Health coaches

Health coaching is based on the saying that if you give a person a fish, they will eat for a day, but if you teach them to fish, they will eat for a lifetime.

It’s not about one person rescuing another; it’s about giving someone the resources to help themselves. Rescuing is appropriate for acute care when doctors need to take over and do something or tell you what to do. But if you have an ongoing health issue, rather than someone telling you what to do, a health coach works alongside you so you can manage your condition well and achieve the goals that you set.

Just like sports coaches, the role of a health coach is to inspire confidence in you, share knowledge with you and find ways to motivate you to achieve your goals.

They might help you manage your appointments or your medication, answer your questions about your condition, or explain more fully why the doctor recommended you take certain actions. They will help you work out what you want to achieve and will help you find the support to do that.

Health coaches have five roles, which are to:

1. provide support for you to manage your condition yourself
2. bridge the gap between you and your doctor
3. help you find your way around the healthcare system
4. offer you emotional support
5. be your ongoing first person to contact if you have a question.

Image credit: American Academy of Family Physicians, Fam Pract Mgt, 2010

Video: What is a health coach?

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(Listening to Families, NZ, 2023)