What is a (nurse) health coach? (Part 2)
Follow up to Part One: What do nurses do?
Makeup and photo by Tania D. Russell, aka Makeup To Go!
Health coaching may not be what you think it is! So what does a health coach do – and not do?
Mainly – we support you making shifts in your life that help you feel more empowered with your health and wellness. What does it mean to be be “healthy” and “well?” Each of us has a different idea of what it means and feels to be healthy, depending on our current state of health (including illness or injury), experience of trauma, what brings us joy, and our culture and communities.
Health coaching provides an opportunity to tune into your vision of health and well-being and create realistic but inspiring goals to move you in that direction. Life is full of twists and turns, and even rollercoasters, so those goals can change as life goes on. Perhaps you have a new diagnosis (cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease) or an injury (workplace injury, or car accident) or perhaps you just want to focus on aging the best that you can, or you have a certain goal in mind (pregnancy, marathon), or you want to find balance with work life and home life. “Wellness” for you is different than the next person, and it is probably different for you now than it was a few years ago. Health coaching can help you transition and find balance in your way, in your time.
Health coaches come in all forms, with all sorts of intentions and specialties. Some focus on exercise, or intuitive eating, or autoimmune diseases, or new motherhood, etc. Nurse health coaches are unique because we have clinical knowledge and science/research education, so we can offer what a health coach offers, plus any desired health education and support. That can include helping you with your physician’s recommendations, navigating the healthcare system, and reviewing health resources.
Many health coaches are focused on weight loss and the wellness/diet industry’s version of “fitness” …
… but I believe — and have experienced — diet culture to be an insidious destroyer of our self-worth and promoter of obsessive thoughts. We can easily get stuck in evaluating our bodies for what we look like rather than how we feel or function. That obsession with thinness and objectification can be so draining! All of that brain-space and emotional effort that could be taken up with working toward living a life that we want to live and empowering ourselves and communities is taken up with worrying about how others look at us. We deserve better! Our health is about so much more than our size. Often our desire to lose weight is rooted in deeper feelings, like wanting to feel more accepted and appreciated, more confident, or stronger and more capable of movement. Coaching is about figuring out our deeper values for our lives.
I also approach health/wellbeing with some gentleness for ourselves. We can get stuck in “all or nothing” thinking when it comes to our health…
… and feel like failures if we don’t do all the things, all the time. Making shifts in our lives that are beneficial for our long-term health means we will have great days and also challenging days, or great weeks and challenging weeks and that’s ok. If you are tuning into your values and priorities for your life overall, these ups and downs along the way are natural and expected.
What does “wellness” mean for you?
Let’s focus on the aspects of well-being that empower us. What does that mean for you? Yes, the foods we eat are important, but how we approach eating is important — does eating bring us enjoyment and peace, or stress? Yes, exercise is important, but movement may be more joyful and less rigid. What else in our lives nourishes us? — having a sense of purpose, supportive relationships, rest, play, and gratitude. It’s up to you to decide what “healthy” and “wellness” means for you, and that can change over time, or as things shift in your life.
Gotta love those Instagram reels! Check out @togetherinwellness.rn.
What can you expect from nurse health coaching?
Health coaches are active listeners, tuning into your strengths and wisdom to support you in making desired shifts. We are here to support and encourage. We are here to listen – to help you feel heard.
Health coaches help you identify your definition of well-being. Everyone is unique, and wellness means something different to everyone based on life experiences, priorities, and perspectives.
Health coaches are your partners in empowered decision-making. We help you find what motivates you to make choices that benefit your health -- physical, mental, emotional – using your own insight, joy, and strengths.
Health coaches should NOT:
Tell you what to do.
Judge or shame your decisions, lifestyle, or experiences.
Diagnose illness (physical or mental).
Prescribe medications, treatments, diets or exercise programs, or supplements.
What is unique about a NURSE health coach?
We can serve as health educators.
We can help you understand your physician’s recommendations.
We can support you in advocating for yourself.
We can provide health resources if requested.
We can provide a listening ear, in an often-frustrating healthcare system where we often don’t feel heard.
Why do I love nurse health coaching?
It gives me an opportunity to connect with people in a way that nursing alone does not, because we are so busy running around at the hospital/clinic.
It fills the gap between what I thought being a nurse was going to be like, and what many of us would like it to be!
It’s a space for advocacy, empowerment, education and connection.
Sound interesting?
If you have questions about health coaching, I’d love to hear from you. Please email me!
If you’d like to book a free 20 to 30-minute conversation (no strings attached!), click the “Schedule a free session!” button below to view my coaching offerings.
Best wishes and peace to you.