Episode 137 | Jul 3, 2025

From Olympic Gold to Health Coach, With Kate Slatter

What happens when an Olympic champion faces life’s hardest loss—and uses that pain to help others heal? In this episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi sits down with FMCA graduate Kate Slatter, a gold medalist turned functional medicine health coach, to talk about grief, resilience, and how coaching became her way forward.

“We all want to get to the top of the mountain, whatever that goal, whatever that mountain is. And as health coaches, we can help guide clients and be that cheer squad for them.”

Kate Slatter

Kate’s career spans sports, finance, and caregiving. But it was the loss of her son after years of chronic illness that forced her to reexamine her own health. Burned out and grieving, she found answers in the foundational pillars of functional medicine—and purpose in guiding others through their own healing journeys.

Today, Kate supports clients of all ages, including athletes, corporate teams, and individuals facing chronic stress or illness. She shares how coaching gave her the tools to show up for others while healing herself, and why small shifts—like breathing before meals—can spark massive change.

For health coaches, Kate’s story is a moving reminder that our most difficult experiences can fuel the work we’re meant to do. Her journey shows the impact of being a supportive guide, creating space for lightbulb moments, and helping clients reconnect with themselves.

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Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Today I’m talking with somebody whose journey to becoming a health coach is truly remarkable. Today’s guest is Kate Slatter. She’s an Olympic champion, an elite rower, former financial professional, and now a registered nutritional therapist and functional medicine certified health coach based in London. Kate won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and is a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, but her story goes far beyond the podium. After a decade representing Australia at the highest level, she transitioned into a successful financial career until life delivered its greatest challenge, the loss of her young son. What followed was a journey of profound grief, burnout, and rebuilding.

Today, Kate channels her experience into helping others reclaim their strength, not just physically but emotionally and mentally. Through her business, Kate Slatter Wellness and her work within functional medicine teams, Kate supports clients as a registered nutritional therapist and health coach using the foundational pillars of health, nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, and mindset to help them break free from stress, perfectionism, and chronic overwhelm. This is a conversation about resilience, reinvention, and what happens when a champion chooses to heal and helps others do the same. Welcome, Kate.

Kate: Thank you. It’s lovely to be here.

Dr. Sandi: So, you have a very diverse journey from being an Olympic gold medalist, I’d love to hear about that, and in high pressure finance, you’ve mentored athletes, and now you are working as a health coach. So, talk about your journey. What led you to health coaching? How did this transition unfold?

Kate: Yeah, it’s been rather diverse, but I think probably everyone who comes into the functional medicine space has their own journey to tell. Perhaps my roller coaster has had some higher highs and some quite big lows, but I guess all of it has life as a journey, and it has quite a few high bits in it as well. So, I was an athlete. I got into sports when I went to university, did the rowing thing, and managed to within a space of two years make the Olympic team at the ripe old age of 20, and where we came last in the final. And then that progressed on to Olympic gold and Olympic silver.

So, that was my high. It’s like being able to wear your country’s colors, to hear the national anthem. And I think the girl I rode with didn’t ever want to take a gold medal off because she always believed it was still a dream. So, there is those highs in life. And that was 24 when I was an Olympic champion. And then motherhood, finance. I went to banking and accountancy, and then being a mother. For me, it’s truly incredible to have three kids. But my son got labelled the term autism back in 2007, 2008 when autism probably wasn’t well known back then, because I remember being in banking thinking I was clued up in life, and I got this diagnosis from my son of autism. And I’m like, “What is autism?”

And with that, I went on a journey of autism and going, “Okay, so how can I support my son?” And I probably use more mainstream medicine, if I’m really honest. I had a pediatrician who I worked with closely in Australia, but we kept on going downhill. And I moved to the UK to support my then husband for his work, and he was English. And within a month of arriving here, I thought, “Right, I’ll just take a little bit of time off to help my kids, my two kids at that stage, and I’ll set them up.” As a mother, that’s what we do. And within a month, he had epilepsy seizures, set off one seizure a day, and that went to 100 seizures a day. We’re talking clonic-tonic seizures.

So, I had neurologists, I had endocrinologists, I had gastro. I had the full gamut of doctors. We’re in high-dependency units quite regularly, ambulance very regularly because of the clonic-tonic seizures. And sadly, we never got to the bottom of it. We did fly. I went to the best autism doctors I could find in America and the UK and I tried everything. And as a mother, instinctively, something isn’t quite right and you won’t ever give up. I didn’t know what my son’s normal was going to be, but I wasn’t going to ever give up until the day he died.

When you go from five years pretty much no sleep, so he had 100 seizures mostly at night. They were clonic-tonic, and he nearly died a couple of times having them. So, between my then husband and I, we had to co-share every night. And you come off, he dies, you’ve got the detectors on you to make sure there’s no foul play, which we got cleared. And I had two beautiful girls. And you don’t get a moment to work out the funeral, work out anything. It’s like my daughter, who was three, said, “Mom, get up. I need to go to nursery or I need breakfast.” So, I couldn’t even grieve the following day. I just get into action.

So, I got real adrenal burnout. I was completely fatigued. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for my son, but I didn’t know how to take care of myself. People would try and tell me, “Here are the things you should do for your son.” No one ever talked about caring for the parents as well and the family unit. No one talked about stress. And as an athlete, I’d always had the mentality of, “Hey, giddy up, let’s go. Turn everything into a positive.” So, I used to always turn anything that was negative into a positive. So, I was good at that. So, I always flipped the switch on most things, but I didn’t quite know how to dig myself out of this hole. And then my then husband then decided to leave as well, because he couldn’t cope.

So, life got this huge hole and no one knows how to support you. No one knows what to say. Because if I say like, “This is the first time I’ve ever spoken about my son,” if I talked about him, most people were in tears. And so I end up looking after them because they put themselves in that position and they don’t know what to do with it. So, I had to pick myself up. And being frustrated as a mom, not knowing what to do for their son and trying everything like supplements, doctors, you name it. I tried the most bizarre diets through the best autism doctors. Nothing worked. And in the mainstream medicine, they kept on trying to shove us with different doctors like, “Here’s your gastro, here’s your neuro.” And they never talked.

And so when I came across functional medicine, it just made sense. It’s a whole body. Everything’s interconnected. And they also talk about stress. I love looking at the foundational pillars, nutrition, sleep, stress, your lifestyle. It all interconnected really well. So, I started doing nutritional therapy, and I studied that. And I love being in clinic. We use a functional medicine matrix. Loved all that. I write these protocols, but then clients wouldn’t… They’d get some success and they’re enrolled, but you realize you’re doing a whole lot of work with not a lot of… There’s something missing. And then I came across the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, and I went, “Ah.” And I don’t know what I was listening to but it’s like being that guide. We all want to get to the top of the mountain, whatever that goal, whatever that mountain is. And as a guide, we can help signpost clients, I guess, to wherever they want to have and be that cheer squad for them. And that made complete sense. And that tied into also… I love mentoring athletes. I’ve mentored athletes for 25 years now. And to me, that felt the same way because it’s everyone’s own journey. They are the best guide for themselves. They’re all the expert on themselves and we can just help guide them.

So, yeah. And I didn’t expect to, with the group I had, an amazing course facilitator at FMCA. I have no idea how supportive the group would be and how much I learned about myself and put a lot of things to rest. So, it was very much working on myself and then I can then help other people. So, I know I’m positive. I know I thrive. I know I’m strong, but I wasn’t used to being vulnerable and still trying to release that trauma and work on stress, that whole sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Just, yeah. So, it’s been an amazing journey. I’ve loved being a health coach. So, that would be… I would say my aspiration is 80% to be a health coach and the rest is to be the NT.

Dr. Sandi: Wow. So, you found your journey back to well-being. It sounds like studying the coaching process was a big part of that.

Kate: Yeah, it is because you get really truly present with where someone’s at or whatever they want to talk about. And it’s often small steps. We all know what to do. And you often know what you need to do. But when someone says, “What do you want to work on today? And how can we support them and how have you been successful with this in the past?” So, you go back and you find new, reconnect with yourself. It’s been really powerful. So simple.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, exactly. You’ve had experience with one-on-one coaching. You’ve been team-based functional medicine clinics. Can you talk about that experience in each of those settings? Also, the types of clients that you see? Are you still mentoring athletes?

Kate: Yeah, I’m absolutely still mentoring athletes. It feels like a privilege. I do also help. Like the other day, I got invited to talk to some young, aspirational youth basketball players. So, it’s a real diversity from young grassroots level up to some elite athletes. I flew in before the Paris Olympics to go and mentor the Australian team. And it’s a privilege to hear an athlete’s journey and listen to what their aspirations are. And I guess that guiding, I always say try and avoid some potholes. They’re going to have their own experiences.

For me, I did come last in my first Olympic final. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. We weren’t expected to make the Olympic team, and coming last gave me the drive to go, “Okay, I want to go…” I shook the medalists—gold, silver, and bronze medalists. It was in fours. I was in the crew. And I shook every hand, and I went, “I’m coming back for one of those medals.” I didn’t actually expect to win the gold, so I think I was just so shocked. And we worked hard. I mean, we were world champions leading into it.

But to me, the greatest lesson I learned actually was coming second. Often it’s when we don’t win or don’t get the desired outcome that you learn more from. So, that was my hardest lesson. But I do the mentoring, and I have my own practice. So, I’m only two and a half years in, but I am seeing clients. I have a huge range. I have from, gosh, 18-year-olds up to 80-year-olds. I have lots of clients who want to… If they’re doing sports at whatever level, grassroots, club, masters, or elites, refueling particularly, there’s a lot of people confused with carbohydrate, and protein, and all the different fads, and different diets, and what works for them. So, we work on that.

And I have clients who have had or have MS and type 2 and/or aspirations of weight loss. And it’s working with them pretty much with the foundational pillars. And I usually start with the gut and with stress. So, it’s been fun doing that. And my newest aspiration is groups. I’ve got a free challenge at the moment. So, I love running challenges to help support people.

So, on my website or on my Instagram, I have a sugar-free challenge at the moment. It would probably be finished by the time this goes to air, but I will have other challenges. So, I’m thinking my next one will be self-care because we often look after other people before ourselves. So, bringing it back to self and the small, simple things we can do for self and corporate. I used to do a lot of motivational speeches. I’ll be honest with you, being 24 and winning Olympic gold medal, everyone gives you their business card. It’s surreal. All these big CEOs that you would never aspire to get in contact with and say, “Oh, can you come talk to my corporation?” And I’m thinking, “What am I meant to say?” I mean, because you don’t have that life experience. If only I could say to them now, I would be so much more interesting now.

So, I’ve given 200 plus keynote speeches. I aspire to go… I’m doing some stuff, getting back into corporate at the moment, so to work with the health and wellbeing space now and helping people thrive.

Dr. Sandi: That’s so needed, especially now. And your wisdom, your past experiences, and I would imagine even having a background in the finance world, can come into play here when you are speaking to corporation employees, for example, where you might know what it’s like having been in that world and can speak to their needs.

Kate: Well, completely, because I think it’s becoming better and better. But I mean, when I last worked in it, you worked long hours. I was on the dealing room floor, so doing bonds. And I’d come in at 6 a.m. in the morning in the office, be there till midnight. And the days I did leave on time, I would be running in my high heels for the 6:00 childcare arrangement, running a kilometer in high heels to make it on time because I hate paying for fees or fines. So, I’d always be doing that.

But now there is a massive need, and I do hope that we can do more in the corporate space because I think that’s a great space to play in. So, we’ll see. I think it’s evolving very fast and very quickly.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, and kudos to you for going into group coaching, because so many people fear group coaching. They fear public speaking, but all of your keynote addresses has helped you to see that you can lead groups. And groups are really about listening as a facilitator, not thinking that you have to give a talk in front of these individuals. So, it is great because when you are working in groups, people help each other and the community becomes the medicine, so to speak.

Kate: Actually kudos to your program because we did the group sessions, and that was fantastic. And what I loved was the diversity in the group. There were 15, 16 of us in the group, just the difference of presentations, and all of them were brilliant, but they were so different. And everyone was so nervous beforehand. It is being out of your comfort zone. People want to know stuff, and it’s just having a go and putting yourself out there and not being afraid. If you’ve got a network, connect into it. People want to engage, and they won’t know if you don’t start asking the questions and letting people know what you do.

Dr. Sandi: That is so, so true. What is going on in the UK in terms of the state of health coaching? Have you seen any changes and/or obstacles, but have you seen growth and is there an interest in use of health coaches? And can you share any examples of that?

Kate: I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on it. I mean, I’m just trying to find my way, probably like everyone else. I think we’re a little behind some of the other countries, especially the U.S. I think we very much have the NHS, the National Health System here, so most people expect their healthcare to be free. So, the concept of paying for something is foreign to a lot of people. We’ll pay for dinner, we’ll pay for holidays. We won’t pay for health, which makes no sense to me because you’re thinking about, you want good health, longevity. You want to invest today because you’re going to reap benefits. You want to do all those foundational pillars, and if you don’t know what to do, get a guide. And we’re so much more successful when we have someone in our corner.

There’s a UKIHCA that’s here. They would probably be better staying on the play of the UK. From what I can see, there is opportunity. People want to do health. Whether they’ll pay for it is more challenging. So, I think people are expecting to pay more for healthcare in the U.S. and some other countries. So, I’m just navigating it bit by bit, if that makes sense. I mean, it’s up to people if they want to do it.

Dr. Sandi: I want to circle back, because how you brought your life experiences into the way you coach today? Because I find many people when they become health coaches, they think, “Well, no enough.” But we always say, “Well, you have your experiences. You have your unique story.”

Kate: Yeah, everyone does. And it’s all relatable because we all go through different things. So, I’ve got friends who… They’ve got digestive issues, or they’ve had PCOS, or they’ve had a loss or trauma of illness, or family members, whatever, there’s relatability.

I don’t know, to me, I need to tell my story more. But I find that sometimes mine… Because it’s such a high and low of a roller coaster, it nearly shocks people too much. So, I’m trying to work out where that fits and trying to build a signature talk that I can use. It’s very much around stress and resilience in the corporate space, or even at schools, or wherever I end up going. So, I’m pulling in all the foundational pillars, but trying to weave it into, “We are more than just who we are. We are the sum of so many different parts.” And to me, I feel like I’m growing all the time. I’m very much a work in progress.

And when I get to be with clients, I have so many… What I love to see is their lightbulb moments. Like, working with a client and seeing them go… One of my elite athletes, I try and connect them to stress quite early on because I just think it’s… A lot of it especially the more high-performing someone is, the more they don’t think they’re stressed. “I’m not stressed,” or “I can handle it,” “I cannot show weakness because that’s vulnerability. I can’t do that.” And you start saying, “Let’s start with checking in with you.”

And one of them actually took on the breathing. It was really simple, giving her some tips, and it was, “Let’s breathe before each meal.” And so it was really super simple and before she did a competition and stuff like that. And she was so surprised just how small changes and meditation, and she loves to journal, so she brought journaling back in.

So, we saw it on the stress, and she was so surprised at how that affected her digestive system. And it’s great to see those lightbulb moments go on. So, it’s just giving people… They might be different from what I do. I can weave in my life experience, but what I love with what we’ve done with FMCA is we’ve got loads of ideas, and everyone has different perspectives. Drawing on that as a collective, I think we’re a lot stronger.

So, I often refer back to… I mean, I must go back and listen to some of the recordings of your client-coach examples. They’re absolutely superb, and they’re all so different. How much it helps to have someone in your corner? And you don’t have to do this alone. I think there’s some set up there of just the percentages of how much a health coach can help someone with their goals. I think sometimes we underestimate how, whatever goals we create, we can be more successful with that person, whether it’s weight loss, whether you want to do this big hike but don’t know where to start, or you want to go back and study, or change your family scenario, I don’t know. But I just think a coach is… I mean, personally, when I mentor athletes, I love that I know it’s their journey, and I might just be a small part of them being successful.

And she finally, after about month 3 said, “I think I’m ready to give up gluten and dairy.” And she said for the first week she hated me, her and her husband hated it. And then we checked around the month to say, “What are we going to reintroduce back in that whole reintroduction phase?” She goes, “Nothing.” She goes, well, I hated you for the first week. You set me up for success, gave me all these options and I am loving how I’m feeling. And she just goes, “I’m never going back into gluten or dairy.” MS symptoms had massively reduced. We’re talking like down… She said like 80%, 90%. She felt fitter and she had more energy than she had for the last 20 odd years. And she had not connected what we eat to how it makes you feel and how it impacts your body. That’s the power of a health coach, I think.

Dr. Sandi: Oh, I love that example. What a remarkable example. And there are many. We hear these stories all the time. When you work with a health coach, you are the CEO of your health and decision comes from you. She’d seen a nutrition professional and you have to give up gluten or dairy wouldn’t have worked. But she came to that conclusion. You supported her, guided her, provided some information, that the ball was in her court. And she had that aha moment and you were there. You were along for the ride to support her.

Kate: When they lit up, that is what it’s all about. Isn’t it? That is why we do this. And we don’t do all the other jobs. Yeah, that sort of thing is making a real difference, a real, like, fundamental difference that she had gone to every single doctor. She tried everything and why no one had done gluten and dairy free, I don’t know. Maybe it’d been suggested, but it wasn’t something she was ever willing to give up. So, it did take three months for her to be ready. So, that whole change process and just working with someone where they’re at.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, absolutely. That is the essence of coaching. That is why study after study shows how remarkably effective it is. And now we need to go out there as you are doing so well and tell the world about the power of health coaching. You are helping so many people who lead better lives and just your joy in the process. And we also know that when you are in a coaching relationship with somebody, the coach is transformed, that you are personally transformed for the better. So, it’s a beautiful…

Kate: We do, don’t we? Yeah. I mean, we’re constantly learning. I keep thinking, “I’m learning in this process” as much as you are. Yeah. I mean, I’m loving the whole health coaching piece and being nutritional. Actually, I’m actually more aspiring to be part of the team. I think I’m too used to being in a crew.

So, I am actually just signed up to work with a functional medicine practice one day a week, which is I’m probably more aspirational for that sort of thing because it’s so cool to be part of the team that then you collectively… So, there can be the doctors who write the protocol, which I can do as a nutritional therapist, but I’d rather actually be… I actually like the health coaching piece so much, helping them have those light bulb moments of why this has been suggested for them and then helping them to be successful at implementing that whole behavioral change piece.

So, I’d like to do that more. So, my aspiration is I will do as much as I love doing my own thing. I’m not a solo player. I’m very much team-based. So, I’m hoping to get more there. And I think all the coaches out there, there’s more and more roles as more doctors realize the benefit of health coaching. And I think that might be the biggest area to be growing.

Dr. Sandi: Oh, absolutely. Kate, where can people find you and learn more about your work?

Kate: So, it’s kateslatter.com is my website, and I’ve got kateslatterwellness.com is where I am on Instagram, which I’m learning. I don’t know that. It’s very uncomfortable, but when you start to learn the whole social media thing and I’ve got LinkedIn, which I think is under my married name, which I think is Kate Allen. I don’t know the exact way to find someone on LinkedIn, but yeah, my website and my Instagram are there. And I think everything else is LinkedIn from there. But yeah, it’s all about having fun and helping people. And I like the alumni program. I should try and get more into it, but I’d love to help support other coaches as they set up their business. So, there must be was we can create those networks.

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely. Our community is that’s what it is all about. Our students, our graduates, our prospective students, our faculty, our doctors who hire them. It is really a wonderful community. So, go find her, check out her profile, her website. And, Kate, I wish you… You don’t need luck, but I just wish you well in everything that you are doing, your passion for wellness and health coaching.

Kate: And congrats on all that you’re doing. I mean, I found this and I found it instrumental both for myself and now to help other people.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you.