Health Coaching

Health coaching takes the point of view that you, the client, have the answers and on some level know what you need to do to achieve your goals. The answers might be part of your conscious awareness. You may turn to a health coach to help you stick to your plans to increase the quality of your life, eat well, exercise, meditate, relax or laugh more. The solutions might be deep within your subconscious, and you turn to a health coach to ask the questions that encourage you to see things in a different way and allow the information on how you can improve the quality of your life to percolate to the surface.

Questions and answers come from you, the client, from your inner wisdom, the power of your mind and subconscious. The coach does not deliver answers. The coach asks questions, inviting discovery. You may never have sought the answer before the coach asks the question - the question creates the channel for self-discovery - but the answer is already there. And with the answer is healing, energy, love and laughter enough to change your life.

You, the client, are more resourceful, more effective, and generally more satisfied when you come up with your own solutions. And because you've chosen the solution, you are more likely to follow through with action. When what you really need is expert advice, you will have the motivation to find that, too.

More and more cancer patients, including mesothelioma patients, are giving Health Coaching a try for more joy and satisfaction in their lives; pain and stress relief; and to make choices that hasten recovery after mesothelioma surgery and reduce the side effects of certain medications, including chemotherapy.

How it Works

As a client, you typically fill out an intake form including a list of your goals. Often you are encouraged to list goals in a positive way as something positive you have already attained, rather than something to get rid of in the future. If you want to be pain or stress free, the goal might be phrased, "I wake up feeling good, relaxed, with lots of energy."

If you want less rib pain, the goal might be phrased, “I feel free to take a big breath of air, nourishing my body with oxygen and feel comfortable and relaxed as I breath." Some of the benefits of health coaching hinge on the imagery or visualization of already having the outcome you want. Health coaches may also incorporate energy medicine modalities into the sessions, such as Reiki or Matrix Energetics depending on their other training.

Often you start by looking at a scale 0 to 10 with 10 being the perfect state of that goal. Where are you on that scale? What would the perfect ten look like? How would your body feel? How would your relationships be influenced if you had that perfect ten? How would you wake up in the morning? What would your life be like when you go to bed at night?

The Health Coach may also help you look at things in your life and environment that are "energy sappers" and support you to formulate a plan on how to change things so that you have more energy to heal and enjoy your life. In the book Co-Active Coaching, Laura Whitworth refers to coaching as an "Intuition Fitness Center."

Listening to you, in person or over the phone, at each step of the way, the Health Coach will take you through questions, allowing you to formulate and carry out plans that improve your existence and your environment.

Life Coaching

Somewhat different than health coaching, life coaching focuses on a broader spectrum of personal wellbeing. Life coaches can come from a number of different backgrounds, with the foundation of their experiences ranging anywhere from the health to the financial sector. Life coaches work closely with clients to help them find their way through transitional phases in life, help them mentally overcome the effects of cancer and other debilitating disease, and assist in helping improve their relationships. Life coaches can offer health and wellness coaching as an addendum to their overall therapy program, but their primary expertise lies within aligning individual goals and improving wellness. With that being said, all those considering seeking the advice or consultation of a life coach are encouraged to do so, including family members and loved ones of those battling difficult disease life malignant mesothelioma.

Sources

American Cancer Institute (2009) A 6-step coaching system that is so effective that the American Cancer Institute says it's the best system they've seen for smoking cessation.

Burnham, K (2010) Eleven ways health coaches can meet the needs of people with neurological disorders or injured nervous systems
http://www.visualizehealth.net/Placebo_Effect_Parkinson_s.html 

Rock, D. (2009). Your brain at work : strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter all day long. New York, Harper Business.

Whitworth, L. (2007). Co-active coaching : new skills for coaching people toward success in work and life. Mountain View, Calif., Davies-Black Pub.

Wilkie, D., D. Berry, et al. (2010). "Effects of coaching patients with lung cancer to report cancer pain." West J Nurs Res 32(1): 23-46. [Medline Abstract].