives – but then become stuck and don’t know how to go further in their health journey. Other clients don’t know where to start and have never made a health change. All these clients can be motivated via health talks to make long-lasting health changes for a healthy, happy life.
5. Health Coaches write books and articles
To make a long-lasting and positive health change, a person must first understand what the purpose of that change is. This understanding can come from education by the Health Coach via articles or books.
Health Coaches are not only full of valuable knowledge on health and fitness, they are also versed in imparting that knowledge to potential clients in a way they can understand to implement it into their lives.
6. Health Coaches work alongside medical professionals
Health Coaches are becoming increasingly a part of national healthcare systems. Therefore, you can find Health Coaches in medical settings such as working alongside GPs, private doctors or natural therapists.
They are often specialists in health areas such as diabetes, heart health, and obesity, or similar professionals who don’t have the time or the training to coach patients. Health Coaches make sure a client follows a therapist’s advice to achieve long-lasting results.
7. Health coaches can work in many health and lifestyle sectors
Health Coaches can be found in a private setting or a workplace environment. Working privately means dealing with clients on a one-to-one basis.
Health Coaches may run health retreats and boot camps abroad or they may be active within a gym environment or a spa setting. The options of opportunities are endless. Some Health Coaches find a way to combine their hobby or personal interests with their new profession – a Health Coach.
8. Health Coaches change lives
Many people go through their lives not really dealing with their health symptoms. They don’t get the attention and time needed from a healthcare professional like a medical doctor or nurse.
Health Coaches provide the time and attention needed to the individual to create consistent change and improvement. Having a Health Coach means individuals have someone to hold them accountable and to help them on their journey towards a life of vitality. A Health Coach educates individuals and gives them the confidence they need to take responsibility for their diet and lifestyle. It is due to the help that Health Coaches provide that individuals are able to live a longer, happier and a more abundant life.
