The Wellness Council

Before you call it quits and decide to give up on having a healthier lifestyle, you might want to consider what a health coach can do for you. A lot of individuals  get so frustrated working out on their own that they give up before they really have a chance to succeed.

Luckily, by hiring a health coach you can avoid this issue, and end up with the body that you have been dreaming of. But before you jump forward too far, you need to know what a health coach is as well as what one can do for you.

Normally speaking, a health coach is a fitness trainer, dietician, and much more all rolled into one. While this may sound like an impossible job on the surface, the fact of the matter is that health coaches are very good at what they do.

These professionals have many years of experience in the health industry, and have a knack for communicating what they know to others on a very personal level.

The primary goal of any health coach is to work with you so that you can reach the goals that you have set forth for yourself. and guess what?

When you do not know what you want to accomplish your health coach can help in that area as well. Simply put, they’re there to be certain that you’re on the right path to success.

Health coaches come from a selection of different backgrounds. Although most individuals  do not go through schooling thinking that they want to be a health coach, over time they begin to transform into this career.

For example, many health coaches have backgrounds in personal training, bodybuilding, health and nutrition, exercise science, and much more.

Once you hire a health coach, he or she will be at your disposal day in and day out. Many individuals  rely on coaches to help them on an individual basis. and although this is a good idea for some, online health coaches are becoming more popular due to busy schedules.

So before you think that you do not have time to work with a health coach, you should really reconsider. They will be willing to work with you in the capacity that best suits your lifestyle.

While working with a health coach you will be able to get specialist advice on reaching your goals. When you want to lose weight, you will be supplied with a fitness program that’ll get you moving in the right direction. the same thing holds true for those individuals  who want to eat healthier, get in better shape, etc.

As you can see, a health coach is more than just your average Joe. They’re trained in multiple disciplines, and work with clients for help them reach their goals.

Wellness incorporates many facets of our daily lives. From the amount of sleep to the water we drink, to the food that we eat and the activity that we maintain, our health is dependent upon many factors of our lifestyle.

Working to improve our wellness can be difficult to achieve on our own. That is why we can utilize the assistance of a health coach.

What’s a health coach?

A health coach is a highly educated specialist who is trained in behavioral change. They hold degrees in Exercise Science, Health Education, Exercise Physiology, Counseling and Education.

A health coach assists person in recognizing current health concerns as well as preventing future health related issues. These specialists work with clients in a variety of ways including; face-to-face, telephone, instant messaging and / or via email.

The latter of those is also referred to as electronic coaching and is the most efficient and cost effective method of working with a health coach.

Whatever method is used for communication a health coach provides a personalized program specifically designed to address the needs and concerns of each individual client.

How can a health coach help me?

A lot of individuals maintain several healthy habits in their lives. One individuals may  be a fitness enthusiast; another may abstain from alcohol and tobacco; while another might maintain a healthy daily diet.

Notwithstanding, overall wellness is much like a puzzle, and a high level of health is only achieved when each piece of this puzzle is in place. A health coach will assist a personal in correcting his or her missing piece of the puzzle.

An online health coach may address the needs of sleep deprivation, stress management, diet, or any number of health related issues. the health coach will motivate, guide, and provide valuable resources to provide clients with the necessary tools to make life changes.

How’s a health coach unique?

A health coach serves a distinctly different purpose than a personal trainer, a counselor, or a supportive family member or friend. First, a health coach is an specialist in his or her specific field.

When a client decides the need for a health coach he or she’ll complete a health risk (assessment|appraisal}. Based on this assessment the client will be assigned a health coach especially selected to address his or her individual needs.

Next, a health coach is available electronically 24 hours per day. Through online communication patrons have the opportunity to contact a health coach as much or as little as he might like.

Communication with a health coach may range from daily to weekly, and can occur by e-mail, journal or a combination of both. Finally, a health coach is trained to assist in changing the way that the customer thinks and the way that they view themselves.

A health coach maintains the purpose of helping the patron to work towards achieving a higher quality in life. This happens by addressing the cause of a certain problem rather than simply addressing the effects of a problem.

A health coach will help individuals recognize their needs, determine goals, and take the necessary steps towards achieving these goals.

While wellness are growing concerns in our daily lives, it may seem challenging to make the time to educate oneself and address the needs or our well being.

Working with the assistance of a health coach enables us to focus on our specific needs and make progress towards changing.

Do you find it challenging to stay motivated when trying to make changes to your health? Are you aware that changes ought to be made in your daily life but you don’t know where to begin? If so then wellness coaching might just be the solution you’ve been seeking.

Wellness coaching is a service provided by trained experts who work with you individually to help you reach your wellness goals. Wellness coaching motivates, guides, and supports individual’s for reach sustainable behavioral changes by offering creative solutions to their problems.

Wellness coaching provides individually designed programs to meet your unique needs by focusing on physical, mental, and emotional health. They help you become proactive in your life by eliminating unhealthy behaviors and making wellness a priority.

Benefits of Wellness Coaching for Your Employees

Employees could benefit  from wellness coaching in a variety of ways. Wellness coaching can help person decrease major health risks in their lives by changing high risk behaviors.

Some of the many reasons why employees work with wellness coaches are to get in shape, lose weight, reduce stress, quit tobacco use, and develop balance in their lives. Wellness coaches assist individuals with current health problems as well as preventing future health issues.

Because each program that a wellness coach creates is unique to suit the needs of the patron, they can be certain that it’ll be a program that is right for them. Many busy workers mistakenly believe that they do not have the time for wellness coaching.

Fortunately wellness coaching professionals are able to provide their services in a variety of convenient ways. While electronic coaching through the use of e-mails and instant messaging has become a well-liked method due to its convenience, telephone and face-to-face interactions may also be used.

Employees have the ability to achieve their goals and improve their lives through the assistance of wellness coaching.

Advantages of Wellness Coaching for the Company

The overall advantages of wellness coaching for a business are remarkable. Employee high risk behaviors like use of tobacco and obesity cost corporations millions of dollars every year.

These high risk behaviors often cause preventable disease and keep employees from coming to work. Wellness coaching guides, supports, hold patrons accountable, and ensures that they receive continued motivation to help them achieve their wellness goals and eliminate unhealthful behaviors in their lives.

By starting wellness programs and using wellness coaching in their organizations, employers reduce the risk of preventable disease in their organizations.

This improves the overall health of employees, decreases healthcare and insurance costs, decreases absenteeism, and ultimately enhances performance and productivity.

When employees experience the advantages of higher levels wellness in their lives it causes an improvement in job attitude, energy, and morale.

Companies that utilize wellness coaching for their workers experience the advantages of higher productivity.

In today’s fast paced world our busy lives leave little time, energy, or motivation for individuals  to focus on their own needs.

Those that do seek to improve their wellness traditionally turn to friends, family, specialists and published materials for support and information. All too often those support structures fail to make a lasting difference.

This happens for a number of reasons. Friends and family may not be capable of helping. Working with professionals is time eating and costly and very few of us are effective at taking published, generic information and applying it to our own lives.

Gold’s Fitness Center Winston-Salem has developed a new web-based program that expands the range of support available to those wishing to make healthy lifestyle changes.

The program, Gold’s Fitness Center Health Coach, focuses on the daily challenges of making positive lifestyle changes and has the advantages of being more customized and efficient than generic, published information and less intense and costly than specialist face-to-face counseling.

Utilizing a collaborative problem-solving model the goal is not to give advice, but rather to help individuals think through the issues and come to their own conclusions.

The coach offers ideas for consideration, helps the individual generate ideas of their own, helps the individual consider the various ideas, select a direction, and then supports them in the implementation of their decision.

Difficult the conventional wisdom that relationship formation requires in-person interaction; Gold’s Fitness Center has found that members and coaches are able to build meaningful relationships via online communication.

Utilizing industry leading technology a Gold’s Health Club Health Coach is able to offer members a secure, user-friendly personal website where they can access their coach in a real-time or via email with responses delivered in less than 24 hours.

The site authorizes coaches to hand pick relevant articles that are written on a consumer level and that are targeted to the issue at hand and add them to a member’s online personal library.

The site also contains various programs and tools which are designed to assist the coach and member to set, implement and track specific objectives.

The collaborative relationship formed between member and coach enhances the quality ice and efficiency of service. the familiarity that a coach develops with a member’s circumstances and significant relationships authorizes them over time to more quickly offer useful ideas and assistance.

With traditional call-in assistance lines, the time intensive exercise of getting background and contextual information is repeated each time. IN that scenario efficiency is lost.

Moreover, Gold’s Fitness Club Health Coach has developed a protocol based on key principals from the field of psychotherapy and behavior modification.

The protocol is embedded within a proprietary problem-solving that is based on the theory that people  often act without a good understanding of a problem. Their responses then complicate matters and often make matters worse.

Gold’s Fitness Club Health Coach offers the opportunity to step back, take a second look at what’s going on, and rapidly asses the factors influencing the situation. But, having an idea of “what” to do is very different than actually “doing” something about it.

Individuals  need help with the follow-through. Additionally, after figuring out “what” to do, Gold’s Fitness Center Health Coach focuses on implementation.

Here Gold’s Gym Health Coach builds on sound research and experience from the field of behavior modification that has to do with goal-establishing and with implementation support.

The result is a highly customized, effective, user-friendly way of bettering the wellness of an individual. the efficient nature of the internet based relationship allows Gold’s Fitness Club Health Coach to keep the price point within reach of virtually anyone.

Information to evaluate your program comes from routinely collected screening and follow-up data of your program that look at process and outcomes of your program.

The Employee Medical Program has available a computerized case-management system which includes queries that allow easy assessment of process and outcome results at any point in time.

Process Investigation

Process examination looks at the program’s impact as seen at various points in time.

Information that is gathered from the various forms that wellness employees fill out ought to supply you with the following –

• How many staff members were screened?

• How many employees who were referred to a doctor went?

• How many employees who expressed interest in health betterment programs went?

• How many employees who were referred to health improvement programs went?

• How many staff members who went to health improvement programs completed them?

• How many employees are in follow-up caseload?

You can use this type of process evaluation to evaluate and learn about the health of your program.

Wellness Program Outcome Examination

A central objective of the program is to improve the health of workers. Information on how to judge how well your program is meeting this objective is called “outcome examination” because you are reviewing  the results or outcome of your program.

In wellness programs, objectives are measured by specific (outcomes) behavior changes and reductions in health risk levels. Have staff members reduced their blood pressure? Have they lost weight? Are they exercising more? is alcohol consumption at a safe level?

For  instance these are the types of questions you are able to ask to find out when you’re reaching your objectives –  

• for workers with high blood pressure (140 / 90 or higher or on medication) at screening, what percentage have it under control (below 140 / 90) a year later?

• What’s the change in average blood pressure (BP) levels among all staff members with high blood pressure (BP) 1 year after screening? Two years later?

• for staff members with high blood cholesterol levels (above 240) at screening, what percentage has reduced their cholesterol to borderline-high levels (200-239)?

• for staff members with borderline-high blood cholesterol levels, what percentages have reduced their cholesterol to the desirable range (below 200)?

• What’s the change in average cholesterol levels among all workers with high and borderline-high blood cholesterol levels 1 year after screening? Two years later?

• for workers who were overweight at screening, what percentage have lost 20 pounds or more a year later? Ten pounds or more? What is the average weight loss?

• for staff members who were smokers at screening, what percentages have quit tobacco use? for at least a year?

• for workers whose level of alcohol consumption put them at-risk at screening, what percentage have quit drinking alcohol? Are consuming alcohol at levels considered safe by CDC guidelines? Have decreased their drinking, but are still at-risk?

• for employees, what percentages are exercising at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes?

• If levels of fitness were measured, what percentages have improved fitness?

Make certain to set a regular time such as every 6 months to look at which employees your program is reaching and how effective it is at assisting them reduce their health risks. Use this information to make new decisions about how to direct your program efforts. Then make the change you need to improve your program.

Some may feel that analysis is a frill; it’s not. Examination is a necessary part of a wellness program. You’ll need to know what is working and what is not.

Decision-makers who fund the program need to be updated on the performance of the program. Investigation will provide you with necessary data to maintain and expand the program and convince management to continue to support the program.

The keys to a successful wellness program are persistent one-on-one outreach and follow-up counseling to encourage health improvement, adherence to treatment regimens, changes in lifestyle behaviors, and to prevent relapse.

Periodic outreach and follow-up procedures provide workers with a safety net which keeps them involved in the program and avoids treatment dropout and relapse.

Counselors ought to follow up on workers at least every 6 months throughout the career of the staff member at the worksite. the goals of follow-up are to –  

• Involve employees who have health risks in treatment and risk reduction programs.

• Involve all staff members in health improvement programs and worksite-wide wellness activities.

• Support employees in carrying out the risk reduction or health betterment activities they have chosen.

• Be sure to help workers obey their treatment regimens.

• Avoid relapse.

• Avoid staff members from dropping out.

• Make sure to help staff members maintain behavior changes.

Follow-up may be conducted in individuals, by phone, mail, and via computer if the technology is available. Most preferable is an in-person contact.

Computer programs which may do case load management are available to help counselors track information and perform follow-up.

Priorities for Follow-Up

Individuals  with multiple health risks ought to be at the top of the list. Individuals  in key positions such as union leaders or department heads with health risks should also be contacted early so that they learn what the program is about and can share the information with others.

Individuals  who need a medical analysis for high blood pressure or cholesterol should also be targeted early. Many staff members will have seen their physicians so of the screening, but some will need more encouragement to do so. Those with no health risks could be followed up annually.

A follow-up counseling session can take 20 to 45 minutes. at minimum, follow-up must include those who were told to seek medical examination for high blood pressure (BP) readings, high cholesterol readings, or borderline high blood cholesterol readings with 2 or more other risk factors.

It could include those who were identified as at-risk for one or more of the other major risk factors –  at-risk levels of alcohol consumption, being overweight, and having low HDL.

Follow-Up With Doctors

A letter (see forms) ought to be sent to the physician or clinic of each staff member who’s high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or is under a physician’s care.

The letter should explain the program and should include the employee’s relevant, current health measurements.

Along with the letter, send a self-addressed return envelope. Follow-up with the physician ought to be repeated every 6 months until it is determined that the employee is under satisfactory control.

Contacting the physician is important for three reasons –

• the doctors receive employees’ health measurements taken at the worksite.

• You receive the blood pressure and cholesterol readings the doctor takes and information on the treatment the doctor prescribes.

A lot of times the staff member doesn’t have this information or doesn’t remember it. the information could be used when counseling the staff member.

• Follow-up encourages doctors to pay closer attention to heart disease risk factors among their patients.

The menu approach offers workers a range of choices to support lifestyle changes. It permits individuals  to select the type of help that suits their schedules and preferences.

The four basic kinds of programs include –

• Courses

• Minigroups

• Guided self help

• Individual counseling

Classes

Classes (8 or more) can be an effective means of providing education and social support for behavior change. the length of a class can vary depending on topic requirements. It isn’t sufficient to offer only courses at a worksite.

A lot of employees are under time constraints with after work commitments and although they could be interested they simply cannot participate because of their schedules.

Workers could  be very eager to begin a program but because of lack of participants to meet class quotas, the program is canceled.

Many national organizations like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Weight Watchers, etc. offer classes; you should’ve little trouble in identifying a provider for class type programs.

You might want to contact your local hospital, health department, or YMCA for possible options. for selecting  a provider to provide a program you might want to review the section on program structure.

Minigroups

When there is not enough interest to create a class, those who are interested in a given health topic can be formed into a minigroup (2 to 7).

The minigroup can cover the same content as a class but do so in a less formal manner. Presentation of information and discussion is the major format of the minigroup.

Guided Self-Help

Most staff members don’t want formal help in making health changes; they prefer to do it on their own. In guided self-help, the wellness counselors provide support, materials, and encouragement.

Meeting times could be arranged and contact could be made either in person, by phone, or computer. Materials could be made available at the worksite, or mailed to the individual. Some worksites now make information available via intranets or the Internet.

Individual Counseling

Among the most successful ways to help individuals change and improve their health status is counseling (or coaching) on a one-on-one basis.

In published studies, wellness programs which incorporated individual counseling as part of the program process achieved significantly higher participation rates and achieved greater risk reduction/risk elimination than standard group programs. Studies have demonstrated that individual counseling is both cost effective and cost beneficial.

A wellness counselor ought to be trained in screening techniques, for in certain situations, they might be required to both screen individuals and counsel them. They should know how to do the following –  

• Review worker health risks

• Contact employees who have health risks.

• Counsel staff members on a one-on-one basis, helping them set goals, solve problems, and get professional help when they need it.

• Be certain to help employees follow their treatment recommendations and make lifestyle and health behavior changes.

• Recruit employees into health improvement programs, like weight loss and tobacco use cessation.

• Be sure to work with staff members on a one-on-one basis using guided self-help.

• Conduct classes and minigroups when necessary.

• Make certain to work with wellness committee members to plan and conduct worksite-wide wellness activities.

Wellness counselors are health generalists; they must’ve basic knowledge about a wide range of health topics and health risks.

Counselors should be able to consult with employees about their health problems and the treatments prescribed by their doctors.

They should have a good overview of nutrition, exercise physiology, pathophysiology of illness, pharmacology, psychology, and behavior change skills.

The educational program should include approaches to stress awareness/reduction at the environmental level and at the individual level.

Social, physical, and organizational stressors should be explained and methods to ease or elevate stressors should be presented.

At the individual level how changes in attitudes and behaviors help one to cope with stressors; learning techniques to minimize stress response, like meditation, relaxation response, and exercise.

Content of the program should provide the following –

• Identifying sources of stress

• Relationship of stress to health

• How the individual experiences stress, personal, family, work

• Solutions for coping and managing stress

• Techniques for reducing stress

• Value of stress, both negative and positive

• Practical steps of incorporating stress reduction into lifestyle

Personnel conducting stress management programs should’ve training in psychology, behavioral sciences, or related disciplines such as mental health experts, counselors, health educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Training in a reputable program on how to teach the stress management course including group process skills is a must.

A nutrition education program ought to include a nutritional needs assessment, education counseling, and referral as necessary.

Educational sessions and materials should include the following information –

• the relationship of nutrition and chronic diseases

• Improving consuming patterns

• Relationship of nutrition and proper weight maintenance

• Exercise

• Stress

• Blood pressure

• Cholesterol

• Diabetes and other chronic diseases.

• Nutritionally accurate information regarding the relationship of health to diet, including cholesterol, fats, fiber, alcohol, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and vitamin/mineral supplementation.

Methods for identifying healthier foods and incorporating low-calorie, high nutrient foods into eating habits. Guidelines for improving eating habits must be based on or consisitent with national recommendations such as the Food Guide Pyramid.

Instructor should be a registered dietitian, registered nurse, or have a baccalaureate degree or higher in health education with training in nutrition.

When an allied health specialist instructs the program, a consultation and review of the program design by a registered dietitian is advised.

It’s advised that tobacco use cessation programs subscribe to the Code of Practice for Smoking Cessation Programs.

Tobacco use cessation programs ought to be multi-component with a focus on skills to build positive voluntary behavior change practices.

Useful techniques include establishing reasons for quitting, understanding the smoking habit, various techniques for stopping and remaining a non-smoker, overcoming the problems of quitting, short-term goal setting, weight control, stress management, importance of exercise, relationship of alcohol consumption to urges to smoke. Use no aversive or frighten tactics.

In programs that use aids like the “patch” or medications like “Zyban” appropriate consultation should be available on the usage of these aids.

The instructor should’ve formal training in smoking cessation from a nationally recognized organization like American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, or a nationally recognized commercial program like Smoke Enders.

Evaluation of success is sometimes very dubious in use of tobacco cessation programs. Measurement of success ought to include participation rate, including the number beginning the program, the number completing the program, and the typical number per session.

Additionally included, number and percent who stopped smoking at the end of the program, and the number and percent who had not resumed smoking by the end of one year.