Navigating Legal Protection for Your Practice, With Lisa Fraley
What does it really mean to “stay in your lane” as a health coach? In this week’s episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi welcomes attorney and certified health coach Lisa Fraley to shed light on the legal side of coaching. Lisa blends her experience as a former healthcare lawyer with her background as a coach to help professionals understand scope of practice, protect their businesses, and feel confident about how they serve clients.
“When you have a legal foundation in place, you feel safe, you feel secure, you feel confident. And then you can go and expand your health coaching practice and not have to worry.”
Lisa Fraley, JD
Lisa’s story is as unique as it is impactful. After years of working long hours in corporate healthcare law, she found herself drawn to coaching. Completing training through Coach U and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she quickly realized there was a major gap in the industry: few lawyers truly understood the coaching world. By combining her legal expertise with her care as a coach, Lisa created her own role as a “legal coach and attorney,” guiding health coaches to practice with confidence while staying compliant with state laws.
In her conversation with Dr. Sandi, Lisa unpacks why scope of practice for health coaches can feel confusing, especially since there is no legally defined scope of practice like there is for doctors, dietitians, or other licensed professionals. She explains where the boundaries lie, what coaches can and cannot do, and how coaches can navigate working independently or within a collaborative medical team. From handling labs responsibly to avoiding missteps with titles and credentials, Lisa shares clear, practical advice to help coaches avoid unnecessary risk.
For health coaches, the conversation is an important reminder that protecting your practice means knowing the rules that apply in your state and structuring your business wisely. Lisa highlights that a solid legal foundation allows coaches to focus on what they do best: supporting clients through lifestyle change without fear of crossing boundaries. It’s a conversation filled with clarity, reassurance, and essential knowledge for anyone building a coaching career.
Watch The Episode
Episode Highlights
- Understand what “scope of practice” really means for health coaches
- Learn how to safely support clients using labs without crossing into diagnosis
- Explore when health coaches can work independently versus within a medical team
- Hear why titles, credentials, and website language matter for staying compliant

Lisa Fraley, JD is a Legal Coach® and Attorney. She takes a holistic approach to law by blending her expertise as a former health care attorney in a large corporate law firm with the care of a Health & Life Coach trained through IIN and CoachU. Her goal is to make law easy to understand, accessible and affordable – and she uniquely aligns legal steps with the chakras.
With a Certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard Business School Online, she’s the author of Easy Legal Steps…That Are Also Good for Your Soul (a #1 Amazon best seller in both Corporate Law and Ethics) and the host of the “Legally Enlightened Podcast” offering bite-sized legal tips in 20-minutes or less.
Lisa has spoken on international stages from the Bellagio to British Columbia. She’s been a legal expert on over 350 podcasts and interviews.
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Transcript
Dr. Sandi: One of the areas that I think is filled with so much confusion has to do with the legal aspects of being a health coach. That is true for those wanting to become coaches, existing coaches, or graduates of FMCA. Those who hire coaches are often unsure what is the true scope of practice of a health coach. What about things like interpreting labs, for example? Where are the boundaries? And that is why we are so fortunate at FMCA to have a faculty member who is a legal expert. She calls herself a legal coach because she is both a health coach and an attorney. And she is just a wealth of information every time she comes, whether she’s going to be doing an Ask the Expert, giving a webinar for us. I always learn so much, and I know that our community really appreciates having her and being able to ask her questions. So, that’s why I wanted her to be a guest on “Health Coach Talk.”
Let me tell you about Lisa Fraley. She is a legal coach and attorney. She takes a holistic approach to law by blending her expertise as a former healthcare attorney in a large corporate law firm with the care of a health and life coach. She’s trained through IIN and CoachU. Her goal is to make law easy to understand, accessible, and affordable. And she uniquely aligns legal steps with the chakras. She has a certificate in sustainable business strategy from Harvard Business School Online. She’s the author of “Easy Legal Steps… that Are Also Good for Your Soul,” which is a number one Amazon bestseller in both corporate law and ethics. And she is the host of the “Legally Enlightened” podcast, offering a bite-sized legal set of tips in 20 minutes or less. Lisa has spoken on international stages from the Bellagio to British Columbia. She’s been a legal expert on over 350 podcasts and interviews. So, let me welcome Lisa Fraley. I know you are going to enjoy and learn a lot from this conversation, much as I enjoyed recording it. Welcome, Lisa.
Lisa: Thank you, Sandi. Thank you so much for having me. It’s great to be here.
Dr. Sandi: So, I’ll probably start the conversation off by just maybe if you would talk about what sparked your interest in this particular field, because you have this advantage. You have been a health coach and you are also a legal counsel. You have a legal background as well. So, what sparked your interest in merging the two, the need for the legal side of health coaching?
Lisa: I love that. Thank you for asking. So, I started off as a healthcare lawyer working in a large corporate law firm, just like you’re supposed to do when you get out of law school—working a million hours and helping hospitals and doctors and nurses and licensed medical practitioners with all sorts of issues related to the practice of medicine. And I did that for several years. And then along the way, as you referenced, I became a health coach myself through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition back in 2012. And even before that, I became a life coach in a three-year program through CoachU back in 2003.
So, I’d been a coach for a very long time, and it dawned on me that as I was actually starting to hold out my own shingle as a health coach, I had so many health coach friends who were like, “Wait a minute, Lisa, but you’re a lawyer who actually gets coaches. Most lawyers don’t understand health coaching. They tell us we can’t do anything. They say that everything’s the practice of medicine. And you actually understand both sides—the licensure and medicine side and the nutrition law side and the coaching side.” So, that was how it happened, Sandi, that I pulled these two sides of me together in June of 2012 and began calling myself a legal coach and attorney. Basically, I’m an attorney, but I do bring the care of a coach and some elements of coaching into the law, but it is the practice of law.
Dr. Sandi: Well, it’s so needed. I see two sides to this. So, there seems to be two camps. There are those who are pushing the boundaries of scope of practice. They’re out there. They’re being told they can. They think they should be out there practicing without a medical license. And then there are those who are so traumatized and terrified of saying anything as a coach because they’re afraid, and they have this more narrow interpretation of scope of practice. So, can you, first of all, so that everybody who is listening understands because we use this term frequently “scope of practice,” what does this actually mean?
Lisa: I’m so glad you mentioned that, Sandi, about the two different types of people, because there are some practitioners out there who really do want to effectuate change on a large scale level. And they’re not as worried about their own personal risk. They want to change the system. They want to push boundaries. But most of the health coaches that I work with and I think that you work with are people who want to do things properly and correctly and legally, and they are a little more scared. Their hearts are in the right place. They want to help people make changes to their lifestyle and have a healthier life, but they don’t want to put themselves or their license or their family or their income at risk.
So, when we talk about scope of practice for health coaches, what’s really interesting is that there isn’t a legally defined scope of practice in state statutes for health coaches. And this is where it gets a little confusing for people. Health coaches, health coach training programs, and health coach certifying organizations have their own scope of practice, but it’s not a legally defined scope of practice like it is in a state statute for the licensed practice of medicine or the licensed practice of dentistry or massage therapy or physical therapy. So, the whole point is that the health coach keeps themselves safe by not violating the legal scopes of practice in other licensed professions.
So, health coaches can’t practice medicine without a license or violate the scope of practice for a doctor, or a chiropractor, or a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner without being licensed. And a health coach also doesn’t want to violate the scope of practice written into state law of a dietitian, a registered dietitian, or a licensed nutritionist. So, the basic thing is that health coaches are free to practice as long as they don’t do things that require a license, like practice medicine, practice dietetics, etc. So, when we say stay in your lane and stay in your scope of practice, we really mean staying out of scopes of practices that require a license.
Dr. Sandi: That is a great way of describing this. And I think it makes it much clearer, because you’re absolutely correct. There is no defined scope of practice. What we talk about is really the power of the coach is in staying in their lane. By avoiding violating others’ scope of practice, that leaves the coach with the most important role, which is helping people with lifestyle change and asking the right questions. It’s not telling, it is not prescribing, but it is asking questions so the individual comes to that decision like, “Yes, I want to change.” And so that is the power. But it’s often confused.
So, if somebody comes to you and, let’s say, they have no background in healthcare whatsoever, and they are in a state, let’s say, where the dietitians are very vigilant about preserving the sanctity of their scope of practice. So, what would be for that person? Would you say like, “Oh, forget it, you shouldn’t even become a coach,” because it’s so restrictive? What would you say to this person? Like, could this still be a great viable career for you?
Lisa: Yes. Yes, it can be a great viable career. So, what it comes down to is if you’re starting a health coaching practice, you definitely want to speak to a lawyer in the state where you’re practicing to make sure that you’re not going to violate the state laws. Most of the states now in the U.S.—at least 35 states—allow people to practice one-on-one very freely, as long as you don’t do medical nutrition therapy and you can’t make recommendations for people around diseases or medical conditions or issues. It’s really, as Sandi just said, based on sustainable, healthy lifestyle changes—not “do this or that” or “eat this or that” for a particular medical disease or condition like heart disease, or diabetes, or Hashimoto’s. As long as you’re coming from a place of wanting to help people and stay in your lane, in most states, almost all states, there’s things you can do as a health coach.
There are a few super restrictive states, so please talk with me or another lawyer who actually understands coaching and healthcare laws and nutrition laws. Although there are not many of us in the country who have this expertise, but please talk with someone who understands so that you’re just super clear about when you can work one-on-one with people, or with groups, or with doing educational courses, or digital courses, or self-study courses, because states do have some restrictions, and there’s things that you need to know based on where you are and where you’re practicing.
And to that point, Sandi, as a health coach, it’s really about where your business is registered and based, right? In medicine, the laws always revolve around where’s that patient located. Are you licensed in the state where the patient is located? But in health coaching, it’s really about where your business is based, where you are holding yourself out and representing yourself as a health coach and making sure you’re not violating the laws of those states and not engaging in medical nutrition therapy in any state in the country. That’s how you keep yourself safe.
Dr. Sandi: That’s very helpful. We’ve always taught a collaborative care team model, and so many of our graduates want to work in medical clinics. They want to work with functional medicine doctors. They want to be part of that team, and it seems like that would be a way where they can… Let’s say they can talk about a food plan because that’s already been described and recommended by that medical… Let’s say it’s a doctor or a nutritionist on the team and then the health coach follows through and helps people enact it and helps them overcome obstacles to following through with that plan.
Lisa: Yeah. And collaborative models are excellent, and there are things that health coaches do need to know if they’re going to engage in that model. So, for example, if a health coach is in a state with restrictive nutrition laws where they can’t work one-on-one with people without a license in that state, even if they’re part of the collaborative care team in that state, they would need to become an employee of the medical practice, not a contractor, not an independent contractor with their own health coaching practice, because the law does not allow them to work one-on-one with people in their own health coaching practice.
But as you said, Sandi, as a part of the collaborative team, they could join as an employee of a medical practice and then help implement the treatment plan that the doctor has prepared and help be an accountability partner, a coach, not providing medical advice but helping people make sure they’re staying on track with that healthy eating plan and overcoming obstacles or blocks in the way and things that coaches do to help people live a healthy lifestyle.
Now, in other states, you can have your own practice and contract with the medical office. So, this is another reason you really need to reach out to a lawyer before you decide to do this, because the laws are different in different states. Also, you can be a health coach and work for a medical practice in a different state but then again, you have to make sure you understand the laws of your state and what you’re allowed to do and not do.
This is a fabulous model that is fantastic, and there are so many functional medicine doctors, and even conventional doctors or integrative doctors, who are bringing health coaches on their team. But I want people to recognize it’s not as simple as just being like, “Sure, come help us out, off you go.” You really do need to understand the structure and the way that you are working with the medical practice so that no one’s violating any laws.
Dr. Sandi: That’s so important. And I see a lot of examples of people who are… They’re not going to disobey laws or intentionally do something but often it’s a lack of awareness or particularly when somebody is coming from different careers. So, there’s a lot of doctors, for example. I just heard someone had posted a question in a social media group. It was a choice whether I keep my license or whether I go and become a health coach. And my comment in my group was, well, if you become a health coach, you need to become a board-certified health coach, and then you’re a coach. But the person who wrote this post seemed to think that she could be practicing functional medicine while under the rubric of health coaching as a way to…
Lisa: No, definitely not.
Dr. Sandi: …skirt the issue of becoming licensed or keeping a license.
Lisa: And so I love that you brought up this question, because this is such a common question I get all the time from my clients is that, “Hi, I’m a doctor. Should I be a health coach? Do I have to give up my license? Can I use my title of doctor as a health coach?” And so, just the quick answer to some of these is that, first of all, I never tell anyone to give up their license as a licensed medical practitioner. You’ve worked really hard for that license. It’s a personal choice if you wish to give it up, but it’s certainly not required.
But having said that, everything is about an “and.” So, for example, you can be a doctor, or you can be a health coach, or you can be both but not in the same practice and not with a combined title. So, you’re either a doctor working in a medical practice, calling yourself Dr. Marie, working with patients, you’re licensed in the states where the patients are located, you’re using telehealth consent forms if you’re doing telehealth, but it’s still in states where you’re licensed. You can’t do one-on-one consultations with people across state lines where you’re not licensed as a doctor. Even if you’re using a functional model, you’re still allowed to diagnose, treat, prevent, cure, heal, and manage any medical disease, condition, or issue. Even if you’re taking a functional approach, you can still address diabetes if that’s in your scope of practice as a doctor.
As a coach, you can’t do some of those things, right? You’re not going to be calling yourself “Dr. Marie Health Coach.” In fact, there’s a state case that I talk about all the time in Colorado where there was that exact situation. There was a doctor. Let’s say her name’s Dr. Marie. Let’s say she’s licensed in Kansas. I’m changing some of the facts to protect her confidentiality. But she has a website like “Dr. Marie Health Coach,” and she worked with a health coaching client in Colorado. She’s now under investigation for the unlicensed practice of medicine in Colorado.
And my clients are like, “Wait, what’s happening? Why?” She has disclaimers on her website, she uses client agreements as a coach, and she says, “I’m not treating medical diseases.” And she actually isn’t treating medical diseases. She really is staying in her coaching lane, the scope of practice we talked about earlier. And I said, “Oh, my goodness, if she had come to me, the first thing I would have told her is she cannot call herself Dr. Marie because she’s using a title in a state where she’s not licensed as a doctor.” So, you cannot, unfortunately, call yourself “Dr. Marie Health Coach.” It’s a choice. You’re a doctor, or you’re a health coach.
Now, what I do say to health coaches who have any advanced degree—or any undergraduate degree, for that matter—you’re allowed to put your academic degree on your website. “I have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from XYZ University,” or “I have a Doctorate of Acupuncture from XYZ University.” Your education goes with you. Your academic degree. We could all be astronauts, as I like to say. We probably would have more degrees than we have right now, Sandi, but we still would have our undergraduate or graduate degrees that go with us, right? The thing is that your academic degree is just on your website as a part of your bio. It’s not how you introduce yourself. It’s not part of your social media. When you become a health coach, you use the title “health coach.” So, it’s a choice. You can be a doctor, you can be a coach, you can be both but not in the same practice. You have to have separate companies for each one.
Dr. Sandi: That’s really clear, and I see so much confusion. So, for that individual, that could be Coach Marie.
Lisa: Yes, Coach Marie. That’s right.
Dr. Sandi: And then you read her bio and it says she’s got her medical degree and she did her residency. You could describe all of that.
Lisa: No, just the degree. The whole idea is that unfortunately, in a coaching practice, you do not want people to know or think that you have practiced medicine, because then they will think you are practicing medicine. And so, unfortunately, in a coaching website, you’re going to lead with your coaching certification, your coach training, like Sandi’s program. You’re leading with all the training you’ve received outside of medicine. And then you can list your academic degree but not, “I was a doctor for 15 years,” “I was a nurse for 20 years,” “I am a certified nurse midwife.” None of that. None of your licensure credentials, none of your medical training, residencies, and fellowships. None of that, because in a health coaching practice you are not practicing medicine. So, I say this with full love and respect: your medical bio is what will get you in trouble. That is not relevant, unfortunately and sadly but it’s not, in a health coaching practice. It can get you in trouble.
So, I know you want to set yourself apart because you have this background, you have these degrees, you have this experience. And the hard part is that you can do that only by stating your academic degree. But, as I tell people, the minute you open your mouth and start talking to people, they’re going to know that you know what you’re talking about. They’re going to know that you’re bright. They’re going to know that you understand functional medicine. They’re going to know that you understand coaching and the distinction between coaching and medicine, because Sandi teaches you so well in her course and I’m here to also help with that.
But it’s a choice. So, these are different professions with different laws around them. They cannot be combined. And if you think about it, that’s why we don’t have, “Oh, I’m a doctor and a fitness trainer, come to my medical office to get your weekly workout.” We don’t combine licensed and non-licensed professions in the same medical practice with the same title. We’ve never done that, because it’s not legal. So, if you think about it, why are there coaches and doctors everywhere? Because it’s not legal. So just please keep them separate, and that’s how you keep yourself safe.
Dr. Sandi: That is such a good point and really the collaborative care model—you grow up, people think what you’re saying, “Oh, that’s really restrictive,” but it’s really you’re going to be more effective. So, that example—that doctor—if you are 100% a coach, you’re going to be very successful. People are going to change because of the coaching strategies that you are using. And then, if there’s a medical issue, you will make an appropriate referral to your medical colleague. And that network is that’s how your strength…
Lisa: That’s right.
Dr. Sandi: Your net worth is your network. And so, as Joe Polish says, that is so critical to do that. In the example that I had heard, it was somebody who had gone through training in functional medicine, and what they were trying to do. And they hadn’t even gone to even a coach program. They just said, “Well, I’m just gonna coach functional medicine.” And that was what I was objecting to. No. If you want to be a coach, go train to be a coach. But you’re not going to be the expert in functional medicine, basically skirting having to… It was concern about whether they should go further in their training medically for functional medicine.
Lisa: Right. It’s interesting because people will say, “Well, why is that? I did this whole functional medicine training with Andrew Weil and did this as a doctor. Why do I have to go do functional coach training? This is ridiculous. I already know everything.” And I get it. You do know everything about the functional side of medicine. You may not know coaching, which is a different profession, different techniques, and a different approach. And also, here’s the reason why I recommend this so strongly—and you can tell I’m really passionate about this, because I really want to protect people—is that part of it, Sandi, is here’s what happens. If you were investigated as a coach and you have no coach training, and you have a medical background, here’s what will happen. The investigator would say to you, “Oh, that’s so great. You’re holding yourself out as a coach. That’s wonderful. I’m so glad you’re doing this work. Where did you do your health coach training?” And then you would say, “Oh, no, I didn’t do any health coach training. I mean, I’m a doctor. I’m functionally trained. I’ve been a doctor for 20 years. I did Andrew Weil’s fellowship. I’m just super highly trained. I understand functional medicine. I’m not going to put people at risk. I know how to care for people properly.”
And then the investigator would say, “Oh, well, I love the fact that you’re so highly trained in functional medicine. That’s fabulous. But here’s the thing: if the only profession you’ve been trained in is medicine—although you’re highly trained and super successful—then I need to presume you’re practicing medicine because you have not been trained in any other profession.” And so, you dig yourself into a hole, because you don’t have any other training to hold yourself out with and under to show that you’re actually practicing a profession other than medicine. So, that investigator would probably cite you for the unlicensed practice of medicine, because you have no training in any other profession except for medicine.
No, it’s not an issue about liability and malpractice and harming a patient. That’s not the issue we’re talking about. We know that you’re going to keep people safe because of your training. But what we are concerned about is the licensure issue, and this is the area that I think poses the most risk. And as time goes on, Sandi, I personally think there will be more investigations of health coaches, because as health coaches become more and more prominent, and more and more in number, I think it will get to a tipping point where it will be more threatening to conventional medical practice just like advanced practice nurses were back in the 1990s. I was sitting in the big law firm, and I think it will be more problematic. So, we just want people to be safe, to do things correctly, to get the right training—Sandi’s program is amazing—and also to keep medicine separate from coaching because they are entirely separate professions with different rules.
Dr. Sandi: Yeah. One of the things that our admissions team sees frequently, somebody will come and they’ll say, “I want to teach labs.” And we do. In fact, we have just expanded our curriculum to have a very robust module all about labs. And the example that I use is when I was a psychologist, a part of my training, a big part was psychopharmacology. In fact, on the State of Illinois licensing exam, a big section was on psychopharmacology. I had to know that to pass the licensing exam.
Lisa: Wow, really?
Dr. Sandi: But psychologists—and now there are a few states where they can prescribe—but at the time, no state would allow a psychologist to prescribe medication, antidepressants, for example.
Lisa: Sure.
Dr. Sandi: So, it wasn’t mandated that I learn it so that I could prescribe medication. It was so that I could be aware if somebody came to see me and they were on medication, I had to be alert to refer them back to their psychiatrist for adjustments but I had to know the content. And that’s why we teach it but with a strong caveat that we’re teaching you, as a coach, how to work with labs and blood and look at blood work.
So then we’ll have prospective students who’ll say, “Oh, well then I’m not interested. I’m not going to… There are other programs that I can go to that I know teach labs, for example,” or they are saying, “I know coaches out there, and I want to be like one of them advertising on my website. Here’s this lab. I just saw one the other day. I’ll analyze your blood work.” It was on somebody’s website where they were actually saying that. And they were saying that on social media, like, “Oh, a lot of doctors analyze this wrong. I know how to analyze. Come to me as a health coach.” What are your thoughts on that?
Lisa: Sure. So, this also goes back to what you’re allowed to do in your state. First of all, it always comes back to what’s allowed in the state law. So, the first piece is to know whether or not you can do labs if you’re located in a particular state. But the second thing that I tell health coaches is that when health coaches are talking to people about labs, if they’re looking at labs, or reviewing labs or just trying to understand someone’s background to help them as a coach but not as a medical practitioner, then the health coach can share information about the labs but not draw diagnoses.
So, health coaches are allowed to talk about a factor in a lab result and compare it to the recommended range, or the optimal range, or whatever the test calls it, where that factor is supposed to be, and state that the factor is above or below the optimal range. But everything is about… The focus is on getting that factor into the optimal range. It’s not about drawing a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s.
So, coaches cannot do… If someone’s thyroid antibodies are high, a coach cannot say, “Oh, I think you have Hashimoto’s. You might have Hashimoto’s. I’m not allowed to tell you, but I really think this is consistent with that.” No. Hashimoto’s should never come out of your mouth. But you can say that these antibodies are higher than the recommended range, and what we can do is work together around diet, lifestyle, nutrition, etc., to see if in the next four months we can make some changes and come back and retest to see if this factor has moved towards the optimal range. So, coaches are allowed to do that because there’s no diagnosing involved at all, okay? This is the really important part. You’re not there to confirm diagnoses, you’re not to make diagnoses.
And then the other piece I’ll say, Sandi, where there’s a lot of confusion is that if someone is a medical doctor or some other licensed professional with prescribing or ordering labs in their scope of practice, then they may want to use their NPI as a doctor to order labs as a health coach and you cannot do that. So, if you are a health coach and you are allowed to sign up for labs in the state where you’re located, you have to do that through a company like Rupa Health Physician Services, Evexia, or others, where you do that based on your health coach certification and training. And then you keep yourself in a space where you are educating about labs. You do not say you interpret labs, or analyze labs, or draw diagnoses from labs. You can educate people about what their labs say about the factor and the optimal range and that’s it. But you are not the ordering physician, even if you could be the ordering physician in your medical practice.
So, there’s a lot to know about labs. I’m so glad that you’re teaching how people can stay safe. There are things that you can do as a health coach, but you have to be very clear that you’re not going to cross the line. And if you don’t think that you can hold back and say, “Oh, I think you have Hashimoto’s,” then do not do labs, or do them in a very limited way, because I don’t want you to get yourself in a position where you can’t hold yourself back and then you end up drawing diagnoses that can get you in trouble. So, labs are great. Just stay safe using them and listen to what Sandi says.
Dr. Sandi: And there are so many ways that coaches can be really helpful to clients with labs. I think, first and foremost, is the emotional impact. People get freaked out. They may not understand that one marker is not what you treat. It’s the person, not the paper. So, you encourage somebody to have a different perspective, to not go to ChatGPT and self-diagnose because they see something on a lab, and now that individual is convinced they have some life-threatening condition. Helping them prepare for lab tests, stay hydrated, for example. Help them see that it’s nuanced, that there are patterns. And also, with increasing direct-to-consumer, AI-driven results might not always be a fit for you. So, help that person to be taking charge of their health, to see that maybe there are some more things that they could do, finding a functional medicine doctor, for example. But also, I think as we’ve talked about, having a network of providers where you can go to say, “Here’s having somebody help do the labs.” And then the coach has that important role of, “Okay, now we’ve got these results,” and you use it like a dashboard: “Okay, now we’ll see you in six months after we work on lifestyle changes.”
Lisa: Yes. I’m so glad you mentioned that. And the emotional factor is so important. And the other piece that’s important for you as a health coach but also to help your own clients—like you said, Sandi, not to go to ChatGPT and look up things—ChatGPT is still very incorrect and hallucinates for medical, for legal, and for financial advice. So, please help yourselves and help your clients. It’s a great research tool to start with, just like Google is, but please do not let that be your be-all, end-all, and go back and check sources and go back and check for yourself so that you’re not giving information to clients that is inaccurate. And also educate your clients not to do that themselves, because I just read a study the other day—at least on the legal part—ChatGPT is 58% to 82% inaccurate around legal questions, which is astounding. And medicine is not far behind. So, we know that it can be really helpful but not completely for anything medical, legal, or financial.
Dr. Sandi: Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been just a fascinating, informative conversation. I always learn so much when I’m with you, and I know our audience does as well. And that’s why we love having you as a faculty team member. You come in our Ask the Expert series and our favorite there. So, Lisa, where can people find you? And I know you have a wealth of resources on your website.
Lisa: Thank you, Sandi, first of all so much for having me. And I appreciate the work that you do in trying to help people stay legal. I am passionate about it because I don’t want anyone to get in trouble, and I want people to stay in their lane so that they can have a thriving practice where they feel safe to expand and not worry about doing something wrong. So, thank you for teaching everyone this and inviting me to do that as a faculty member. And if people have questions or need more information, just go to my website, lisafraley.com. We have free 20-minute legal chats where you can call our team and ask questions, and we’ll point you in the right direction to resources—some paid, some unpaid, free resources to help you on the legal front. But just thank you so much for making sure that people are aware where the lines are so that you can show up and relax and not worry. That’s the whole goal. When you have a legal foundation in place, you feel safe, you feel secure, you feel confident. And then you can go and expand your health coaching practice and not have to worry. So, thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Sandi: Well, thank you for being here. Thanks so much.
Lisa: Thank you.
Health Coach Talk Podcast
Hosted by Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum
Conversations About Wellness Through Functional Medicine Coaching
Health Coach Talk features insights from the most well-respected names in health coaching and Functional Medicine. Dr. Scheinbaum and guests will explore the positive impact health coaching has on healthcare, how it can transform lives, and help patients achieve better health and wellness outcomes.

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