This tailored approach meets members where they are, helps them gain new skills, and create actionable goals that move them closer to their highest wellbeing.

Our wellness coaches are highly experienced behavior change specialists that help members achieve lasting results through proven techniques, while being a trusted accountability partner. They motivate people to set and reach realistic goals. Premise Health corporate wellness coaches are held to the highest standards and are required to be certified by Wellcoaches® or by a National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching approved training program.

Wellcoaches® partners with both the American College of Sports Medicine and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine to develop science-backed coaching tools and processes that help people change, grow, and thrive. Along with personalized wellness coaching, our teams engage members through seminars and programs that help support and encourage positive behavior changes.

These initiatives include topics like mindfulness and stress management. Our integrated care team allows providers to collaborate across products and create innovative programs that combine wellness coaching, fitness, behavioral health, and more to engage and strengthen member wellbeing.

Virtual visits allow wellness coaches to get an inside look into member habits. From helping them read their food labels to modifying recipes to be healthier, members receive a personalized experience that further elevates their goal to get, stay, and be well.

In addition, the My Premise Health member portal makes progress and goal-tracking easier than ever with the ability to sync activity trackers and other medical devices. This gives providers a complete picture of member health. Motivational interviewing has been creeping into the medical profession as well, with great success.

With the intensive focus on it I received in my coaching training, I now put it in the forefront in my interactions with patients, trying to really hear what they are saying and to engage them as much as possible in coming up with solutions for the various health issues that arise.

This means that instead of rooting around for problems to dwell on, a coach will work with you to harness your strengths, in order to improve the health behaviors you want to address. Coaching is effective for people managing a variety of health conditions. Coaching is a relatively new field, and it is an unregulated industry, so you do not need any certification to practice as a health coach.

There is no strict definition of what a health coach even is, which adds to the confusion. Among the most popular and well-respected are: The National Society of Health Coaches, The American Council on Exercise, Dr. Sears Wellness Institute, Duke Integrative Medicine, and Wellcoaches School of Coaching which is where I was trained.

It is strongly recommended that you choose a certified coach, to ensure that they have a certain level of training and experience.

The time commitment and cost of coaching are highly variable. Some people do very brief coaching — even one session — for a discrete problem, such as whether or not to accept a job offer, whereas others may participate in coaching for months or years, for something like managing weight, diabetes, depression, or hypertension.

The cost varies with the skill and experience of the coach. As mentioned previously, some employers and medical plans may cover this, as there is abundant evidence that, for example, health coaching around issues such as weight loss can significantly lower healthcare costs.

It is important to note that coaches take privacy very seriously, and they have a professional code of ethics, but there are not the same HIPAA-level privacy protections as there are when you visit a medical office.

Coaching appears to be as effective when administered remotely by phone or the Internet when compared with face-to-face coaching. This provides great flexibility, as coaching can be performed in person, over the phone, or via videoconferencing. Coaches enter the field from a wide variety of different backgrounds, and it might be an advantage to pick a coach who has a background in a health or wellness-related field, though many extremely talented coaches come from careers in different realms.

Unlike health fads that come and go, health coaching has strong evidence behind it backing its effectiveness for improving health and well-being. Becoming a health coach has been deeply rewarding to me, because it is rare in life that you get to promote happiness, build resiliency, save people money, and help people live longer and more fulfilling lives at the same time.

Peter Grinspoon, MD , Contributor. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.

Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Positive emotions have been linked with better health, longer life, and greater well-being in numerous scientific studies.

On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease, as people react to these feelings with raised blood pressure and stiffening of blood vessels.

Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, mindfulness, and inner strength is a guide to the concepts that can help you find well-being and happiness, based on the latest research. Thanks for visiting.

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