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A therapist or counselor takes care of your emotional and mental health by discussing feelings and experiences in your life that are causing stress or confusion, and can create a treatment plan for mental health conditions.   As such, a therapist tends to focus more on the past and present.

In contrast, coaches tend to focus more on the ‘here and now” and are future focused.

Health coaches use a client-centered approach wherein clients decide their goals, engage in self-discovery or active learning processes, build new habits, and self-monitor behaviors to increase accountability. 

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.

Using positive psychology coaching techniques can help clients achieve their goals, build resiliency, manage mood, tap into Character Strengths , and strengthen internal motivation to support behavioral change.

Source: functionalmedicinecoaching.org

The length of the coaching partnership varies depending on each client’s goals for coaching.  Sustainable change and building habits take time and relapse is common in the early maintenance phase of change.  Maintenance of a new behavior will only occur after the new behavior feels comfortable and is integrated into a person’s life.   Generally, the minimum time commitment required is at least 3 months with twice monthly meetings.   However, client’s may find it beneficial to work with a health coach for up to 6 months to one year depending on goals, financial resources available and the support and accountability desired.

Health Coaches empower their clients to take charge of their health, meet and exceed their wellness goals, and create lasting change. Coaches provide accountability and a personalized approach, and they help the client tap into their motivation and overcome roadblocks in order to continue moving forward. Many health coaching clients report improved quality of life, physical health improvements, improved emotional well-being, and feeling less stressed.

Health Coaches can help clients fix concerns such as: 

Stress Management Lifestyle health habits and changes for better wellbeing

Exercise and weight management

Healthy dietary choices

Time management

Personal organization

Managing a specific health condition 

Overcoming limiting beliefs

Quitting healthy habits such as smoking and excessive drinking

The functional medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and leverages that data to direct personalized treatment plans that lead to improved patient outcomes.

By addressing root cause, rather than symptoms, practitioners become oriented to identifying the complexity of disease. They may find one condition has many different causes and, likewise, one cause may result in many different conditions. As a result, functional medicine treatment targets the specific manifestations of disease in each individual.

Source: IFM.org

The Functional Medicine Coaching Academy offers the only Health Coach Certification Program in collaboration with IFM, sharing many of the same faculty members and much of the same course content. Functional Medicine Health Coaches use Functional Medicine principles and positive psychology coaching techniques to:

•  Provide a positive relationship that empowers the client to make lasting changes for better health and well-being.
• Educate clients and help them understand their doctor’s plan of care
• Offer tools and accountability when client’s implement new lifestyle changes
• Motivate clients using positive psychology techniques
• Guide clients through dietary changes, food plans and physical activity protocols
• Lead clients through group coaching sessions on specific topics

The Functional Medicine Coaching Academy is an approved Health and Wellness Coach Training and Education Program by the National Board for Health and Wellness.    

Source: Functionalmedicinecoaching.org

The coach:

•  Provides objective assessment and observations that foster the individual’s self-awareness and awareness of others
• Listens closely to fully understand the individual’s circumstances
• Acts as a sounding board in exploring possibilities and implementing thoughtful planning and decision making
• Champions opportunities and potential, encouraging stretch and challenge commensurate with personal strengths and aspirations
• Fosters shifts in thinking that reveal fresh perspectives
• Challenges blind spots to illuminate new possibilities and support the creation of alternative scenarios
• Maintains professional boundaries in the coaching relationship, including confidentiality, and adheres to the coaching profession’s code of ethics

The individual:

• Creates the coaching agenda based on personally meaningful coaching goals
• Uses assessment and observations to enhance self-awareness and awareness of others
• Envisions personal and/or organizational success
• Assumes full responsibility for personal decisions and actions
• Utilizes the coaching process to promote possibility thinking and fresh perspectives
• Takes courageous action in alignment with personal goals and aspirations
•  Engages big-picture thinking and problem-solving skills
• Takes the tools, concepts, models and principles provided by the coach and engages in effective forward actions

 Source: ICF – The Gold Standard in Coaching (coachingfederation.org)