What Would Stop You From Hiring A Health Coach?

I like the idea too, in fact after a really good experience of being coached I decided to become a coach myself and now helping people to improve their well-being has become both my passion and my work.

But not everyone has such a good experience and every now and then I hear stories of people who have been really disappointed by having a coach who wanted to impose their own particular fitness, or nutritional regimes on them, or worse still sell them something. And I often think that something like that would be enough to put people off health coaching all together. Of course some people like being told what to do and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just not coaching.

To me it is of the greatest importance that health and wellness coaching always remain 'content free'. By that I mean your Coach should help you to find your own solutions, rather than telling you what to do. It's so much more empowering that way. After all you would want to come away from the coaching relationship feeling empowered and strengthened by the experience, wouldn't you?

That said, there are several branches of coaching, for example sports coaching and some forms of business coaching, where giving advice and guidance are probably quite appropriate but in my view really good health coaching is about inspiring you and helping you to discover your own answers and your own inner resources, rather than prescribing for you or telling you which way to go.

A good Coach will always take the whole of you into consideration rather than just a small part of you that may need to be fixed or adjusted in some way and they should always hold you accountable for the changes you say that you want. But however tempting it is they should not be prescribing for you or giving you advice, if they do then they are being something else, such as a nutritionist, or a sports coach perhaps. Sadly though, as it becomes more and more fashionable to hire a health-coach you will find may people using the title without really having much idea of the professional skills involved.

Many practitioners these days combine coaching with other services too such as advising, training or mentoring. In fact that often works very well but if you are investing in a professional coach I suggest that you are really looking for a partner to travel along with you on your journey, pointing out the occasional signpost along the way, rather than for a teacher who tells you which way to go. After all it would be a great shame to be put off such a valuable service just because a few practitioner behave like 'the broccoli police'.

Don't be put off, and don't put up with second best. Health coaching can be the most wonderful tool to help you enjoy a greater vibrancy and wellbeing in your life and if you stop to think about it for a moment, why should you accept someone else's answers, when just a little bit of help and encouragement you can find your own.

Anne Marshall is one of the UK's leading Health Coaches and author of The Health Factor: Coach Yourself To Better Health.

Known as a highly intuitive and fun loving motivational Coach, Anne works with both individuals and organisations to help improve wellbeing.

If you would like to know if you could be one of Anne's select private clients, or if you would like her advise on improving the wellness culture of your workplace you can contact her directly at www.AnneMarshall.com

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