Episode 146 | Sep 4, 2025

A New Coaching Model for Mental Health Support, With Shelby Garay

What role can health coaches play in addressing today’s mental health crisis? On this episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi welcomes FMCA graduate Shelby Garay, Senior Manager of Coaching at the Headspace Training Institute, to talk about her journey from FMCA’s inaugural class to shaping the future of mental health coaching. Shelby shares her passion for dismantling health inequities, training new coaches, and integrating functional medicine principles into mental health care.

“The mental health care system has relied on a one-size-fits-all approach for far too long. Coaching offers people tools to care for their mental health not just in a crisis situation, but in every day and every moment.”

Shelby Garay

Shelby’s own health journey with chronic illness led her to functional medicine and eventually to FMCA’s first graduating class in 2016. Taking a leap of faith at a pivotal time in her life, she invested in herself and found a career that continues to be both fulfilling and transformative. She went on to work as a course facilitator at FMCA, then as a behavioral health coach at Headspace, and today leads their mental health coach training program. Along the way, her dedication to education, social justice, and holistic health care has remained at the heart of her work.

In her conversation with Dr. Sandi, Shelby highlights why mental health coaching is critical for the future of care. For health coaches, this episode reinforces the importance of understanding scope of practice while recognizing the tremendous opportunity to support clients’ mental and physical well-being in integrated ways. Shelby’s story shows how FMCA training opens doors to meaningful careers and new specialties. Her message to coaches is clear: the field is growing, and the need has never been greater.

Watch The Episode

Listen Now

Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Nothing gives me more pleasure than learning about the graduates of FMCA and the many ways that they are truly change agents, helping people lead better lives. That’s why I was excited to have as my guest on the podcast one of our earliest graduates. She graduated in 2016 from FMCA. Her name is Shelby Gray. Let me tell you all about Shelby. She is currently a senior manager in coaching at the Headspace Training Institute, a National Board-certified health and wellness coach, and a functional medicine-certified health coach from FMCA. She began her Ginger and Headspace career as a behavioral health coach in 2019, and she worked as a senior course facilitator at FMCA from 2016 to 2021. Shelby developed and now leads the Headspace Training Institute mental health coach training program, which is an approved National Board-certified program. She recently completed her Master’s in Higher Education and graduate certificate in social justice education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Shelby is passionate about coaching, training people in fundamental coaching skills for career or life, mental and holistic health, dismantling systemic health inequities, and helping people self-discover their strengths, purpose, and self-worth. So here is my interview with Shelby. I know you will enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed conducting the interview.

Welcome, Shelby.

Shelby: Thank you, Sandi. It is such a joy to be here with you, as you were who inspired and got me started in this field. It has been so rewarding as a graduate of FMCA’s inaugural class. So just so happy to be here. Thank you.

Dr. Sandi: Yes, I remember meeting you in person when we had a live event, and you really have been doing so many wonderful things to advance the field of health coaching. Let’s start out by having you, if you will, talk about your journey to FMCA and to health coaching. Where were you at the time, and how did you decide to become a health coach?

Shelby: Yeah, that’s such a wonderful question and something I reflect on a lot because this career change for me into health coaching about 9, almost 10 years ago, when I started as a student at FMCA, is so meaningful to me. I got this email from FMCA back in, I think, 2015. So happy anniversary for the 10 years, I think, right? It’s so exciting. And it was about becoming a health coach. And I had just gone through a journey, a health journey of my own through functional medicine that was quite healing. I’ve suffered from a chronic illness since I was a child. So I spent my life really interested in health and wellness. And even at a very young age, I would be looking at foods and exercise and the environmental factors that I thought might be contributing to my health problems. And I always thought I was kind of an oddball. Other children were interested in this, or teenagers.

So my whole life, I’ve had a chronic illness, and then I had this really wonderful healing journey through functional medicine. I didn’t really even know it was functional medicine at the time. But anyhow, and then I got somehow this email from FMCA, and it’s about being a health coach. And I thought, Wow, I don’t even know what a health coach really is. But this marries all of my lifelong interests in health and wellness and psychology, and helping people. And I just had this wonderful journey of my own. And yes, I wanted to help people. So I took a really big leap of faith. My father had just passed. And for the first time, I had a little bit of money of my own to invest in myself. And I just signed up, like, literally, I think in a week, it just felt right. It was one of those gut instincts. And it was just one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life, truly because it led me to a very fulfilling and rewarding career in health coaching. Working first for like nearly five years at FMCA, I was so privileged, and it was such a joy and highlighted my career to be a course facilitator at FMCA. And then I continued on to do coaching in other realms, like I’m doing now, and really supporting and advocating for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, as I know you do, because I just believe in health coaching so much.

Dr. Sandi: And for those of you who don’t know, a course facilitator at FMCA, it’s like a teaching assistant, how we hire graduates and they are leaders of our small cohort groups. And that’s where the real action, the real change takes place, where you practice coaching yourself and bring both being a coach and being a client. So, how has this training impacted your career and, by extension, your life? So many people say that they don’t realize that when they study to become a health coach that they themselves are transformed.

Shelby: Oh, absolutely. Yes, that is what’s so really exhilarating, I think, especially about health coach training and health coaching, but certainly the educational program that you lead and that I’m involved with also. But yeah, it’s transformed my life in so many ways. I mean, just introspectively going through the program as a student, it’s life-changing, right? We’re learning about these powerful tools, and we’re doing deep reflection, and we’re interacting with others in community and getting feedback and support, and encouragement, which is life-changing. And then the opportunities that I’ve had since graduating FMCA, I think what, nine years ago, the 2027, I was in the class of 2016. I’ll never forget. Those dates are etched in my mind because they were so impactful in my life. But I remember coming out, and I was like, What am I going to do now? Right? Fortunately, I was able to work at FMCA as a course facilitator, which was extremely rewarding because I’ve always had a penchant for education and always wanted to work in education. I had worked in corporate human resources for different healthcare companies prior to becoming a health coach, but education was always a passion for me. So getting to be a course facilitator at FMCA and interact with students and be a teaching assistant, as you said, so rewarding that I was always just opened myself up to whatever opportunities were out there to discover everything I could about health coaching.

So I was interested in working in a functional medicine practice, and I was interested in exploring what it would be like to have a private practice or working in a different aspect. So I did, I did a lot of things. I think the community that you get from a program like FMCA, too, and the alumni support, and it also opens up your mind, right? To be confident and just put yourself out there. And it just provided me with different opportunities to do that, to work. I worked for six months in a functional medicine practice, learned a lot, and also discovered maybe I wanted to do something a little different and pursue direct coaching in a different way in the mental health field, which was always an interest for me and passion. But yeah, it’s just been life-changing in terms of the career I’ve been able to build. And I just feel like I’m in many ways just getting started to 9 or 10 years later, because I think the field is so robust and really not in its infancy anymore at health coaching, because really, Sandi, you’ve done just, I feel like all the leadership and work to advance the field so brilliantly, but it’s still, there’s so much to, I think, do, right? To accomplish still, to educate and help people understand how healthcare coaching can transform the healthcare system and their lives.

Dr. Sandi: That’s so beautifully said. Tell us about mental health coaching, because we usually separate the two. You think of health coaches as focusing on physical health. Mental health, that’s for therapists, but you have really been a part of some organizations that have focused on merging the two, which I think is absolutely critical, because coaches do support mental health big time. And that’s because in functional medicine perspective, somebody starts to walk, they start to move during the day, they start to make better food choices. And behold, their mood’s going to change. They’re going to feel better mentally, emotionally.

Shelby: Right. Right. No, absolutely. And I will, with all respect for you, of course, and the learning I had, you as a clinical psychologist, and what I learned in FMCA as a student, very clearly, is scope of practice, right? So, of course, I understand the scope of practice of a health coach and would never ever in the field of mental health coaching venture into a realm of therapy or diagnosis, or treatment. But there is so much that coaching can do to support our mental health care system that, quite frankly, has been broken and not really as effective as it could be, and not as accessible. And I think for far too long, the mental health care system has relied on a one-size-fits-all approach, right, with therapy being the primary and often only system of support. And yet, while it’s extremely valuable, people need tools that allow them to care for their mental health every day, right, to build resilience and to prevent problems from escalating.

And care is a continuous experience where it’s not just maybe once or twice a month, but a responsive system that allows people to care for their mental health every day, not just in a crisis situation, but in every day and every moment. And that’s what coaching can do, right, helping people to have the tools to self-discovery and holistic care, right, because really, I think, for a long time, we thought of mental health as this separate part of our body or being, right, but we, especially as functional medicine certified health coaches, know that our health is holistic and it’s integrated and it’s a whole-person approach. And so there’s so much that coaching can do to support the mental health care system, and it’s an evidence-based modality now. Obviously, going to continue to be a vital part and an increasingly important part of, I think, our mental health care system.

Dr. Sandi: Can you describe specifically how mental health coaching differs from psychotherapy?

Shelby: Yeah, excellent question. Well, first, it’s just like coaching is, it’s forward-facing, so it’s understanding scope of practice and never… It’s not focused on the past, it’s from where you are now to where you want to be. So forward-focused, understanding the different conditions of mental health to some degree, but we would never venture into treatment or therapy or really examining, exploring trauma in a person. It’s just very much focused on behavior change, right? So knowing where you are now, where do you want to be, what kind of changes do you want to make that would support your mental health for everyday life, right, to navigate the ups and downs of life that are actually quite complex. And so it’s just helping people make small behavior changes that can support their mental health on an everyday basis.

Dr. Sandi: It’s critical for a number of reasons. First, we are facing a critical shortage of mental health providers. Older therapists are retiring, new people are not entering the field. The burnout rate is quite high, and often this is out of… it’s not affordable. Insurance may not cover for many people, their plans might exclude this type of treatment. And when I was working as a psychologist, I saw too many times people being traumatized by their therapists, by their therapy. They were told they were damaged. They had to be in therapy for life, victims of trauma and past abuse that was exaggerated often in terms of that was the sole focus of these sessions. And so people would come out of the sessions being more stirred up and upset than beforehand. And often using techniques like, oh, let’s go walk together and learn some meditation and appreciate using the positive psychology focus, which is taught at FMCA. So people would report feeling better, and the more experience they had feeling better, then new neural pathways were being born of like good feelings, positive mental health. So yeah, kudos to you. And can you talk about Headspace and specifically what you do for Headspace and what the mission is there for mental health coaching?

Shelby: Yeah, excuse me. Of course. Yes, I work at Headspace. I lead our mental health coach training program, which is an NBHWC-approved training program that I developed and lead. And we actually launched it three years ago, August 1st. So we’re coming up on that very special anniversary. We initially built it for our internal coaches who, at Headspace, they came to Headspace and Ginger actually, which was our former company before Ginger merged with Headspace in 2021. Our coaches had really strong mental health backgrounds, like maybe within clinical psychology and social work, but they actually, most of them, or many didn’t have actual certified coach training.

So as a clinical psychologist, I’m sure that there’s a difference, right? There’s similarities. There’s some overlap that can be applied in terms of motivational interviewing and in certain positive psychology and such, but there’s distinctions between what a therapist or psychologist does and a coach. And so we wanted our coaches to really understand coaching fully and allow them to use the tools of coaching instead of relying on the tools of therapy, right? In their coaching. So we built a program for internal aid, but we also always saw it as a way of helping the field. Like you said, there’s such a dearth, sadly, of mental health care providers, therapists and psychiatrists, and I think the statistics don’t look great about like ever catching up right now, like for the need, right? Because the training, the education, the expense of going to school to become a licensed therapist or counselor, which again, it’s a wonderful career that’s needed, but many people can’t do that. And so through coaching, we feel like we could make an impact, and we always wanted to train in the highest manner and to the highest standards, mental health care professionals. So we have postdoc programs too and practicum programs for psychologists at Headspace.

So I am part of the Headspace Training Institute. I’m on the coaching side. We have the clinical side. So as I said, I lead our mental health coach training program, and we’ve had over 400 or nearly 400 students graduate in just three years. And we’re a small program. We’re like a, I like to say like a really warm community. We don’t advertise our program. It’s grassroots, it’s word of mouth. We get referrals from the NBHWC website, and we get referrals from our graduates who are just, I think, really thrilled with the program. And we give a lot of attention to our students, just as I received at FMCA. Personalized, open communication with your course facilitator and support every step of the way. So yeah, I’m just really thrilled to be part of that program and to see the transformation, right, that our students have. Like even the first week or two, we just started a new cohort July 7th, and yeah, just hearing the feedback from students, because it was the same way at FMCA, students are just like, this is changing my life just in the first couple weeks. I mean, so much about myself and I’ve, yeah, so that’s what we’re doing at Headspace. And I think at Headspace also, we are really reinventing mental health care access and delivery. So we are creating a category of a mental health companion. So again, a responsive, continuous system of care that is with a person every step of the way, right? So not just in crisis, but every step of the way, every day for every moment of your life to have those tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of life and mental health.

Dr. Sandi: Well, it’s a great program, and really it’s a specialization. And so conceivably, people could become a health coach first if they have no background, especially in healthcare, and get that solid foundation and then go on to specialize in mental health coaching. And can you talk about functional medicine? Because our program is about functional medicine principles and how those principles will play a key role in mental health, and specifically mental health coaching.

Shelby: Right. Oh, absolutely. And I’m so glad that I, for many reasons, I chose the FMCA for my program of study because I learned firsthand, of course, about functional medicine and the comorbidities of health and how whole-person integrated care is just the most effective. And certainly that’s just what mental health is about. So it’s all interconnected. And we help our students understand. So while we don’t go into depth the way you do, Sandi, you know, so well, and the FMCA program in terms of functional medicine, we do teach though, of course, about chronic illnesses and how whole-person care. So, and how one’s physical health will impact their mental health and vice versa. And like you said, like once people start making even changes for say their mental health by taking walks, that’s going to improve their physical health, it’s just all so beautifully interconnected. And I think that’s something I’m passionate about too, is helping people understand that they need to care for their mental health the same way they do their physical health, which is through multiple modes, modalities and tools of care. So that, yeah, to help them navigate, and that it’s not this separate thing that we only think about in terms of a crisis, or we think of it stigmatized as somebody with a serious mental health condition. And we don’t, so it’s just, we want people to understand that mental health it’s just part of our holistic health. And I think functional medicine really provides that, obviously, the foundation and the education for that.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, yeah, it’s really critical to see that they are one, just as the field of mind body medicine looks at there’s no separation mind and body. The mind is real in the body vice versa. And I was looking back at my career, and it’s almost 15 years, and been focusing on this and addressing the idea that you make improvements to your physical health through lifestyle change, and then you move your anxiety state is how can it change? And we’re now, we have so many fascinating new discoveries about the microbiome and gut health and how that translates to mental health, brain health, and how when your body is inflamed, your brain’s inflamed, it’s on fire. Well, what does that do in terms of your thinking? And if your thinking is distorted, then you’re going to be in an emotional state that is signaling distress. And so it’s really important to see this, as you said, this holistic nature of health. And I see too many in the field and too many therapists are still focusing on the separation, where they never even ask somebody what they’re eating, or maybe in therapy for years and years. So we have this critical problem with shortage of therapists, wait lists for people to get the kind of treatment they need, and the importance of mental health coaching. So where do you draw the line? Like, is there a time when somebody where there’s just no question that a traditional mental health approach is necessary? So when would you call in the psychiatrist, for example, if somebody is showing bipolar or schizophrenic symptoms, but even there, is mental health coaching appropriate? Is there a role for that as well?

Shelby: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, we especially, of course, train our coaches at Headspace, we have a full-stack system of care. So we have therapists and psychiatrists, our coaches can easily and always do refer if somebody needs a higher level of care. But, you know, so many mental health needs are subclinical, but certainly, we just again, train to understand if not just this more serious mental health condition, but if anxiety or mood is higher than low, then we refer out, we ask, have you thought about working with a mental health counselor or therapist? Have you been working with one? So we train to talk about suicide. I mean, that I just feel really strongly that we need to talk more and more about suicide. And as difficult as it is, I think that is the way we will destigmatize it and help people seek the care they need when they are really struggling.

And much the same way with mental health care back 10, 15, 20 years ago, even, it was so much more stigmatized than it was now. And how did we get here? Well, we started talking about it, we weren’t afraid to say anymore, maybe to share even though about our mental health challenges. And I think that we need to do that with more difficult topics like suicide and self harm so that when a person again, is struggling, they don’t feel like it’s this taboo thing they can’t talk to anyone about, right? They can’t talk to their parent or their friends or their doctor. So we definitely just we help our students and our graduates be very comfortable talking about these things, but also knowing exactly when to refer out and really, anytime I think a client is struggling with more than like low to very low moderate mood disorder or anxiety, or certainly if they’re talking about trauma a lot or struggling with grief, or we will always refer them to a clinical professional.

Dr. Sandi: So, you have been in this field of health coaching since 2016. And as you said, it’s no longer in its infancy. What do you see the future holds for health coaching? If you were to have a crystal ball and look into the future, what do you see? And what would you like to see?

Shelby: Yeah, oh, gosh, so so many things. But I think just I would like people, and I think what it holds is just that people will become familiar with health coaching and think of their health coach as this person on their team, right? They’re part of their holistic health care team, they have a doctor, they have a nutritionist, perhaps, or maybe a therapist, but they have a health coach, and somebody who can just be with them and guide them. And I would really like to see younger and younger people have health coaches, I’m really passionate about youth and teenagers, adolescents, and young adults, and bringing health coaching to those populations, through universities and even schools, I think there’s so much potential because as we know, too, with mental health, so many situations can start in adolescence, right? And we’re seeing just sadly, like higher and higher rates of mental health conditions in youth and teens, and young adults.

And I’m just passionate too, about coaching, like to me, coaching at its core is simply effective, nonviolent communication skills that sadly, none of us are ever taught, unless we happen to go through a program like FMCA, or to really learn about how to effectively communicate, how to really listen to understand another person. And these are life-changing skills, right, Sandi, that I think so many of us come into a coach training program, perhaps like thinking we’re gonna start a new career, and we will, we can do that, but it also changes us, right? And it changes every relationship we have, because we’re learning how to communicate more effectively. And that just impacts every role that we have in our lives. So yeah, I’m passionate about bringing coaching skills to the world, and then certainly health coaching skills. And as I said, really younger and younger populations as well. I think there’s so much potential.

Dr. Sandi: Yes, and there was a study a few years back, it’s a survey. And I believe they were college students asked, what would they prefer to work with a therapist or health coach, and it just health coaching. It doesn’t have the stigma, and he may have been familiar with a good experience with a soccer coach, for example, and so much potential for health coaching to reach the younger population.

Shelby: Oh, that’s wonderful to hear. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Thank you.

Dr. Sandi: Shelby, this has been wonderful to reconnect with you after years to hear the wonderful things that you are doing, the advancements in mental health coaching, your passion for the field. So I want to thank you for being with us today.

Shelby: Oh, thank you, Sandi. And I just truly am always forever grateful for the education and the training I received at FMCA. I send people to the program all the time who express an interest in holistic health care. And I am just so grateful for the career and the world and the life that it’s opened up for me, because of the program that you had the foresight and bravery, the strength of bravery and so many strengths, right to really go out as a female leader and start FMCA. Like I just always hold you in the highest regard, and I’m just so grateful to be back talking with you and just to be part of the work that we’re all trying to do together. So thank you.

Dr. Sandi: Well, thank you so much. That means a lot.

Shelby: Thank you again.