Blog Post
January 22, 2025
Readiness to change: unlocking transformation through personalization
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Transform your health with the power of coaching
As healthcare costs continue to rise, it's becoming increasingly important for HR leaders to find practical, engaging, and affordable ways to encourage employees to prioritize their physical health and overall wellbeing. Physical health doesn't just mean physical fitness; it also includes biometrics, managing chronic conditions, and making lifestyle changes to enhance wellbeing.
Navigate’s health coaching program aims to meet participants wherever they are in their journey. Our coaches use motivational interviewing, appreciative inquiry, and readiness to change to assist our participants in building self-efficacy and personal empowerment to reach their goals and maximize their wellbeing.
Holistic approach
Holistic health coaching is an approach that aims to improve an individual's overall wellbeing by considering various aspects of their life. It does not limit itself to a specific health outcome and focuses on addressing interconnected issues that may be causing poor health or are associated with it.
For instance, if a client wants to develop a positive mindset, the coach may examine their stress levels and relationships with others. If a client wants to manage their weight, the coach may investigate their relationship with food, exercise, sleep, and emotional wellbeing.
Our values play a significant role in our decision-making process and are interconnected with our wellbeing. When we make choices that align with our values, we experience a sense of empowerment and confidence. To enhance the health coaching experience, Navigate developed a proprietary assessment tool to understand what the participant values and incorporate these values into their action plan.
Participants complete the values assessment either prior to or during their initial consultation. This provides coaches with meaningful information about the participants and what they value in their personal and professional life. The values help the coaches provide a personalized approach to the experience, including goal setting and action planning.
Holistic health coaching considers various factors such as nutrition, physical fitness, relationships, spirituality, leisure, and recreational activities to help clients achieve long-term results. By looking at the bigger picture of one's life, this approach can help individuals achieve optimal health and wellbeing.
Preventive measures
Health coaches can assist individuals diagnosed with a health or medical condition, or those predisposed to one. The health coach guides lifestyle changes proven to improve overall physical health.
If an individual has been diagnosed with an elevated A1C, their doctor may recommend dietary changes, exercise, and stress management. A health coach can help them determine sustainable lifestyle changes that benefit their health and make it less overwhelming to know where to begin.
Health coaches support self-directed change, which sets them apart from doctors and other healthcare providers. They offer valuable advice for healthy habits while also helping clients understand how their behavior can impact their overall health. A qualified coach has knowledge in motivation, self-directed change, and lifestyle domains that impact health, such as nutrition, sleep, substance use, smoking, and physical activity.
Chronic conditions
Our health coaching program can help employees manage chronic conditions by providing the education, resources, and support they need to make lifestyle changes to improve their health outcomes. By promoting behavioral consistency, education, accountability, and activation, our coaches can help employees develop the skills to manage chronic conditions effectively and improve their overall health and wellbeing.
Health coaches can provide valuable support for individuals managing a variety of chronic conditions. Some common chronic conditions health coaches can help with include:
- Diabetes: Assist individuals with diabetes in developing and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits such as proper nutrition, regular physical activity, blood sugar monitoring, medication adherence, and stress management.
- Hypertension (high blood pressure): Work with individuals to implement lifestyle changes aimed at reducing blood pressure, including dietary modifications such as reducing sodium intake, increasing physical activity, weight management, stress reduction techniques, and medication adherence.
- Obesity: Support individuals in setting and achieving weight loss goals through personalized nutrition and exercise plans, behavior modification techniques, accountability, and ongoing motivation and support.
- Heart disease: Help individuals with heart disease manage risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes through lifestyle changes, including a heart-healthy diet, regular exercise, smoking cessation, stress management, and medication adherence.
- Chronic pain: Assist individuals develop coping strategies for managing chronic pain, including relaxation techniques, mindful meditation, pacing activities, gentle exercise, stress reduction techniques, and working with healthcare providers to optimize pain management strategies.
Coaches can help individuals with chronic conditions by providing personalized guidance, education, accountability, motivation, and support to empower them to make sustainable lifestyle changes and improve their overall health and wellbeing. They work collaboratively with clients to set realistic goals, develop action plans to overcome obstacles, and celebrate successes.
Tobacco Cessation
Tobacco usage has a significant impact on physical health. Whether in the form of smoking, chewing, or vaping, tobacco usage can have numerous adverse effects. Tobacco usage significantly impacts physical health, manifesting in various forms such as smoking, chewing, or vaping. The detrimental effects encompass multiple facets of health:
- Increased risk of cancer: Tobacco use stands as a primary cause of numerous cancers, including those affecting the lungs, throat, mouth, esophagus, pancreas, bladder, and kidneys.
- Respiratory problems: Smoking inflicts damage upon the lungs and airways, resulting in conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and heightened susceptibility to respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis.
- Cardiovascular diseases: Tobacco emerges as a significant risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease, contributing to arterial narrowing, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and blood clot formation.
- Impaired immune function: Tobacco weakens the immune system, rendering individuals more vulnerable to infections and impeding wound healing processes.
- Reproductive issues: Both men and women experience negative impacts on fertility, increased risks of pregnancy complications such as preterm birth, low birth weight, birth defects, and the potential for erectile dysfunction in men.
- Oral health problems: Tobacco usage correlates with gum disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, and oral cancer.
- Vision problems: Smoking heightens the likelihood of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, and other vision impairments.
- Skin damage: Tobacco accelerates skin aging, resulting in wrinkles, sagging skin, and heightened vulnerability to skin cancer.
- Addiction: Nicotine, a highly addictive substance in tobacco, fosters dependence and withdrawal symptoms upon cessation attempts.
- Secondhand smoke exposure: Non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke face comparable health risks to active smokers, including cancer, heart disease, and respiratory complications.
Overall, tobacco usage has profound negative effects on virtually every system in the body, contributing to millions of premature deaths worldwide each year. Quitting tobacco use or never starting in the 1st place is crucial for improving health and reducing the risk of these adverse effects.
For employees who struggle with tobacco use, our virtual tobacco cessation coaching program can help them quit using tobacco products for good. Our coaches work with employees to develop personalized plans that help them quit on their own terms. By providing support, encouragement, and accountability, our coaches can help employees overcome the challenges of tobacco addiction and build healthier habits.
Lifestyle changes
Health coaching empowers individuals to take an active role in their health journey. Coaches serve as mentors, providing valuable information, resources, and tools to help clients make informed decisions about their health. By enhancing health literacy and promoting self-awareness, individuals gain the knowledge and confidence to advocate for their own wellbeing. This empowerment fosters a sense of ownership and control over one's health outcomes.
Lifestyle changes could include:
- Improving nutrition
- Managing stress
- Enhancing fitness levels
- Sleep
Health coaching
Health coaching offers a holistic approach to wellbeing that benefits the whole body—mind, body, and spirit. Through personalized guidance, behavioral change strategies, and a focus on the whole person, health coaching empowers individuals to unlock their full potential and thrive in all aspects of their lives. Whether you're looking to enhance your fitness, manage chronic conditions, or optimize your wellbeing, health coaching provides the support and guidance you need on your journey toward holistic wellbeing. Contact us to learn more about adding health coaching.
