Wellness coaching now ranks Number 5 on an annual employer wellness trend survey, taking its biggest jump to date. What do they do, exactly? Let’s break it down.
I am a wellness coach and health educator. I help employees improve their health in areas like emotional health, stress management, nutrition and physical activity. I like to say I’m not your mama, your therapist or your best friend, but rather I sit in the passenger seat on your highway of health, helping you navigate toward more productivity, satisfaction and creativity on your journey to better overall wellbeing.
You choose the area you want to focus on: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Managing Stress, Financial Wellness, Mental Health, Energy, Better Sleep, Stop or Reduce Smoking, Medical Self-Care, Career, Social Well-Being, any area that affects your overall sense of wellbeing.
People generally work with a health coach because they are ready to make some type of change in their life. A health coach helps you find the energy, motivation and information to make healthy choices every day. We help you eliminate or reduce unhealthy behaviors with a goal toward sustainable well-being, lowering healthcare costs for your employer and increasing your job satisfaction and productivity. A win-win for everyone!
Good health coaching is about what is working right, building on your strengths, and finding the positive in your ability to sustain a health habit. I like to say the solutions reside within each of my clients and I am there to draw it out. When those moments happen, it is a moment of pure empowerment! You work hard; we develop a personal wellness vision, with goals, plans and accountability and we do it using small changes – micro steps – that last. And because a healthy workforce is a productive, satisfied one (70% of healthcare spending is driven by preventable disease), wellness activities like health coaching lower healthcare costs and is a benefit to the employee as well.
Many employers will bring me onsite to conduct monthly health education workshop sessions and then book me for a block of individual health coaching sessions for employees. I have also been doing this virtually for the past year with success. Employees love it: it uses their time wisely and is an effective, practical way to learn and immediately take wellness principles and put them into action. Employers see the value to their wellness program by providing an affordable, ongoing wellness event for their workforce.
We form healthy and unhealthy habits the same way: by repeating individual actions that then become a pattern. Perhaps a health coach is right for you on your journey to better health.
Kolon Performance Strategies 