Holistic Wellness Coaching Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about Certified Holistic Wellness Coaching and how
I can support you in becoming the best version of yourself.
What does "wellness" mean?
The definition of wellness is an active concept that describes living a healthy lifestyle that includes your mental, emotional or physical health. It’s really about achieving your full potential.
Wellness is more concerned with a lifestyle that produces well-being, which is doable whether you have perfect physical health or you’re struggling with a chronic illness. This is because wellness is about all aspects of your life — your emotional life, your body, your work or school, your relationships, and so much more.
Focusing on wellness specifically can help you to also achieve good overall health for a lifetime.
What is a Holistic Wellness Coach?
A Holistic Wellness Coach is a specific type of mentor, guide and motivator that focuses on helping you improve your overall health and well-being through a more integrative approach that draw on solutions that encompass your mind, body and inner self using natural methods to bring about lasting changes for their clients.
For example, since Susan specializes in helping you learn to manage anxiety and stress, as well as boost your self-esteem and confidence, her integrative approach would include:
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Stress and anxiety management skills.
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Mind set and lifestyle changes.
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Behavioral changes.
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Self-care.
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Nutrition fundamentals that can help you increase your emotional resilience as well as enhance your overall health.
It’s important to note that Wellness Coaches are not licensed healthcare professionals, and they don’t diagnose or treat diseases.
Instead, they can complement medical care by coaching clients through lifestyle changes prescribed by a physician or therapist by enabling accountability and inspiration for those who are ready to feel more vibrant by improving their mindset or behavior.
Licensed healthcare and public health professionals can also become Holistic Wellness Coaches in order to add another skill set to their healthcare toolkit to better serve patients.
What is a CERTIFIED Holistic Wellness Coach?
A Certified Holistic Wellness Coach is a formally trained professional who has studied and graduated from an accredited program and is able to offer a unique perspective in the health field by using motivational interviewing and guidance.
This combined with their education and knowledge of natural approaches help clients find the inspiration and tools to get to their physical and emotional health goals.
Certified Holistic Wellness Coaches help clients move past challenges that stand in the way of their goals, so they can make sustainable, positive changes in their mindset and lives.
What is it like to work with a Holistic Wellness Coach?
A Holistic Wellness Coach works one-on-one with individuals who want to improve their health and well-being. Using concepts drawn from psychology, behavior change, and life coaching fields, a Wellness Coach helps their client overcome obstacles to achieve and maintain healthy emotional, nutritional or physical habits for life.
In short, a Wellness Coach sounds a lot like a doctor or therapist. A Wellness Coach works with their client to understand their challenges and what they would like to achieve. But that’s where similarities end.
Doctors and therapists look at problems from one angle. Holistic Wellness Coaches typically support clients by looking at their issues from multiple angles and guide clients to find solutions that may resolve multiple root causes to the issue.
For example, a doctor may look at a person’s skin condition, like psoriasis, from a physical aspect and write a prescription to help temporarily alleviate the discomfort. On the other hand, a Holistic Wellness Coach would help the client to identify whether the root cause of the psoriasis is food-related, stress-related or both. Then help the client identify ways to better manage stress, make nutritional adjustments, while simultaneously helping to identify natural remedies to alleviate the skin irritation.
Is Wellness Coaching similar to mental health therapy?
Wellness Coaches can use skills known for mental health therapy to help clients. The difference between the two lies in their focus. Health coaching focuses on improving a client’s present habits and behavior so they can achieve their goals. Mental health therapy, however, focuses on healing wounds from the client’s past.
What should I look for in a Holistic Wellness Coach?
Because you would spend a lot of one-on-one time with your coach, not to mention trusting them with your current challenges and your desired goals, make sure the two of you are a good match. You should be comfortable sharing with them, and you should feel strongly that they’ll help you achieve what you desire.
Also, Wellness Coaches are still relatively new in the wellness industry and do not yet need a license to practice. That means anyone can call themselves a wellness coach without certification or any real training.
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It’s important that you do your research before working with a Wellness Coach.
You may want to consider someone who is certified from an accredited program where the standards for the curriculum, education and training, plus the post-graduation mentoring are held to the highest standards by independent governing organizations.
For example, Susan is both a Board-Certified Holistic Health Practitioner through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP) and Certified through the International Association of Wellness Professionals (IAWP), a program recognized worldwide and accredited through:
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CCE by the International Coaching Federation
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American Association of Drugless Practitioners
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Canadian Health Coach Alliance
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Canadian Association for Integrative Nutrition
Why would I choose to work with a Wellness Coach?
There are many reasons. For instance, you might consider looking for one if you:
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Need some guidance on moving forward in developing ways to manage your emotions.
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Have a lot of stress or anxiety that’s holding you back from enjoying your life more, your relationships or pursuing the goals you really want to go after.
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Want to learn how to take advantage of your own strengths and talents.
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Don't know what to do about a major life decision, such as a career direction or move.
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Don't have an acceptable work-life or student-life balance.
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Aren't as mentally, emotionally or physically healthy as you'd like to be.
Having a Wellness Coach is really about the support, clarity and personalization so you can stop wasting time and even money on the wrong solutions. Instead get straight to the solution and see results.
Does a Wellness Coach replace a doctor or therapist?
No, they do not! Wellness Coaches encourage clients to see their doctors and therapists for specialized help. This is because health coaches cannot legally diagnose illnesses or prescribe solutions to clients. Wellness Coaches are not licensed healthcare professionals so you should always keep seeing your doctor or therapist. Because Wellness Coaches are usually not licensed, their services probably won’t be covered by health insurance.
The only exception is if your health coach is also your doctor or therapist.
You can work with your Wellness Coach while seeing a healthcare professional and they can support you in following or implementing a prescribed plan by your MD or therapist and effectively help you in making changes you can realistically stick to in the long run.
A coach is also different from a psychotherapist, who is a mental health care professional with training in medicine, nursing, or social work. If you think that clinical depression or other mental health problems may be getting in the way of realizing your goals, then you may want to talk with a licensed mental health professional before you hire a coach.