Wellness coaching is a partnership between you and a wellness coach that puts you in the driver’s seat. Through regular discussions of ideas and issues, you will work with your coach to create strategies and goals to help you improve your overall health and well-being. A wellness coach helps you to take information that you may or may not already have and make it realistically actionable within your life.

Wellness coaches can help with:

• weight management
• nutrition counseling
• tobacco cessation
• stress management
• sleep routines
• increasing physical activity

Coaches can also work in conjunction with your health care provider to help you more effectively manage conditions such as asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure. They can help guide you to reputable, evidence-based resources to gain additional information in areas that you are interested in learning more about.

Coaching sessions typically last 30 to 60 minutes based on the needs of the discussion. Wellness coaches will ask questions to help you explore your reasons for making lifestyle behavior changes, and to identify potential blind spots and barriers to making those changes. Wellness coaches provide accountability and empower you to come up with targeted strategies that will work for you given your experiences and circumstances. Coaching sessions can be done in person or virtually by either phone or video.

When you start working with a wellness coach, you should come prepared to engage and take an active role in the sessions. The coach will be reliant on information and insight from you as sessions are not a lecture on how to be healthy. While the coach will guide the session, you should be prepared to think and talk about potential barriers and solutions for making successful changes to your lifestyle behaviors.

By working with a wellness coach, you will gain new insights into health behaviors and how to make effective changes to those behaviors. You will also gain a sense of confidence in your own ability to find and create successful strategies to improve feelings of health and well-being.

If you are interested in wellness coaching, you can call the number for your location to schedule your first session. You can also ask your QuadMed health care provider to refer you to a wellness coach.

There is never a cost associated with wellness coaching. All services are provided free of charge.