FMCA Events

LIVE WEBINAR // Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at 1:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM CT

Rethinking Childhood Chronic Illness: Root-Cause Healing and the Essential Role of Health Coaches

What if a child’s diagnosis was the beginning of a new path forward rather than the end of the story?

Join FMCA for an Ask the Expert webinar featuring Beth Lambert, author, educator, and Founder and Executive Director of Documenting Hope. For nearly two decades, Beth has researched the dramatic rise in childhood chronic illness and neurodevelopmental conditions while documenting how personalized, root-cause approaches can help children experience meaningful improvements in health. Through her nonprofit, Documenting Hope, Beth leads independent research exploring the cumulative impact of environmental stressors on children’s health and the role of lifestyle, nutrition, and systems-based care in supporting healing.

In this conversation, hosted by Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum, Beth will discuss why childhood chronic conditions continue to rise, the concept of “total load,” and how addressing foundational contributors, including nutrition, the microbiome, environmental exposures, nervous system regulation, and family lifestyle, can create new opportunities for healing. She will also share insights from the Documenting Hope FLIGHT Study, which examines how education, health coaching, and personalized lifestyle interventions support families navigating autism and other complex chronic conditions.

For current students, incoming students, and FMCA alumni, this webinar offers valuable insight into the growing need for health coaches in pediatric and family-centered care. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of root-cause health, learn how health coaches can help families implement sustainable lifestyle changes, and explore how compassionate coaching can become an essential part of helping children and caregivers thrive.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why childhood chronic illness and neurodevelopmental conditions continue to rise
• How the concept of total load helps explain the complex factors influencing children’s health
• The role of nutrition, environmental health, nervous system regulation, and personalized lifestyle interventions in supporting healing
• What the Documenting Hope FLIGHT Study is teaching us about education, health coaching, and family-centered care
• How health coaches can effectively support parents and caregivers through sustainable behavior change and root-cause lifestyle approaches
• Practical strategies for partnering with families while staying within the health coach scope of practice