Your client is finally finding her groove…and she’s about to go on vacation. How can you help her stick to the plan while traveling?
Holly and Catherine are the second coach-client pair featured in our Coaching LIVE video series. And as we edge closer to the end of their 6 sessions together, we’re seeing some familiar coaching challenges emerge around maintaining new habits and staying motivated. Catherine and Holly’s journey is a great example of how Functional Medicine Health Coaches meet their clients where they are and offer the support needed to move forward, whatever “forward” looks like.
Functional Medicine Health Coaching LIVE is a completely unedited, first-hand look at the power of the coaching process. We’re incredibly proud of the change our Functional Medicine Health Coach graduates create in the world, and this series puts the spotlight on their work, showing how the unique skills and techniques of Functional Medicine Coaching Academy-trained coaches can help clients tap into their motivation, overcome roadblocks, and find new and creative ways to thrive. Holly and Catherine’s coaching journey will include 6 coaching sessions focused around maintaining an active lifestyle while managing chronic illness and preparing for major surgery.
Holly + Catherine, Session 5:
Our pair have been working on ways to keep Catherine focused and motivated toward her movement goals, even when she feels like she’s not making enough progress to keep going. Last week, Holly brought in visualization and guided imagery to help her client move past a plateau, and they’ve refocused on the little victories that show progress IS happening, however small.
With her client’s motivation renewed, Holly now works with Catherine to create a movement plan for Catherine’s upcoming vacation. She’s escaping chilly Canada and heading to sunny Florida—a great chance to get moving and enjoy the outdoors (two things Catherine loves). Using the VIA Character Strength tool, Holly helps her client set goals to keep moving in ways that will be accessible to her on vacation. They explore how tracking movement could keep Catherine in touch with her motivation and gauge her progress in a concrete way.
How will this vacation go for Catherine? Will she stick to the plan she and Holly created, or are more roadblocks ahead? Tune in next week to see their FINAL coaching session!
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About the Coaching Process
A Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach (FMCHC) partners with individuals and groups in a client-centered process to support better health. FMCA trains our graduates to work closely with clients around all of the lifestyle factors (sleep/relaxation, exercise/movement, nutrition, stress, and relationships) that influence health. Coaching concepts like motivational interviewing, character strengths, and positive psychology enable health coaches to create the connection, trust, and rapport that facilitate lasting change. The coaching process is successful because it empowers clients to draw on internal strengths, develop self-knowledge, and embrace self-management strategies in order to make the often-challenging lifestyle changes necessary for optimal health.
A FMCHC’s solid understanding of the foundations of Functional Medicine informs their approach. They are fully trained to utilize many of the resources provided by The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), such as the Timeline, Matrix, and Food Plans. Their background in Functional Medicine, combined with their training in positive psychology coaching skills, allows coaches to understand and support clients as they implement Functional Medicine treatment plans into their lifestyles. In this way, coaches move beyond the diagnosis-prescription model to co-create and execute a plan with the client that inspires them to a path of better health. When working under the delegation of the treating practitioner, a FMCHC may be able to provide further assistance related to labs and supplements. A FMCHC does not assess, prescribe, diagnose, treat, or interpret results.
About Functional Medicine Coaching LIVE
This new video series, Functional Medicine Health Coaching LIVE, follows Functional Medicine Coaching Academy-trained coaches as they help their real clients start a transformation. This inside look at the coaching process started with a casting call to our community, looking for clients who wanted to share their coaching journey on video. And real people who were ready to finally address their chronic health challenges responded! We matched them with a coach and filmed their sessions once a week for 6-8 weeks, and these episodes are the unedited videos of their sessions. Throughout the series, you’ll see a range of coaching styles, client health challenges, and client-coach dynamics as each pair works toward better health together. It’s a realistic look at the broad range of experiences and styles you can find in Functional Medicine Health Coaching.
“Functional Medicine Coaching: How to Be Part of the Movement That’s Transforming Healthcare”
