Hi Vibrant Health Seeker
- You must have a sense of rapport with your coach, there needs to be a comfortable and confident connection, however your coach doesn’t need to be your pal, they have a job to do which will involve having you do things you find difficult, otherwise you wouldn’t need a coach.
- Experience, this person needs some serious life and technical skills to help guide you on your health journey. Unfortunately there are many coaches you have become overnight experts, with little real skill.
- Beware of dietary evangelism. You need someone with broad skills and personally I’m very wary of bandwagon coaches, whether it be veganism, paleo, cross fit or the latest fad. All of these can be good or bad, but if your coach is a victim of the next shiny object syndrome, then you will be too.
- Flexibility is vital. A coach needs the ability to access you and treat you as an individual, so you can feel confident in their recommendations. There has to be a starting point but there must be enough flexibility in the system to help you advance as an individual.
- A coach needs to be able to listen to you and your situation, and hear the emotion that you are experiencing and be able to bend and adjust to meet your needs and not try to fit you into a convenient one size fits all box.
- Your coach should be able to clearly communicate why you need to do what is being suggested, this means speaking in plain language and of course they must understand the reasons for themselves and not just be parroting some other writer or coach.
- When helping a person to make important changes a coach must have the ability to help you overcome your stress, anxiety, or subconscious resistance, if not they must be able to refer you to someone who can.
- A coach must be able to successfully guide you to seeing a brighter, healthier future in such a way that it seems achievable and real to you.
You choice of a wellness coach is vital to you have a long term successful outcome. On your journey to wellness you may need different coaches for different purposes, and of course you must be prepared to fire your coach if the situation warrants, but please don’t fire them if you didn’t do the work.
Wishing you Vibrant Health
Ian & Dr Susan Newton