5 Reasons to Work With a Health Coach
Hey, I’m Kaelyn.
Registered nurse and integrative health coach who loves helping women find holistic wellness.
Over the last couple of years, health coaches have become more common. Not only on social media, blog posts, and TikTok, but working in partnership with health offices and wellness clinics too. As a nurse and someone who has worked in healthcare for the past 10 years, I think this is amazing!
I have witnessed first hand the fall outs of healthcare and have seen the need that health coaches can respond to. If you are not sure what the role of a health coach is, I would start off with this blog post where I teach you what a health coach is and how they can help someone achieve wellness.
Maybe you have thought about working with a health coach before? Or maybe you find yourself stuck and frustrated with your symptoms and don’t really know where to start? I promise you, I’ve been there too..
My Experience Working With a Health Coach
Four years ago I was deeply struggling with my health- I was dealing with anxiety, painful, cystic acne, migraines, irregular menstrual cycles, and mood swings. Even though I had a degree in nursing and had worked with health professionals my whole career, I feel like I had no idea where to start.
Every time I got online to google advice I was overwhelmed by how many different (and contradictory) recommendations I found. It truly seemed like there were 100 different “right” paths to take but I had not Idea the right one for me.
Around that time I was seeing a health care provider who transferred into a bigger functional medicine office. When you became a patient in the bigger practice, they provided you with a free consultation with a health coach to help facilitate different resources and education you may need for your personal health goals. I remember thinking at the time it was silly and would probably end up being a waste of time…
While talking to the health coach, one of the things she recommended was speaking to a nutritionist for personalized diet and nutrition advice.
I went along with it but still wasn’t fully convinced it would be helpful. I had gotten so cynical about the healthcare system after feeling like I never truly received answers for me.
I met with the nutritionist and she asked me over 30 minutes of questions about my health history, gut health, symptoms, and medication history. When she heard that I had been on oral birth control for several years prior to my symptoms starting, she developed a plan for me to work on reestablishing my nutrient stores that birth control in known to deplete.
I was shocked. I had finally received personal advice that went after the root of the issue, not just masking the symptoms I was experiencing.
It was after that consultation that I finally felt like I had some direction and focus. I knew that my body was depleted of the nutrients it needed from years of stress, poor sleep, binge eating, and birth control. I was on a mission to truly nourish myself and give my body what it needed to function well again.
Is Working With a Health Coach Right for You?
You don’t know where to begin
Similar to how I was feeling when I first started struggling with my health, sometimes you just have no idea where to even start. If you are overwhelmed with what the right option for you is, a health coach may be able to look at your personal, individual situation, history, and lifestyle and help make recommendations that are best suited for you.
You thrive with accountability
Do you always find yourself “starting again on Monday”? Or making promises to yourself and never following through?
A few years ago I was seriously lacking personal motivation to workout and eat healthy. I was a brand new nurse working a crazy schedule in the emergency room and my personal health was taking the back burner.
There was a local gym that was offering a six week health challenge- you paid $500 to participate and if, after the six weeks, you had lost 20 pounds you got your money back.
I signed up, met with coaches weekly, followed their meal plan, and attended their fitness classes several times per week.
And after the six weeks? I didn’t get my money back. But that was okay because I had achieved my goal.
I had created a fitness habit.
I had built muscle and self-confidence.
I was in the habit of meal prepping and prioritizing my nutrition, despite having a busy schedule.
For me, I was investing in the accountability that I needed to create change.
Sometimes you have to have some skin in the game to take your goals seriously.
You have a wellness related goal that you are wanting to achieve.
Maybe you want to balance your hormones? Start exercising regularly? Manage your stress more effectively? Or nourish your body to prepare for pregnancy?
An integrative health coach can walk alongside you and make sure you are moving towards your goal. We can brainstorm together and create a course of action, one step at a time.
Working with a health coach can also help you to find your true goal. What do I mean?
Maybe you tell me you want to lose 10 pounds. After talking about why you want to lose this weight, we discover that what you actually want is to feel confident. Maybe losing 10 pounds will help that confidence grow? Or maybe, creating a sustainable lifestyle change where you are caring for you body will help to also grow that confidence? Maybe building muscle and creating strength will also build that confidence?
Maybe it isn't about the 10 pounds, but more so, getting to a point where you are loving your body and feeling confident in how you are showing up for your day to day life.
You have been diagnosed with a medical condition or chronic illness and aren’t sure what it means.
My primary education and career is as a registered nurse. This means that I have formal education and experience giving patients education on medical conditions, lifestyle changes, symptom management, and signs of an emergency or need for further medical evaluation.
This is not medical advise. I always recommend working with a medical professional to help diagnose, prescribe, and test as needed. But I can help to fill this gap of knowledge.
My other education is in integrative health- this means that I can take your medical diagnosis and help you to create a full holistic plan that pays attention to you on a whole body level: mind, body, and soul.
You are ready to change your life.
Progress does not come without struggle. If you always do what you have always done, you won’t make change.
And if you are wanting to change your health and create more wellness in your life, you will have to do something different.
Sometimes when we are so comfortable with our routines and behaviors it is hard to see what changes would be most beneficial. As an integrative health coach, I look at all areas of your life: relationships, stress, physical fitness, nutrition, sleep, finances, and more to see where your personal trigger points may be.
Then we work together to create a personal plan so that you can make actual progress.
I will be your cheerleader when you achieve your goals, and your accountability when you fall short.
I decided to become a health coach because I am passionate about holistic wellness. I saw the gaps in our current health care system and wanted to work with people to truly better their health by changing their lifestyle.
It isn’t a quick fix, or an instant change.
It is showing up day in and day out, sometimes when you don’t want to.
It is investing your energy today because you want to show up better tomorrow.
It is creating the small changes that create sustainable habits.
It is creating a foundation of nutrition, fitness, and stress management to consistently show up your best.
If this sounds like something that you are interested in, i’d love to hop onto a discovery call with you and get you more information.
As always, you can reach out by email as well at hello@wellnesswithkaelyn.com
Let’s work together!
We will set goals, chat strategy, share laughs, and get you closer to a life of holistic wellness.
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