The moment you change your perception is the moment you rewrite the chemistry of your body.
~ Bruce H. Lipton Favorite Report
Last year I became certified as a Wellness Coach. One of my goals as a health care provider is to empower my clients with tools that will help them maintain and improve health. I have always stressed educating and informing people about nutrition and self-care, but coaching actually brings something different to the work I do.
Recently, wellness coaching was found to improve quality of life, mood and perceived stress, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Matthew Clark, Ph.D., L.P., lead author of the study and resiliency expert at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, answers some common questions about wellness coaching.
What is a wellness coach?
“Wellness coaches assist patients, through a strength-based approach, in identifying goals and potential barriers to success, and then create strategies to help them improve on a week-by-week basis,” explains Dr. Clark. “A strength-based approach recognizes that patients bring experience, knowledge and skills which will help them make positive lifestyle changes.”
What are popular areas of improvement?
“Wellness coaching focuses on the specific problems someone wants to address, such as weight loss, stress management or goals focusing on work-life balance. We offer wellness coaching to help people have a better life, and improve their overall quality of life, whether it’s socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically or mentally,” says Dr. Clark.
How are these improvements maintained over time?
Wellness coaching teaches individuals appropriate goal-setting techniques, strategies for enhancing social and emotional support and other skills to sustain progress over a substantial period of time.
“In our recent study, we looked at participants three months after completing wellness coaching. We found that people not only maintained the changes, they exhibited signs of further improvement.”
If you are interested in learning more about Wellness Coaching, please do not hesitate to contact me at 303 442-0306 or email me at barbaramahler@aol.com.
The information in this newsletter is not intended to replace the relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge from research and experience of B. Mahler, LAc.
Barbara A. Mahler, LAc practices Acupuncture, Traditional Oriental Medicine, Functional Nutrition and Wellness Coaching.