Personal Triumph Fitness & Wellness can help you find better health and meaning in your life. If you are stuck, want to achieve something and will need a trusted ally or just want better performance in your life, a coach can help.
Wellness coaching is a process by which two people
engage on a journey. One has the tools an knowledge of how to go places
and the other person has a place they want to go. This place is usually
the vision and desire to be a person they dream to be, their Best Self. Wellness coaching can be about fitness, health, weight loss or generally any subject that moves you to a better place.
Listed below is a link to a short cartoon which helps explain the process. The cartoon is being used worldwide by Wellcoaches wellness coaches to demystify coaching, describe its power, and help clients better appreciate the potential coaches offer.
Experts agree that coaching is coming of age. This cartoon is an important step along that path as the coaching industry strives to reach its “best self”—while helping others reach theirs. Coaches are dedicated to helping people take charge, master the opportunities which adversity brings, and reach their full potential in all walks of life. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what some of our clients have to say:
"My feeling on coaching? It changed my life - plain and simple.
Although people would probably consider me a successful person, I struggled internally with feelings of self-doubt and lack of self esteem. Even worse, I didn't even recognize that that was what I was dealing with. What I did see, however, were the symptoms -- destructive eating behaviors, sleeping problems, emotional fragility, and other self-punishing actions. ANd although from the outside it seemed like I was keeping things together, inside I felt like I was on a downward spiral. And I had lost all hope of any change. Coaching changed all that.
It wasn't a quick fix, by any means, but it was a real fix. It worked because I started with the big picture - what my vision was for who I wanted to be - and not the surface issues. As a result, I was had to deal with the core issues, not the surface symptoms. And I did it on my terms - not using some externally imposed plan. So I was able to determine what I was able to handle and what I needed to work towards. Being able to "take little bites" dramatically increased my ability to succeed, and that success propelled me to continue along the path. And most importantly, it made me take responsibility.
Now coaching is not for everyone. It is not for the "quick-fix crowd. It is not for people who are not serious about improving their lot. It is not for people who don't want to work at it. But for those who are serious and do want to work at change - this can be a life-altering process.
I cannot express how incredible this experience has been for me. I have developed such a sense of confidence and self-worth that I've never had in my life. I am calmer, and my sense of calm and confidence have pervaded all other aspects of my life. And hope! I have hope and confidence that I will be able to achieve my goals. I finally feel like a "normal" person - and I am so incredibly happy to be able to finally say that.
“I spent 8 months working with Ken on a weekly basis. It was an amazing experience—in fact it was life altering. Ken is a fantastic coach who helped me realize my goals but also, and almost more importantly, he encouraged me rediscover how much untapped strength and power I actually possess.
I spent many years of my adult life living and doing for others, putting myself last, accepting status quo, and basically letting the situations I was in make life’s decisions for me. With Ken’s coaching, I began to embody the “warrior spirit” I always knew I had but couldn’t seem to tap into. With focused goals, I changed my life week by week and today I feel like a different person from the one who started on this path 8 months ago.
The process was fun, emotional, easy, difficult, amusing, frustrating, and just about everything in between! I really got to know and understand myself, recognize my strengths and weaknesses and learn how to make them work for me. I had to look at things in my life that were sometimes painful or embarrassing but Ken always managed to help me find a path through the adversities.
We are all on a journey through life and I’m happy that I had Ken’s expertise coaching me for a few miles along the way. It’s been an awesome ride. The tools and techniques I’ve learned in my sessions I will carry with me always; to be utilized as needed for the rest of my life. And thanks to Ken, the rest of my life will be of my own design.”
Wellcoaches is
the organization that I work through. The process is focused on the
positive. We do not look back. We look at the now and see what is
working and then develop upon it.
Wellness is misused and
misunderstood. The coaching process is flexible and can be applied to
any challenge large or small. Here is a Boston Globe article from
January 2010.
Carol Kauffman has a question for you: If your life could look the way you’d
really like it to look, what would that be?
The practice of coaching is characterized by asking specific
questions, according to Carol Kauffman of the Institute of Coaching.
In the following exercise, “the idea is really giving yourself permission and
then thinking about your future so it can pull you forward and help you notice
opportunities to do things when they show up,’’ she said.
Imagine yourself as a pie filled with many pieces.
Pick one of those pieces,whether it’s work, relationships,
health, where you live, your personal growth, leisure, or some other component.
If time or money were no object, on a scale of 1 to 10 with
10 being the best, what would this part of your life look like?
If you don’t know, close your eyes and concentrate, making
yourself accessible to your dreams, as Kauffman would say.
If you said you’re at 2 1/2, what would it take over the
next six weeks to get to 3?
Depending on your answer, she’ll help you build on your strengths so you can
pull yourself toward your goals, step by small step. She’ll also hold you
accountable.
Although Kauffman is a psychologist, this is coaching, not therapy.
Codirector of the new Institute of Coaching at Harvard-affiliated McLean
Hospital, she is working
to solidify the growing body of evidence-based research supporting the
relatively new field that is often defined by what it is not.
“Therapy helps you overcome the challenges of the past and coaching helps
you very clearly identify your vision of the future,’’ she said. “Coaching is a
process of change that revolves around strengths and potential, rather than
feelings of pathology and pain.’’
There are executive coaches who encourage leadership, wellness coaches who
help people become more fit, and health coaches who focus on preventing disease
or coping with illness. And there are life coaches who step in when people are
stuck, at work or in relationships. Moving forward is the mantra, in tune with
positive psychology, which Kauffman defines as “the study of what is right with
us and what makes life worth living.’’
Coaching has a new research home at McLean,
funded by philanthropist and coach Ruth Ann Harnisch. A pilot program at a Massachusetts General Hospital primary care practice is
testing whether its health coaches can deliver improvements in blood pressure
or diabetes control. But the field is still without national agreement on
accreditation.
Insurance companies do not cover the cost of coaching, which can
range from $50 for one-on-one consultations to $500 per hour for high-end executive
coaching. Kauffman’s institute will not train or certify coaches but will make
grants to researchers who will build on existing studies that investigate how
coaching works to help people make changes in their lives.
“People need to know this isn’t just happy talk,’’ Kauffman said. “This is
great science.’’
At a time of year when change for the better tops many people’s to-do lists,
coaching has intuitive appeal. Kauffman also said there’s a bottom-line case to
be made: People who are flourishing in their lives, with high levels of
well-being, cost the health-care system less, she said, citing research by
Emory sociologist and positive psychology proponent Corey Keyes.
Susan DiGiovanni of Reading
says coaching saved her life. Thunderstruck by a July recurrence of breast
cancer, she turned to a wellness coach to navigate her way through a new life
in which just getting out of bed to make a cup of tea was a struggle. She had
superb medical care, but was emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally
devastated by her Stage 4 diagnosis.
“I needed to find someone who could not only navigate the hospital system,
but help me reach out to other opportunities, based on my own individual
needs,’’ she said.
In September she met Margaret Moore, co-director with Kauffman of the Institute of Coaching and founder of Wellesley-based
Wellcoaches, at a symposium on coaching and leadership in medicine.
When they
began working together, Moore
asked DiGiovanni to write down 10 things that make her feel alive or give her
purpose. Faith was her first one, so Moore
suggested she start each day with 15 minutes of prayer and meditation. Family
was next, followed by friends and being in nature. Going down the list, they
found ways to connect with what helped her.
“We totally focused on her future and achieving her dream. I’m not talking
about her cancer treatment, unless she wants to tell me about it,’’ Moore said. “We are
working on how she’s building a new career, how she’s working with her teenage
kids, how she’s moving into a new house.’’
DiGiovanni says the process gave her inner healing. “Most people think of
wellness coaching as, ‘Jog three miles, eat a lot of salad, take your vitamins,
and do a yoga class.’ It’s so much deeper.’’
At MGH Back Bay, nutrition and exercise may very well be prescribed, but not
in such a top-down fashion, according to Dr. Edward Phillips, director and
founder of Harvard’s Institute of Lifestyle Medicine as well as director of
outpatient medical services at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network. His
interest is in motivating people to exercise and he sees coaching as an
effective, efficient way to deliver health messages to patients at risk for
serious medical conditions.
At the primary care office, he asks patients with high blood pressure if they
are ready, willing, and able to make changes that could improve their health.
If they say yes, he suggests simple changes they can make right away: walking
500 extra steps, drinking two extra glasses of water a day, or brushing their
teeth earlier at night and not eating afterward. In a follow-up appointment or
phone call, he asks if they would like to continue with a health coach. A pilot
program will track blood pressure levels to see if coaching made a difference.
Next on the coaching list will be monitoring blood sugar levels for people with
type 2 diabetes or at risk for it.
“We’re helping people modify health behaviors that they want to change so
they can make sustainable lifestyle changes,’’ he said.
Jamie Johnson, who coached high school and college sports teams and managed
a wellness center for a heath insurer before coming to MGH Back Bay, works with
patients in the 12-week pilot program. She assesses their eating habits,
nutrition, stress, emotional well-being, and life satisfaction as well as their
physical activity.
“My clients want to change their lives and they create the agenda for how we
conduct our coaching sessions,’’ she said. “It’s all about what they want to
do. I help people identify their values and what their strengths are.’’
Phyllis Cohen, who from time to time has been coached by Kauffman, said she
passes on lessons about identifying strengths through her own job as a career
counselor. “I’m able to help them feel more positive about what they have to
offer the world of work and about how they can handle their lives and job
search in a different way.’’
Building on strengths is the hallmark of positive psychology, which Martin
Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania says can provide the “scientific and
theoretical backbone’’ to coaching, whose lack of standards concerns him.
“One need not be a licensed psychologist, or even a psychologist, to
practice positive psychology or to practice coaching,’’ Seligman, often called
the father of positive psychology, wrote in the journal Australian
Psychologist.
Dr. Steven Berglas, a former McLean psychiatrist now an executive coach in California, worries that
untrained coaches will not recognize mental illness when they see it. “With
people who are in [serious psychological] trouble, I get them a shrink.
Otherwise, I say I can’t help you.’’
Dr. Peter Metz, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at
University of Massachusetts Medical School, said there is room for both therapy
and coaching to work together. Children and adults diagnosed with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, for example, do well with psychiatric treatment
as well as coaching on how to use their strengths to meet specific challenges.
Coaching “can definitely have a psychotherapeutic benefit. It can help people feel
better and do better, which is the goal of therapy.’’
Before embarking on a coaching relationship, he said, a mental health
assessment may be in order. Medications or psychotherapy can complement and
enhance the impact and effectiveness of the coaching.
“If you have pneumonia, you need an antibiotic. If you have depression
you’ve got to get treatment,’’ Metz
said. “It’s not an either/or; it’s a both/and.’’
Coaches do refer people to get the help they need, said Moore, who through
the McLean Institute and Wellcoaches is working on national standards for coach
training and certification. “When that kind of stuff comes up - a marriage
problem, an eating disorder, anything that verges on depression - coaches will
say, ‘This is beyond my scope and it looks like this would need attention for
you to get where you want to go.’ ’’
Kauffman agrees. “Therapy is something very sacred and powerful. Coaching is
something else. Coaching is a different process of change.’’
Personal Triumph Fitness & Wellness can help you find better health and meaning in your life. If you are stuck, want to achieve something and will need a trusted ally or just want better performance in your life, a coach can help.