Why you need a Health Coach
Health Coaches work at the intersection between transformational coaching and current health and lifestyle science. Here Dr Louise Schofield, co-founder of PREKURE explains why you need a Health Coach.
Health Coaches are future-focussed and work with individuals and groups to facilitate sustainable healthy lifestyle behaviour changes.
Health Coaches do not diagnose medical conditions, prescribe or de-prescribe medications. They are trained to recognise when, how and who to refer to when situations arise that are outside their scope of practice.
Health Coaches provide expert guidance where they are competent, appropriately qualified and up-to-date. This guidance is given as part of a co-created (with their client/patient) plan involving healthy lifestyle behaviour changes. These plans are consistent with or developed in consultation with the client’s primary care physician or other allied health professionals who are on the client’s health team. They provide education that fits with their clients’ health aspirations.
Most importantly, PreKure Certified Health Coaches learn about human behaviour, motivation and behaviour change. A Health Coach supports you to get to the 'root cause', so you can achieve your health and wellbeing goals.
Ongoing professional development is a requirement for PreKure Health Coaches.
What is a Mental Health Coach?
As a PreKure Certified Mental Health Coach, I operate under the above scope of practice and some additional points to note include:
Mental Health Coaches are trained to work with a range of mild-moderate mental health issues and will refer those clients who are outside of this range. They are trained to recognise symptoms of PTSD, psychosis and other conditions that are outside the MHC scope of practice so that a referral is recognised and immediate for client safety.
PreKure Mental Health Coaches have a nationally recognised qualification in Mental Health.
Mental Health Coaches have a range of tools and interventions that can be used to co-create (with their client) a plan. These tools include but are not limited to:
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A health coach approach to mental health
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Lifestyle medicine tools
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
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Trauma informed and psychological first aid tools
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Up-to-date knowledge on addiction and substance misuse.
Mental Health Coaching is not a replacement for a psychologist or psychiatrist, or therapist.
20 min