What Is A Health Coach?

As stated by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), health coaches are professionals who: "assist clients to use their own insight, personal strengths, and resources to set goals, commit to action steps, and establish accountability in building an envisioned healthy lifestyle...(they) empower, support, and guide individuals looking to enhance their well-being through self-directed lasting changes that align with their values." ¹

What Is Their Scope/Function?

Health coaches are the in-between professional that helps connect the dots! They do not:

1. Replace your doctor, therapist, personal trainer, dietitian, etc

2. Prescribe a pre-fabricated exercise plan or nutrition plan.

3. Prescribe medications or make supplement recommendations.

4. Diagnose medical conditions.

   They DO help you achieve the changes that those professionals advise. Remember your last doctor's appointment? Lasted all of 5 minutes after a 20 minute (or more) wait, as is the norm. Doctors have limited time, and too many patients in a single day to spend a significant amount of time walking through all the steps you need to take to improve your bloodwork or concerns.

   A coach has that time, that's what we are all about! Planning out the steps, walking alongside you on the journey, and helping you make that change long-term until you're confident in walking that path without extra support.

What Does A Coaching Call Entail?

The first call will usually be a "getting to know you" chat, going over points of interest from your onboarding paperwork, establishing areas of focus, and of course an opportunity for you to really get to know your coach if you have any questions about their education, background, experience, or mindset.

Future calls will be more focused on discussing action steps you took, what worked and what didn't, and then troubleshooting the obstacles you faced.

There is no "script" to follow in calls--each one has the goal of helping a client gain confidence in the action steps they are taking to achieve their big-picture goal. Sometimes a call is simply a touchpoint with your coach to celebrate progress--other times it's a brainstorming session to help overcome a hurdle. You are the one deciding what is needed most each call!

What Skills Do Coaches Use?

Coaches are educated and trained in several psychology-based approaches and methods, such as:

1. Motivational Interviewing (MI): "a technique that has been specifically developed to help motivate ambivalent patients to change their behavior." ²

2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): " a structured, goal-oriented type of talk therapy." ³

3. Transtheoretical Model (TTM): "easy-to-follow steps toward change...TTM stages include: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance" ⁴

4. S.M.A.R.T Goals: "well-known set of rules for goal specification. This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed...it grew out of business/organizational culture. Following these criteria, patients create specific goals with well-defined criteria for success." ⁵

What Topics Can A Coach Help With?

Every coach has unique specialty areas, but most are able to help in key common areas, such as nutrition, fitness, sleep, stress management, and weight management. Some specialty topics can include women's health, pregnancy/fertility, chronic pain management, tobacco cessation, anxiety + depression, gut health, and more. The best way to know if a coach can help you is to contact them directly!

Conclusions

A health coach is a dynamic, supportive professional that helps you succeed in the goals you have for your health by listening to your story, identifying barriers, increasing your sense of self-efficacy, setting reasonable action steps, and helping you develop the discipline required to achieve goals even after the coaching relationship ends.

If you have questions about any portion of this post, shoot me a message!

Works Cited

1. NBHWC. “What Is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach?” NBHWC, 13 Aug. 2025, nbhwc.org/what-is-a-health-coach/.

2. Bischof, Gallus et al. “Motivational Interviewing: An Evidence-Based Approach for Use in Medical Practice.” Deutsches Arzteblatt international vol. 118,7 (2021): 109-115. doi:10.3238/arztebl.m2021.0014

3. Cleveland Clinic medical. “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): What It Is & Techniques.” Cleveland Clinic, 17 Sept. 2025, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21208-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-cbt.

4. Raihan, Nahrain. “Stages of Change Theory.” StatPearls [Internet], U.S. National Library of Medicine, 6 Mar. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556005/.

5. Bailey, Ryan R. “Goal Setting and Action Planning for Health Behavior Change.” American journal of lifestyle medicine vol. 13,6 615-618. 13 Sep. 2017, doi:10.1177/1559827617729634