Why Health Coaching?
The Health Coaches Australia and New Zealand Association’s vision for co-creating universal health and wellness, is underpinned by principles described in the World Health Organisation’s Constitution preamble:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The extension to all people of the benefits of medical, psychological and related knowledge is essential to the fullest attainment of health.”
Health Coaching is interested in health promotion to support illness prevention as much as it is interested in supporting individuals to overcome the burdens of established or developing chronic mental and physical illness. It seeks to strengthen an individual's belief in and capacity to maintain their own health and wellbeing. At its core, it is about information sharing.
As is the case with all health, science and wellness professions, providers come from a variety of educational backgrounds and experience levels with particular points of focus and intentions for their service delivery. When embarking on any new working relationship in health and wellness, it’s important to do your research, and find someone you can trust and connect with. The field is growing and diversifying across the globe, which is great news for a world population in desperate need of a new paradigm of healthcare, one that moves away from simply suppressing symptoms and aims to not only stem the flow of chronic illness, but prevent and reverse it’s complex functional implications. Anyone can benefit from health coaching.
Holistic Health coaching builds on this goal and seeks to further combine the dynamic art of developing therapeutic relationships, considering the whole person, their connections and environment, with the science of lifestyle medicine, nutrition, psychology and behaviour change. It sets out to assist people to gain insight into their challenges, help them access the right information and support them on their journey to make changes that align with their own personal values, are attainable and sustainable. It is intended to be a journey of reflection and self discovery with goals of self empowerment and accountability in choices. It recognizes that the mind and body are connected, and encourages identification of vulnerabilities in a safe, compassionate and inclusive model.
My own journey into health coaching began through personal interest in learning about ways to improve my well-being, and developed through dedicated and ongoing study. It builds on my background in nursing and mental health care, and has been inspired by my witness to, and participation in, a health care system that sometimes struggles within current structures to provide the time and focus for truly individualized, collaborative, holistic care. We are blessed in Australia to have access to such a robust and free health care system, but in some ways, in some places and at some times, there are gaps in aspects of health care delivery. Health Coaches are ideally placed to address some of these gaps and help prevent a portion of the strain on healthcare services that exists through lifestyle related illness. Holding space for people as they navigate their health challenges or progress their wellness goals feels like a meaningful way of combining my skill sets to help individuals and families, and in many ways takes me back to my nursing student roots of sitting with patients and hearing their stories.
My ever evolving vision is for an individulised, person centered, evidence based approach...combining Eastern and Western philosophies of health and wellness. I’m interested in really getting to know my clients so that I can support them to make links across different components of their life when seeking to address causes of illness, dysfunction and unhappiness, through consideration of their whole lifestyle and being. I’m constantly engaged in learning and I wish to share some of my knowledge with others. Knowledge is power and power brings the ability to direct or influence a course of events. Health Coaching awakens your power.
*I’m a passionate life long student and my blog posts intend to share information only. If something peaks your interest, I encourage you to do your own research, and seek further advice and support through your health and wellness providers. If you’d like to consult with me, please get in touch.*
