As part of my work I assist people who are interested in making changes in their lifestyles. Frequently this means working to change attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours about health issues such as smoking, exercise and diet. The motivation for such change is often the result of injury, illness or aging. It may be the result of a change in family situation such as death/divorce of spouse/partner or children leaving home. There may also be decisions about education, family, relationships or work.
While coaching includes many aspects of counselling, it emphasizes motivation and effort. It's not enough to simply investigate; clients who want lifestyle coaching want to get moving. While there certainly may be both time and place for introspection, they are more interested in action. You want to see results!
Lifestyle coaching frequently happens outside of the office. It's in the gym, pool, library, supermarket or garden. It's on foot, on a bike or a boat. It's wherever and however your particular lifestyle change needs to happen! Lifestyle coaching is about creative exploration to find out what will help you to support the changes you'd like to see in your daily life.
It looks different for everybody. It might be quick phone-calls at hourly intervals on the day you finally quit smoking. Or consistent help to figure out the percentage of fat in your diet. Pre-arranged meetings to get you to the gym or library. Accompanying you to painting lessons. Scheduling meditation more often. Research about Heart-Smart recipes, or how to sneak more fibre into your family's diet. It may involve searching out health/wellness professionals to provide you with specific information or treatment. Lifestyle coaching may also include "ordinary" counselling and EMDR.
Culturally we are paying more attention to health and wellness, perhaps resulting from the baby boom population bulge hitting middle age. I believe that it's important, as an individual, to define what "healthy living" means to you. What is health? How do you get healthy? A "recipe" for quality of life might include having time for friends, work, service, recreation, a spiritual life, Nature, intellectual stimulation, creativity and body maintenance--exercise, aerobic activity, stretching, as well as appropriate medical and dental care.