Are you looking for a way to improve your health and wellbeing, but don’t know where to start? If so, health coaching may be the perfect solution for you. Health coaches are medical experts who can help you develop healthy habits and reach your goals. In this blog post, we’ll discuss what health coaching is, and we’ll explore the benefits of working with a health coach. We’ll also provide some tips for finding the right health coach for you. So if you’re ready to make a change for the better.

What is Holistic Health Coaching?

Holistic health coaching is a holistic approach to coaching that focuses on the holistic wellbeing of your mind, body, and spirit. Unlike holistic health counseling, holistic health coaching focuses on promoting holistic health using non-medical expert advice.

 

Some holistic health coaches are medical experts in their own right. For instance, if you are looking for holistic health coaching on nutrition or weight loss then it is likely that you will consult with a licensed dietician or nutritionist as they have years of training experience in all aspects of food and drinking.

 

Holistic health coaching provides people with an alternative method for achieving holistic wellness by focusing on the relationship between the client’s mind, body, and spirit rather than just one aspect of their life.

 

Many traditional forms of treatment and holistic therapy focus on one aspect of holistic health and may overlook the holistic whole, holistic health coaching looks at all aspects of holistic health. Holistic health coaching can aid in promoting holistic health as well as help people achieve their goals.

Some examples of holistic health coaching include:

  • Alternative medicine such as herbalism and acupuncture
  • Nutrition
  • Weight loss and management 
  • Fitness 
  • Sport performance 
  • Stress Management 
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Holistic Health Coaching is a professional service that helps you create a positive shift towards reaching your lifestyle goals. The focus is on helping you become more attuned to what you really need – to make small adjustments along the way – for change to happen. This means looking at the holistic big picture and focusing on your mind, body and spirit.

 

The holistic health coach approach brings a holistic style to coaching. It is about integrating traditional coaching approaches with holistic living practices to make them more effective. In order for holistic health coaches to become experts in holistic health care, they must undertake training from medical experts such as nutritionists or physicians. 

 

This enables holistic health coaches to gain additional knowledge about the human body and how all aspects of holistic living impact each other in order to give their clients balanced advice in reaching their holistic lifestyle goals.

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What are Health coaching services?

Health coaching services is a health and wellness service that offers health advice and health tips to people who want to improve their health. It can be used as an alternative or complementary health service for those who do not believe in traditional medicine, but instead on alternative treatments such as chiropractic sessions, acupuncture, yoga, massage therapy sessions, etc. 

 

Health coaching services cover topics such as health maintenance such as health check-ups and planning of health diets; they also provide health education services like learning about the importance of exercise and healthy eating habits; for those with more serious diseases like diabetes and cancer patients.

 

Health coaching services offer support through emotional assistance; finally, they help clients create healthy behavior patterns that can prevent future problems from occurring by correcting unhealthy lifestyles.

 

Health coaching services help clients reach health and wellness goals through health advice and health tips. It is used as a health education or health maintenance tool, and can also be an alternative treatment to mainstream medicine if combined with the right meditation techniques .

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How can Medical Experts provide Health Coaching?

When health coaching is provided by medical experts, they generally do it in two different forms: one-on-one or group health coaching sessions. 

 

One-on-One Sessions

One-on-one health coaching sessions are when health coaches work with individuals who require specific health guidance and/or support. This type of health coach typically meets with their client on a regular basis (usually weekly) for at least six months, working with them on developing strategies that encourage change and help maintain healthy behavior. 

 

Health coaches can also provide feedback without judgment that helps their clients solve difficult situations related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. For example, if an individual has recently started a health-related regimen and is struggling with some aspects of their new activity, health coaches can assist them in exploring ways to improve.

 

Group Sessions

The other type of health coaching is group health coaching sessions. This is when health coaches work with groups of people who share similar health goals and challenges. Group health coaching has an advantage over one-on-one health coaching because many different people get support from the coach at once. 

 

For example, if you are having trouble quitting smoking and want to motivate yourself to stop this unhealthy habit, attending a group health coaching session might be beneficial because it gives you access to advise and resources that do not otherwise exist outside the environment created by the coach during the sessions. 

 

There is also evidence that suggests that individuals who participate in health coaching sessions are able to develop healthy habits that last for six months or more.

 

The health coaches who offer group health coaching sessions do so by creating visual aids, participating in each session themselves, playing audio/visual material and distributing this information after the health coaching session is completed. 

 

These health coaches should be knowledgeable about various topics related to health improvement including stress management, smoking cessation, weight loss motivation and dieting.

 

According to medical professionals providing health coach training programs across the United States and elsewhere, there are other options for medical doctors involved in providing health coaching services. 

 

Medical doctors can absorb health coaching into existing practices through patient education forums or seek approval from their state to provide virtual health coaching over the internet. There are also mobile applications specifically designed for health coaching which medical doctors can distribute to patients.

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Doctors are becoming more aware of the benefits of health coaching and over time it is expected that health coaching will become a standard part of health care provided by doctors.

 

Health coach training courses have been recently introduced into universities throughout the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany and the rest of world as health professionals recognise the value of being able to provide health improvement programs/services across the country. 

 

It is hoped that this will help increase awareness around health coach training, improve access to medical health coaches, increase patient access to health improvement strategies and ultimately improve the overall health of all patients with chronic health conditions.

Is a Doctor better at providing health coaching advice?

Many health coaches come from a healthcare background such as medicine, nursing, chiropractic or personal training, but some health coaches do not have any healthcare experience at all; although it is recommended that those without healthcare experience gain some relevant experience before becoming a health coach. 

 

Doctors have spent years studying how the human body works and has acquired detailed medical knowledge and during their education and career. While health coaches often have limited healthcare experience, stopping by a health coach can sometimes be like talking to someone with references out of context. 

 

A doctor is also more likely to be used to coaching in the formal sense (asking leading questions and attempting to guide their patients toward health goals); health coaches typically focus on less formal styles of health coaching. 

 

So while doctors are knowledgeable about health care, they may not be experienced or suited for health coaching. However, relying too much on healthcare experience without balancing it with health coaching knowledge can create many similar problems as having no healthcare experience at all. Health coaches without health-care experience but that take training in health care should do well in combination with their knowledge of health coaching.

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Is Online Health Coaching Right For You?

According to a recent international online survey, 1 in 4 people have started online coaching and research studies show 87% of online coaches who completed a questionnaire reported improvements in their online clients’ weight, fitness, stress levels and overall mental health. 

 

They also found online coaching helped online clients maintain behavior changes that they were previously able to make when coached face-to-face.

 

Benefits that online clients list most frequently include cutting down on time spent traveling (23%), having more flexibility (17%) and cutting costs (15%). Many others said it was easier to be frank online than face-to-face; they felt to admit challenges or barriers they faced online; and online clients feel they can easily manage their online health coaching sessions.

 

Online health coaching has been found to be effective in various areas such as weight management, stress management and increasing physical activity levels among children and adults. 

 

Research has shown that online coaches report meeting similar standards of competence and confidence in providing online services compared with face-to-face coach training programs.

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Conclusion

We found that the patients in our study benefited from their online health coaching sessions. They were able to track their progress and identify areas for improvement, feel more connected with the coach, and build a sense of mastery over chronic conditions. If you or someone you love is struggling with a chronic medical condition, we encourage you to take this free online test to see if our telemedicine solution is right for them.

BLOG AUTHOR

Dr. Ismail Sayeed

Dr. Sayeed is the Medical Director of ViOS, Inc. He is a deeply committed physician entrepreneur & medical blog writer. While building the global infrastructure of the VIOS Clinic, he is dedicated to educate people on the potential of specialist telemedicine for managing chronic diseases.

Read more about him in his author bio

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