What is a Nurse Health Coach?

What is Coaching and How does it Help Me?

The International Coaching Federation (ICF), defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.

We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment."

What is a Health and Wellness Coach?

A health and wellness coach helps clients work through their health or wellness goals. Examples of areas are weight loss, fostering healthy lifestyle habits, fitness, and nutrition. They may, or may not have a professional license in health. Many great health and wellness coaches exist, and many are licensed health experts in their area.

So What is a Nurse Health Coach?

The difference is simple - the depth of knowledge, training, and clinical knowledge is second to none, compared to a non-medically trained health coach. A nurse health and wellness coach has the expertise and training to navigate disease and preventative health practices. Nurse Health coaches work with clients navigating serious health events, life-changing adjustment planning, and in all stages of life, to name just a few.

As a Nurse Health and Wellness Coach

As a coach, I work with a client to help them work through a major health challenge or goal, setting out a plan and keeping them focused and on track. My extensive specialist clinical background is advantageous to clients, in understanding health challenges and goals. I know how a health system works and have abundant resources for my clients to help them make informed decisions.

Hang on a Minute, so What is a Nurse Consultant?

If I was working as a nurse consultant, a client would be hiring me to do specific work for them under my nursing license - advising, and offering my expert opinions, assessing a patient, etc. As a nurse consultant we are contracted/hired by an individual, or family to hwlp advocate for them in some way. In this case it is usually to have an clinical expert provide a 3rd party review of current nursing care, or for nursing care need for planning in the future, such a progressive disease like dementia, cancer, neurological disease and more. We are often hired temporarily to help fix a problem, like quality improvement, risk management, or as a subject matter expert for innovations in medical devices, or marketing and business development, or for a case with a legal firm. Nurse consultants provide information, knowledge, clinical input, offer solutions and opinions, and deliver a product such as a project, paper, or research report.

Tips on choosing a health and wellness coach vs a nurse health and wellness coach

Anyone can set up as a coach and claim to specialize as a wellness coach. But make sure to ask what qualifies them to be a health and wellness coach, and are they a certified coach?

In summary....

Many fine people are wonderful coaches, and specialize in nutrition, fitness, and well-being, and have the training, expertise, and knowledge to back it up. Make sure to choose the right specialist health coach for the task, so If your goal is fitness - you work with a coach who is qualified not only as a fitness coach, but is certified as a coach too. The same goes for a nutrition coach. If you need someone for clinical expertise - choose a nurse health coach.