Changing Health Behaviour
There is a growing recognition that simply telling people what to do is not effective in bringing about long-term behaviour health change. This creates frustration, repeated failures and reduced satisfaction for all concerned.
Health Coaching is a practice in which health professionals apply evidence-based health psychology, coaching and counselling principles to assist their patients or clients to achieve positive health and lifestyle outcomes through cognitive and behaviour change.
Who is health coaching for?
Cognitive-behavioural approaches have been shown to dramatically improve health outcomes and can be used for different areas of behaviour change:
- Weight management, nutrition management, energy and sleep management
- Worry and stress, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks
- High risk factors and many physical disorders such diabetes and chronic pain
Benefits of Health coaching in Primary care
- Health coaching provides health education, health recommendations and behaviour change assistance all in one structured process
- It recognises change as a complex process and that ‘one size does not fit all’
- Helps patient/client motivation towards readiness to change and alters unhelpful thinking patterns
- Addresses barriers (behavioural, emotional, situational and cognitive)
- Increases patient/client self-regulation and self-management of lifestyle risk factors and treatment regimes associated with chronic illnesses
- Patients/clients become more effectively engaged in health behaviour change
- Improved adherence to medical and treatment recommendations.
- Saves GP/health practitioner time by eliminating repeat patient/client visits with the same problems
- Eases frustration. For example both GP/health practitioner and patient/client feel they are moving forward and achieving results
- Increases satisfaction and patient outcome
- Releases more time for GP or Health Practitioner
Health Coaching can be conducted individually face to face, or by telephone which works equally well. The group coaching programmes provide an efficient and effective method of coaching.
To start this service or for more information please get in touch.
