Why is coaching what you love to do?
Coaching is what I love because I get why people struggle. I know from personal experience how difficult it is to get the health one wants. Whether it’s healing digestion, losing weight, or feeling more energetic, I’ve worked through it all. I became a holistic health coach to help people make lifestyle changes that produce real & lasting results.
How do you help people?
I listen, ask the right questions, give customized support because I care, and address root causes of what’s holding clients back from feeling fantastic. I’m dedicated to helping people not have to ever worry about dieting again. This takes time, patience, acceptance of where they are at, and a vision for where they want to be. Coaching in their health goals is helping remove the road blocks and make progress.
Food is more than fuel. It’s how we bond, make social connections, feel emotion, experience culture, and so much more. When we are sick, imbalanced, or desperately trying to lose another pound, most of that gets lost.
When I’m coaching people, I make it clear that while we might be working on a healing way of eating right now, the ultimate goal is to be able to enjoy food… a variety of food.. and in great company, without having to worry about it making you sick, etc.
What is your educational background and coaching training?
My education and training has evolved quite a bit over time. My BA is in history and while I started off my career as a teacher, I quickly knew it wasn’t for me. I had work to do on my health and that’s what interested me the most. In my quest to heal myself, I gained a certificate in holistic health coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. While that helped form my desire to make this a career and exposed me to many dietary theories and health experts, it wasn’t enough. I wanted to help people on a deeper level and with a much more scientific understanding of what’s going on. I then, received advanced certifications from the School of Applied Functional Medicine. What I learned here completely upgraded my understanding and became the foundation of how I help people.
10 years came and went. During that time, I continued my education through various functional medicine courses. I also grew in my understanding and coaching ability for people who have experienced dis-ordered eating or struggle, in general, with emotional eating. I also became more interested in learning about sports nutrition to help people feel stronger. This was a completely different experience than focusing solely on exercise be as small as possible.
At this point, I realized while I have the education, training, and experience to help people figure out what’s going on with their health, or at least, point them in a better direction, I was not as effective at coaching people when they were stuck with changing behavior. Helping people actually change was harder than figuring out root causes of what was causing them discomfort. They were stuck, and as a result, I was stuck as their coach. My coaching became exhausting. I had to learn to be a more effective coach.
This brings me to my most recent certification as a Quantum Coach. I learned how to help people help themselves while also guiding them using functional medicine. In other words, I became more invested in the autonomy of my clients. It became apparent to me how ineffective it was for me to list out what they need to do. The secret to real long lasting change was that it had to come from them.
Now my meetings are so much more fulfilling. I hear the change in people and how things just start to click for them. We work together, in a coaching partnership, to realize their health and wellness goals. It’s a beautiful experience for me to witness and be a part of.
