How to Choose a Health Coach
Now that you know what a health coach is and how to use one, now we need to discuss how to choose a health coach! I would advise choosing a health coach that aligns with your goals, the health coach’s areas of expertise, personality, and the Coach Approach. Also an important consideration is the Discovery Call, and making the final decision to contract with a health coach. We’ll cover this info in the following sections.
Client Goals and Coach’s Expertise:
If your goal is to be a vegan bodybuilder or a carnivore gym queen, then the coaches for these types of people could be vastly different. A health coach can probably work with anyone if they tried hard enough, but most coaches have a areas of expertise or a niche they focus on to provide their clients with better support. If you want to lose weight, most health coaches will probably be able to help you no problem. But if you have more nuanced goals, it would be better to seek out coaches that are experts in your improvement area. Personally, I would rather work within my realm of expertise so I know the support I’m providing is the best I can do for the client I’m working with.
Examples:
If someone wanted to work with me, but refused to change their light environment or insisted on being a vegan, I would probably tell that person that we wouldn’t be a good match. I’m passionate about light environments and animal/meat-based foods/ways of eating, and personally believe that thriving, glorious health requires sunshine and animal foods. So it wouldn’t make sense or be in alignment with either of our values to work together if a client’s desired actions fell waaay outside my values.
If you’re a competitive athlete, you would want a health coach focused on perfecting your environment, lifestyle, and ways of eating for your sport, versus a health coach that specializes in thyroid improvement or helping seniors improve their diet and fitness.
Personality and the “Coach Approach”
This one is sort of difficult to pinpoint, but you want to make sure your health coach gets you, and you are comfortable talking and sharing information about yourself with them. You are going to spend a lot of time with a health coach and share personal aspects about yourself, so things will be easier if you like your health coach.
It is also important to consider what type of person you’d want to receive coaching from, for instance: do you prefer a coach that’s older or younger than you? Would you prefer a man or a woman coach? Do you like a no-frills, direct approach or prefer a more supportive, subtle approach? Intense accountability or cheerleader? None of these types of people are good or bad, it comes down to what type of person you want to work with!
Once you’ve decided on the type of health coach and the approach you like, then you can start checking out health coaches you’ve heard about on social media or podcasts, or even get a referral (coaches that are vetted and vouched for by people you know are awesome!). Once you’ve found someone you might like, time to do some research to see if you like their personality, and if you like their approach to supporting you as the client. You could check out their website (like what you’re doing here! 😊), their social media, and past clients’ testimonials (if available). Once you decide, then you reach out to the coach for a Discovery Call!
The Discovery Call
The first official meeting with a potential health coach, called a Discovery Call, can be the most important start to any coaching relationship. This call is the first step to seeing if you and a potential coach are a good fit before anyone commits to anything. It’s usually an easy way to get a feel for someone pretty quickly and ask some questions to see if you would get along for weeks, months, or longer. If the call goes well, then you and the coach can move to deciding on the type of program then signing the paperwork to set up the coaching agreement.
Contracting with a Health Coach
At this point, you both have talked and decided to move forward with the coaching relationship, so congrats! That’s awesome! You should know the timeline, the cost, and general expectations for the relationship, and the coach should be sending you some forms for you to sign and send back, such as terms and conditions, waivers, client-coach agreements, etc. the types and number of forms can vary depending on the coach and the situation. Once the paperwork is done, and payment has been completed (another “it depends” scenario), then you’re good to go to hit the ground running!
If you ever decide to work with a health coach, hopefully the info above will help you understand what type of health coach you want to work with, how to find one, and other important steps and expectations. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you already know you want health coaching to help you achieve your goals, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!