A Day in the life of a Health Coach

Every day I get to take part in meaningful conversations with people about how they want to create change in their lives. That change is almost always about improving their physical and emotional health and enriching their lives in some way. They may be wanting to find strategies to cope with stress or anxiety, manage side effects from cancer treatment, improve their nutrition and physical activity, or reevaluate what they spend their time and energy on in their lives and find balance. I get to be a witness to their reflective process, a facilitator in bringing their expertise into the conversation and helping them make change happen.

Coaching is about helping people focus on the issues that are most important to them, providing education, support and practical tools. It’s really about helping people tap into their own intuition and asking them powerful questions that help them reflect and find strategies that will work for them and their life. It’s all happening in real time, this process of empowerment.

I remember when I was doing my master’s degree I had the opportunity to take part in a two-day training on the strengths-based perspective in social work. It really resonated with me and I knew that whatever I did in my career it would need to be in line with the strong inner belief that I have that people have capabilities, resources and strengths that can help them make positive change in their lives and that the helping professional should bring this into the conversation and build on them.

This is so much more than a job for me; it’s meeting people at a time when they are facing a health crisis and building a trusting relationship with them (it all starts with trust and creating a supportive space). And it’s believing in them and their ability to make a change in their lives if they’re ready. It’s helping them see options when they’re really lost and it’s working in partnership with them – it’s being human, letting go of the power dynamics. It’s more than work for me; it’s part of what a purposeful life, having a career that aligns with my values and helping people create meaningful change.

As a coach, my days are spent meeting with people, getting to know them and their experiences, their goals, their hopes, their strengths and the strategies that have worked, or could work for them, which are very unique from one person to the next. It’s hard work – you need to be completely neutral and committed to helping that person with their process and making the decisions that are best for them. And you need to be extremely attentive and focused to pick up on what their saying, what they’re not saying, their body language and what it tells you. And it’s being able to ask the right question or make the right reflection at the right time about what you’re hearing or seeing.

Coaching works because it helps people improve their sense of control, improve their quality of life and make and sustain health behavior changes. We provide practical skill development – helping people to learn strategies that have been proven to manage anxiety (such as meditation and reframing thoughts), strategies to improve communication with their health care team and clearly articulate their needs to those around them, and we’ll provide education and practical ideas on steps people can take in terms of their nutrition and physical activity in order to improve their health. A coach assesses the person’s readiness to make such change and helps them ensure they’re ready to move forward before jumping into action planning.

We’re working at this together – it’s not the coach who is the “expert” and it’s not the client who is in this to figure it out alone. We each come in with ideas but always ensuring that the client is the one who decides which will work for them. People learn through coaching that they are capable of finding or choosing the right options for them. How to get there is often by asking powerful questions, some of which include

What is most important to you right now?

What do you want to build more of in your life right now?

What are you currently doing to manage your stress/improve your energy/improve your nutrition/etc.? What’s helping? What else could you do?

What does good health/a balanced life/(any goal you are trying to achieve) look like to you? How would life be different? How will you know when you’ve met your goal? What would that look like? What would you be doing differently than what you’re doing now?

What’s going to get in the way? What will be your biggest obstacle? What will you do if this happens?

What do you think is necessary for things to change? What do you need to let go of? How can you make that happen?

And the list goes on.

We all face challenges in life and moments when we feel like we’ve hit a wall or we’re facing a health situation and wondering how to get back on track. The support a coach can help you get there because it is completely personalized to you and your situation.

So what type of change do you most want to create in your life right now?