Individual coaching is necessary to challenge, motivate and empower a person to begin – and continue – their quest for better health and wellness.  The individual coaching sessions help a person:

1.      To recognize and acknowledge their present wellness status

2.      To define for themselves the reasons for their seeking the level of wellness they desire.

3.      To understand the need for changes in their lifestyle to achieve their desired level of wellness.

4.      To identify the most desirable opportunities to increase their wellness

5.      To identify how best to capitalize on those opportunities

6.      To provide the support, empowerment and encouragement necessary to convert those opportunities into ever increasing wellness

7.      To provide a point of accountability for maintaining their commitment to increase their wellness 

These individual coaching sessions are conducted in a positive and encouraging atmosphere. They become mutual explorations of the person’s health status, where they would like to be and their motivating reasons for seeking improved wellness.  When the coach and the person agree on the wellness goals, then appropriate lifestyle activities and/or changes are recommended. 

Before the initial coaching session, the person will complete a Wellness Profile questionnaire, and the questionnaire is processed for evaluation by a computer program with a large database for comparison.  The initial coaching session includes an extensive interview of the person’s lifestyle including, but not limited to, typical dietary intake, physical activities (exercise), sleep habits, elimination, hazard exposure, and certainly, family disease history (genetic predisposition), and their own specific health concerns. 

The interview information is then integrated with the results from the questionnaire, which indicates the physical symptoms and their severity that the person is experiencing.  With this integration, clear and specific recommendations can be provided by the coach – all tailored specifically to that person’s desires and needs. 

In many – MANY – cases, the most significant factor in poor health, stamina and energy is poor diet and inadequate nutrition.  Therefore, the most important recommendation may be a supplementation program to bring the nutritional value of a person’s intake up to an adequate level.  The heavy reliance of most Americans on processed and fast food means a life lived at a level of sub-clinical malnutrition.  Optimum health cannot be obtained with a knife, fork and spoon, so supplementation is no longer an option; it is a necessity for optimum health. 

The coaching session(s) will also provide recommendations focused on the other lifestyle aspects which are important to wellness. 

With rapport established between employee and coach and positive results are obtained by the implementation of the initial coaching recommendations, follow-on coaching sessions will be continued at the discretion of the employee and the coach.  Periodically the Wellness Profile may be repeated at no cost so that continuing coaching sessions will evaluate the progress of the individual toward wellness and adjustments made just as in any continuing counseling situation.  These adjustments will be suggested specifically to meet each individual’s changing needs. 

We must recognize that behavioral changes seldom occur in a short time period (a few days), but require weeks or months.  In most cases of sub-optimum wellness, attitudinal and behavioral changes must occur in the life patterns of diet, exercise, sleep, etc. for wellness to become a priority in a person’s life; this simply takes time, persistence and willingness.  Continued coaching will be necessary to empower and encourage the person to make the necessary changes in order to achieve their goal of greater wellness.