Doctors are finding it increasingly difficult to support their patients in achieving optimal results in the areas of diet, exercise, stress management, and management of chronic diseases such as obesity. At a time when the rates of chronic disease are on the rise, the United States is facing a shortfall of over 50,000 physicians by 2025 (Petterson, et al., 2012).

Health coaching not only improves health outcomes, but it lowers costs (Healthcare Intelligence Network, 2007). Health coaches are becoming an integral part of collaborative patient care. Connecting patients with the support of a health coach allow physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other allied providers to give patients high-quality care across all areas of their health.

Health coaches act as a guide and advocate, helping clients create new healthy habits and decrease the behaviors that may be worsening their condition. Through time-limited, solution-focused, goal-oriented support, the coach teaches the client new skills that will ultimately allow them to be their own guide.

A professionally trained coach will impart individualized health education from their area of expertise – physical fitness, mindfulness, behavior change, nutrition, sports psychology and so forth. Through accountability, consistency, and encouragement, health coaches will teach clients the tools they need to live a healthy life. By learning how to achieve meaningful health goals, clients can not only reduce long-term health care costs but increase their quality of life for years to come.

In an effort to provide my community and clients with valuable resources that inspire change and encourage the maintenance of hard-earned habits, I’ve created this blog.

I am committed to paying forward the invaluable knowledge I have gained from my circle of inspiring mentors, professors, coaches, therapists, authors, bloggers, and health experts. In the sea of “inter-webs”, it’s difficult to decipher fact from fiction when it comes to health education. Yet we all need accessible, easy-to-understand, credible health information.

From recipes to self-care strategies to work-outs to the latest health research, I will use this blog as a platform to share knowledge that will help you on your health journey!

References: 

Healthcare Intelligence Network. (2007). Coaching in the healthcare continuum: Models, methods, measurements and motivation. Manasquan, NJ: Author.

Petterson, S. M., Liaw, W. R., Phillips, R. L., Rabin, D. L., Meyers, D. S., & Bazemore, A. W. (2012). Projecting US Primary Care Physician Workforce Needs: 2010-2025. The Annals of Family Medicine, 10(6), 503–509. doi: 10.1370/afm.1431