The medical director of Midland Health’s Lifestyle Medicine Center has outlined how professional health and wellness coaches at the center can help patients.
he center has used professional health and wellness coaches in its successful Diabetes Reversal Program, Dr. Padmaja Patel wrote in an article on the Midland Health website.
The center’s health and wellness coaches work with patients to “develop and implement personal wellness plans,” reminding them that their health will be affected if they don’t change habits and behaviors, Patel said in the article.
“A good health coach always knows how to celebrate your successes and energize your desire to change,” Patel said in the article. “Health and wellness coaches are practitioners and life-long students of coaching psychology, a field focused on the scientific study of happiness and well-being.”
Health coaching has several stages, including assessments, a 60- to 90-minute coaching session in which a wellness plan is developed and 30- to 40-minute coaching sessions in which progress is reviewed, Patel wrote.
“In subsequent 30- to 40-minute coaching sessions, each week, month or quarter, you and your coach review the progress toward your vision and goals, explore and resolve the most pressing issues, learn something new and agree on additional goals until the next session,” Patel said.
“Now amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more important for us to recognize that healthy behaviors not only help us boost our immune system, they also help lower the burden of chronic diseases, and in turn lower overall mortality from the COVID-19 infection,” he said.