Coaching, what’s this?

Coaching is a powerful tool for personal and professional growth. It helps clients explore their motivations, needs, and thought processes to facilitate lasting change through visioning, goal setting, and accountability. Unlike traditional teaching methods, coaching is a respectful, non-judgemental partnership between the coach and the client, where the coach recognizes the client as the expert in his or her life and puts the client in the driver’s seat. The coach helps the client learn, rather than teaching them.

Now, you might be wondering what the difference is between Health and Wellness Coaching and other forms of coaching. The main focus of Health and Wellness Coaching is on behavioural change, with the goal of creating optimal mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing for the client. Other forms of coaching may focus more on unachieved goals across all areas of life, such as relationships, careers, finances, and so on. While they all play a role to achieve optimal wellbeing, Health and Wellness Coaches focus on behavioural changes related to these areas to ensure they contribute to the greater goal of optimal wellbeing.

When setting goals in coaching, it’s essential to distinguish between outcome goals and behavioural goals. Outcome goals can be outside of your control and depend on many variables, while behavioural goals are solely focused on what’s within your control and what you will be doing. By setting SMART behavioural goals that are in line with your values and beliefs, you can define a clear action plan going forward awith the help of your coach. Over time, you can modify these goals to make them challenging, yet achievable, and build new habits.

Coaching vs Counselling

Coaching differs from counselling in that coaching focuses on where you are at now and how to move forward, while counselling helps you cope with past issues in your life and support you to be at peace with them. If you have past issues that show up as an obstacle for you to achieve your future goals you want to achieve, a counsellor and coach can work together with you to cover these respective areas.

Coaching vs Therapy

A simple way to distinguish coaching from therapy is that coaching focuses on building a better future for clients with no serious mental distress, whereas therapists work with clients to help them heal and overcome traumas, mental health conditions and dysfunctional mental patterns, often solving difficulties arising from their past. Coaching focuses on actionable strategies for achieving specific goals and is very future focused and linked to personal and professional growth. Coaches unlike therapists are not clinical diagnosticians, and don’t focus on patients with a clinically diagnosed condition – if noticing such conditions in their client, an ethical coach will refer them on to a mental health provider.

Is Health and Wellness Coaching right for me?

If you’re

• motivated to make positive changes in your life
• open to learning and trying new things
• committed to taking action towards achieving your goals

then you’re ready to work with a coach.The coach-client relationship is a partnership, so a willingness to engage in this collaborative process is also important. Ultimately, if you’re ready to take responsibility for your own health and wellbeing, and are seeking guidance and support to make lasting changes, health coaching is a great fit for you. 

Try this fun little quiz to see if you’d benefit from a free discovery call!