What is a Health Coach, and Would I Benefit from Working with One?

Health coaches can support patients in creating specific action steps in foundational domains, including nutrition, stress management, sleep optimization, and the creation of optimal physical activity programs.

Coaches can be essential members of your medical team, especially when they work closely with your doctor.

At Thrive, our health coaches work with the doctors to help create positive change. They do this by working with the doctors in implementing and supporting the recommendations.

You can think of health coaching as sitting at the intersection of health information, recommendations, and successful behavior change.

They can also understand the personal contributors to a patient’s health and how they might affect the body. They can understand and empathize with each patient’s health challenges by providing one-on-one personalized care.

Although there have only been a few controlled clinical trials demonstrating the value of health coaching, researchers at the University of Southern Maine in Portland found that when health coaches were involved in care, there was an average health savings of $412 per patient per month. The study specifically looked at claims for health care services of over 1100 patients who participated for 6 months or longer.

In a 2018 systemic literature review of eleven controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of health and wellness coaching, 82 percent of trials found that those who utilized a coach found improvement in nutrition biomarkers and eating behaviors.

The most common improvements were in body weight, blood pressure, and quality of dietary intake.

The health coaches at Thrive Healthcare and Wellness hold respected credentials varying from certifications in health coaching from accredited programs in Functional and Integrative Medicine, making them an integral part of the team at Thrive. They are trained in nutrition, behavior change science, and motivational interviewing. In other words, health coaches are experts at motivating patients to make meaningful life changes.

Functional Medicine Health coaches use the same Functional Medicine principles and positive psychology coaching that are integral to the practice at Thrive Healthcare.

They can use these principles and techniques to:

• Educate clients further about the doctor’s plan of care.
• Offer tools and accountability when implementing new lifestyle changes.
• Keep patients motivated to stay on track
• Guide clients on dietary changes, food plans, and physical activity protocols.
• Support clients in group settings with and without practitioners
• Availability through Power2 Practice for updates, questions, and concerns.

Coaches also have the tools and skills to help clients build new habits and make lasting changes. This makes health coaches unique in the healthcare industry—they are not just a source of information but a catalyst for transformation.

At Thrive, health coach visits are part of the annual membership (excluding Primary Care and Exercise Memberships). Those signed up as Thrivers will get 4 included health coach visits per year and a reduction in fees for any additional visits or packages beyond the included visits.