A health coach can help you to gain the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence to take responsibility of your lifestyle choices and provide personalised care. They use broad knowledge of health and wellness to help you navigate a variety of health concerns and empower you to take part and be an active participant in your care and behaviour change.
The Neigbourhood Health Coaching team currently cover the Taunton and Wellington area. Each doctor’s surgery has a health coach coordinator.
What are the benefits of a health coach?
Health coaches will spend time with you discussing your health and lifestyle. By listening to what really matters most to you the team will help you to identify realistic health goals and develop your confidence so you can successfully manage your own health and wellness.
Self-management of your health conditions will improve your physical and mental health and reduce your risk of developing long-term health conditions in the future.
Why should I see a health coach?
- You feel you are ready to make healthy lifestyle changes but don’t know where to start.
- You are open to discussing ways to change your daily routine, to improve your health, or manage your illness better.
- You are willing to set time aside to focus on your health and wellbeing.
- You want to take an active role in your health and try a new approach.
- You feel like there is room for improvement in your current health and wellbeing.
What can I talk to a health coach about?
You may want to talk to your health coach about a range of subjects connected to your health goals including:
- Weight management
- Eating well and staying physically active is really important for both our physical and mental wellbeing. Maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of many health problems in the future
- Moving more
- Moving more in everyday life is an important part of looking after your health and staying happy. There are many ways to do this for all levels of ability, and we can chat about the ways that will work for you and your lifestyle.
- Stopping smoking
- There are immediate and long-term health benefits from stopping smoking for all smokers. We can help by empowering you to find and implement the right support for you
- Drinking less alcohol
- Research shows that making a small change in your weekly consumption of alcohol can lead to long lasting improvements in your health.
- Improving your mood
- “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.†â€â€Dalai Lama
How can a health coach help me?
Health coaches provide a trusting, supportive environment to discuss the reasons behind a change and any perceived barriers.
They will help you make changes in your daily routine by:
- motivating and empowering you to identify achievable and realistic goals
- help you find relevant information provide interventions specifically for your needs
- find local peer-support
How soon can I see a health coach?
A health coach will contact you within one week of receiving your referral.
You can expect your first coaching session to be delivered within four weeks of receiving your referral.
What can I expect?
You will receive up to six health coaching sessions, each session is 30 minutes.
One to one coaching sessions can be by video call, telephone, or face to face within a community setting, for example, a local library, community centre, leisure centre or a walk in the park, whichever makes you feel at ease.