What is a Holistic Health Coach?
The title coach is not a sexy one. I used to conjure an image of a masculine (man or woman) dressed in a track suit with a whistle around their neck. A drill sergeant who will push you and scream at you when needed and yes, of course, celebrate your victories and give you pointers to get better when you don’t perform your best. Today, a coach has an entirely different meaning since I have entered the world of holistic health and lifestyle coaching myself.
According to the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching, a coach partners with clients seeking self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values, which promote health and wellness and, thereby, enhance well-being.
I’ll be honest, I still don’t like the title coach albeit accurate. I didn’t name the baby but if I did, I may have called her something more powerful like, Wellness Creatrix. Coach feels generic for the deeply personal, powerful, and life altering work we do. I should take a moment here to also, acknowledge that the client is actually the one doing the work, the coach is a “guide on the side” or a Sherpa to offer support and keep the client’s journey moving towards their desired goals and in alignment with their values.
Holistic health coaches use an integrative approach to help people learn to make healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes. It goes well beyond nutrition and exercise to all the areas of a person’s health and life in true holistic fashion. One of the tools I use with clients is called the Circle of Life. It enables a person to examine areas of their life that nourish them off their plate. These areas include relationships, joy, spirituality, career, social life, creativity, to name a few. Collectively the areas covered in the Circle of Life is known a person’s Primary Food. Primary foods enable the client to become self-aware and identify what areas of their life are out of balance. It continues to support goals that will keep life happy, healthy, and balanced and give clients an area to focus on through sessions. I share about the Primary Foods and the Circle of Life because it is an example of how coaches look at a person’s overall quality of life beyond the plate.
When I first stepped out as a holistic health and lifestyle coach, I would often have to explain the difference between me and a nutritionist. The pervasive culture that food is the only way to nourish became even more glaring. Coaches are different than nutritionists, therapists and doctors. Aside from credentialing and scope of practice we don’t diagnose or prescribe. Nutritionists give you a list of foods to eat and not eat. Coaches can help come up with a food list, even though a client generally knows what they should and should not eat, BUT they go a step further and peel away the layers of WHY the client is not achieving their goal. Therapists help unpack a client’s past and identify why emotions and behaviors come up but there are no goals and no end in sight, no practical tools, no recommendations, and no actions steps. Coaches generally create a program that is goal driven with a client and mark an end date. Doctors (excluding functional medicine) don’t get to the root cause of what is underlying a condition. Coaches will examine how lifestyle and nutrition are causing you illness and support habit changes that will avoid a recurrence.
I once heard from a holistic health coach that her client told her she is 4 people in 1 -nutritionist, life coach, spiritual advisor, and field commander. In my case I will add - beauty curator, transforming both inner and outer landscape and aesthetics of a client’s life.