What Is Wellness Coaching and How Can It Help Me - life coaching and health coaching
Wellness Coaching

What Is Wellness Coaching and How Can It Help Me?

December 2024
8 min read
Nugent Family Counseling

Discover how wellness coaching can help you thrive, improve well-being, and find meaning and purpose in your life.

The Origins of Wellness Coaching

Wellness Coaching, sometimes called "Life Coaching" or "Health Coaching" began to emerge as a field around 20 years ago mostly helping executives and businesses be more productive with increased satisfaction. Positive psychology, founded by Martin Seligman, noticed a trend that when clients addressed how to improve their well-being in psychotherapy, clients began to improve in numerous areas of their lives and thrive.

The World Health Organization defines thriving as optimal physical and mental health while emphasizing that one can thrive even when facing adversity or disease. A wellness coach can assist you with finding your formula to thrive.

The State of American Well-Being

A recent Gallup Poll assessed American well-being. Respondents self-reported on a ladder scale to questions that reflected perceived well-being today and 5 years from now.

Gallup Poll Results

Thriving

51%

Struggling

43%

Suffering

6%

Key Finding: This poll indicates approximately half of Americans have inconsistent or poor well-being in their present lives and viewed it the same for 5 years into the future.

Respondents who were struggling were more likely to take more sick days, smoke, less likely to eat healthy, and had higher disease burden, both physical and mental. They had higher levels of stress, including real and perceived burden.

How Wellness Coaching Works

Wellness coaching recognizes that the client is the expert on their own life that leads to self-efficacy where clients find ways to self motivate and improve well-being.

Coaching is often described as an energizing process where clients discover new insights about themselves and how they want to live and thrive.

What thriving looks like for each person is unique for them and their circumstances. How you make steps to get there is as different as we all are as individuals.

Evidence-Based Practices

Your coach will use evidence-based practices such as:

Motivational Interviewing

Transtheoretical Model of Change

Areas You Might Explore with a Wellness Coach

Physical and Mental Health

How to improve physical and mental health

Community Connection

Lowering feelings of loneliness by exploring ways to increase community

Work Satisfaction

Improving satisfaction or change with work, whether it's paid work, volunteer work, or the work of raising and caring for a family

Positive Emotions

Increasing the experience of positive emotions such as joy, affection, or hope

Hobbies & Interests

Finding new hobbies or getting back engaged in previous ones

Meaning & Purpose

Discovering new ways to live with meaning and purpose

Wellness Coaching vs. Psychotherapy

There is a lot of overlap between Wellness Coaching and Psychotherapy. One of the main differences is your coach cannot diagnose a mental health condition or directly treat it. Coaches use many of the same concepts as therapists do.

When Coaching Works Best:

In tandem with psychotherapy for comprehensive support

As a transition when ready to end psychotherapy

As a standalone modality for personal growth and well-being

If you are new to Nugent Family Counseling Center, a member of the intake team will assist you in finding the right clinician and give guidance if coaching is right for you.

Improved well-being is associated with higher quality of life.

Having a trained coach by your side means you are allied with an excellent listener who will ask questions to improve your life in any area you are struggling with. You might get surprised by something brand new and move into a place of thriving.

Well-being isn't the absence of disease or disability but finding ways to live the best you can.

Available at Nugent Family Counseling Center

Nugent Family Counseling Center has a certified Health and Wellness Coach on our team and looks forward to working with you!

In-Person Sessions

Available in Reno, Nevada

Telehealth Sessions

Available throughout California

Appropriate for older teens and adults

About the Author

The team at Nugent Family Counseling Center brings decades of combined experience helping individuals, couples, and families navigate mental health challenges with compassion and expertise.

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Ready to Thrive with Wellness Coaching?

Whether you're looking to improve your well-being, find more meaning and purpose, or make positive changes in your life, our certified Health and Wellness Coach is here to support you. Available in-person in Reno and via telehealth throughout California for older teens and adults.