I think before we can define what a wellness coach is, it is important we first define what wellness is.
What is Wellness?
There are countless definitions of wellness, but a constant principle is that wellness is more than health. Where the two overlap is that in wellness we often promote “healthy” behaviors. When these “healthy” behaviors are engaged consistently they are likely to result in “healthy outcomes” and allow an individual to maintain a general origin of health and well-being.
However, wellness is “whole person health” associated more with vitality and more broadly includes areas beyond Physical Health such as: Engagement & Enjoyment of Life, Community & Connection, Resilience to Stress, Nutrition, Brain Health, Sleep, Recovery & Regeneration.
The NASM provides an all encompassing definition of wellness as “an individual’s personal journey toward mental, physical, social, emotional betterment of life. It is an active process of people becoming aware of and making choices towards a more successful existence.”
Circling Back to: What is a Wellness Coach?
A wellness coach is essentially a guide that “works with individuals to create a foundation of wellness that becomes vital for individuals to realize their potential and promote vitality”. We focus on fostering a growth mindset, helping you increase your belief in your own abilities, expanding potential, reducing limitations, improving resilience and quality of life.
A Wellness Coach Does Help and Support Clients To…
★ Find their own best path that leads to increased self-fulfillment
★ Increase awareness to spark a transition to make a change
★ Identify a desired outcome and plan effective, practical, actionable steps
A Wellness Coach Does Not Tell Clients…
★ What to Do
★ How to Live
★ What Choices to Make
★ Rules to Follow
★ A diagnosis, prescription, treatment, or medical advice
What to Expect When Working with a Wellness Coach
It’s important to understand that a Wellness Coach is not a doctor, a therapist, or any type of medically licensed professional. Therefore, a Certified Wellness Coach cannot diagnose you or tell you what to do. A wellness coach may work with you and your medical professional(s) to help you adhere to what the medical professional(s) prescribe.
A wellness coach helps clients overcome challenges by meeting clients where they are and where they are ready to make change. The process is very client-centric and client-guided while the coach inspires clients to find balance and consistency through educating our clients on strategies and choices that are central to our well-being evolution.
My Coaching Background
In late 2022 I officially became a Certified Wellness Coach via the National Academy of Sports Medicine to add to my NASM Behavior Change Specialist and Nutrition Coach certifications along with my Exercise Science, Kinesiology and Human Performance degree. I continue to expand my collection of certifications so that I have a variety of domains of knowledge in order to best balance and encapsulate how holistic and integrated fundamental wellness is.
In conjunction with my other certifications and education, I view my role as a coach to be to help clients cultivate behaviors and habits in one area of life which can then be learned, strengthened, refined, repurposed, and translated into other areas of life.
My Main Areas of Study
My certification domains primarily fall under the physical dimension of wellness including:
★ Movement – ranging from formal exercise to any physical activity beyond rest.
★ Nutrition – food, hydration, and beneficial eating behaviors.
★ Recovery and Regeneration – replenishment and rejuvenation to repair the mind and body in response to stressors or in preparation for future stressors.
★ Sleep – including quality, quantity, sleep hygiene, staying asleep, bedtime routines, consistent wake up times, etc.
★ Mental & Emotional Wellness – along the lines of “brain health” specifically areas like stress management, cognitive clarity, re-framing, and true connections to other people.
Together, these elements of wellness work together to help manage stress, guide health, and find peace within present situations while working to better our state.
A wellness coach will help you build an efficient, effective, actionable plan that incorporates these domains and with steps that are practical and specific to you.
My Coaching Philosophy
There is no one way to wellness, but I like to base my practices off of scientifically based principles and evidence and am a lifelong learner of optimizing human performance.
I like to take a salutogenesis approach and focus on behavior modification techniques. Meaning, I believe in establishing a foundation of health and wellness to equip you to best handle any of life’s challenges and stressors you may face. My focus is on educating you while helping you build consistency and balance with your wellness behaviors. Perfection isn’t the goal, being more intentional and educated about the behaviors we choose is.
Why Hire A Wellness Coach?
Obviously, you can work with a coach whenever it feels right for you. Typically people work with wellness coaches when they:
★ Have a specific goal or outcome they want to achieve and want help optimizing results
★ Are in unfamiliar or new territory and need someone to guide them rather than piecing together and guessing a best strategy
★ Chronically falling off the bandwagon and starting back up again
★ Feel like they’ve tried it all, but nothing has stuck
★ When you feel like what you’ve been doing isn’t really working and you want a specialist to guide you
★ Want long term lifestyle, sustainable changes without feeling restricted all the time
★ Want to go from Burnout to Balanced. Listlessness and inertia to vitality. Vulnerable to resilient.
At the end of the day, a well studied wellness coach has an evidence based practice on scientific principles and wellness behaviors so they can help you find an effective way to wellness specific to you.
Start Prioritizing Your Own Wellness Journey
Whether you work with a wellness coach or not, it is imperative that you begin proactively prioritizing your well-being. There is a lot that goes into our health and well-being, but they say “if you don't make time for your wellness, you'll be forced to make time for your illness”.
Wellness does not require perfection! It simply requires practice and prioritization. Working with a coach helps you to better understand how to best prioritize and practice your wellness. Either way, the small habits and actions you consistently make will compound and culminate into a future result. Good or bad, positive or negative, well or unwell. The choice is always yours.