What is a health coach?
A health coach is an accountability partner and a wellness guide. Health Coaches help people transform their health and, in this case, the health of their animals, too.
We give personalized care, information and motivation. We make the health journey less overwhelming by guiding you with sustainable shifts. We help you see your strengths and progress after assessing your initial state of health. We keep you on track and celebrate the small wins with you, which add up to big results. Health coaching is a joint effort between a client and a coach.
Health coaches help you pinpoint and reach your health goals with a plan using various techniques and time that doctors and veterinarians just do not have. You take ownership of your own health and participate in the plan to reach whatever health goals you choose. We help you strategize for success and identify any barriers so you can start breaking them down. Some tools include SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound), retraining the brain to focus on the positives, and encouraging self-reliance to aid in the adoption of healthy habits.
The value of a health coach.
Health isn’t just about an annual physical and pharmaceuticals. It’s not just about allopathic medicine. In fact, many doctors now see the value of holistic health coaches for their patients’ health outcomes. A recent NY Times article discusses the value. There has never been a better time to take care of yourself and your family. Reaching optimal well-being has never been more important.
We complement veterinarians and physicians and are part of a collaborative care team that may also include nutritionists, dog trainers, acupuncturists, therapists and others. Most doctors and veterinarians only have a few minutes to spend with each client. We have more time and we have skills to guide you through behavior modifications and lifestyle changes that improve well-being. While conventional medicine specializes in acute illnesses, chronic disease is an epidemic these days. Conventional medicine is generally geared to focus on sickness and symptoms, not the whole picture or root causes of ailments – and certainly not wellness and disease prevention through nutrition, activity, stress management, environment and lifestyle. We can help facilitate a treatment plan for chronic disease (often preventable through lifestyle changes) or help you make better consumer choices to avoid diseases altogether in yourself and your animals. You’ll likely find reduced vet and medical bills and better health outcomes often measurable through medical tests.
Studies have shown people with health coaches improve their health, that the coaching leads to better test results and more adherence to a full medical treatment plan. The same can hold true for a coach’s impact on your animal’s well-being. Reflect what you want to see and be mindful of your animals who, though individuals, can mirror us with ailments and behavior or develop issues from stress and other issues in their environment. It is never too soon to prioritize your health or the health of your companion animals whose lifespans are already too short.
How I can help you
& your animals.
I can help you take the lead with your health and your animals’ health. I provide a roadmap for optimal well-being. I guide clients to create sustainable shifts in behavior, lifestyle and environment that improve the many pillars of health from diet to physical activity to sleep, from relationships to spirituality, and from finances and career to detox and stress management. Similarly for their dogs, I help with disease prevention, nutrition, detox, stress and pain management, senior care, safety concerns and assessing lifestyle and environment for possible improvements. I will give you information to make conscious choices that benefit you and your fur babies the most while doing the least harm to the planet and other living beings. Using a holistic approach, I’ll give you tools to customize a wellness plan with better observations, more informed decision-making, science-based data as well as intuition. After all, our dogs use their instincts all the time. Why shouldn’t we?
Though health coaches are not substitutes for physicians or vets in emergencies or otherwise, I’m interested in picking up where they leave off to support you and your pets on your health journey. We simply complement doctors and vets (as well as other practitioners like nutritionists and acupuncturists), fill a void, offer more time, listening, mentoring and information so you can meet your goals for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, choose how to manage care of chronic ailments, prevent disease altogether, and improve overall well-being rather than always getting a pill for an ill that may lead to side effects, another pill, and no fulfilling resolution of a problem.