What is Health Coaching?
What Is a Health Coach?
A health coach is a trained professional who partners with and empowers clients on their path to greater wellness. Through evidence-based behavior change strategies, a health coach helps individuals build awareness, motivation, and sustainable habits that improve overall well-being.
The Role of a Health Coach
Health coaches are highly skilled in understanding the science of change and applying behavioral change theory. The primary goal of health coaching is to uncover and strengthen a client’s motivation toward their wellness goals, using a compassionate, non-judgmental partnership approach.
A health coach facilitates this process by recognizing that each client is the expert in their own life, holding both autonomy and responsibility for their choices. The coach’s role is to inspire belief in possibility and nurture self-efficacy—the inner confidence that says, “I can do this.”
Foundational Theories in Health Coaching
Health coaches draw upon well-established models such as Self-Determination Theory, which highlights the human needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in cultivating internal motivation. Another key framework is the Transtheoretical Model of Change, which identifies where a person is in their change journey (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, or maintenance). Understanding this helps the coach tailor their approach effectively.
Motivational Interviewing in Coaching Practice
These theories come to life through the practice of Motivational Interviewing (MI)—grounded in Compassion, Acceptance, Partnership, and Empowerment. Using MI, a skilled coach helps clients resolve the tug-of-war between wanting to change and wanting to stay the same (ambivalence) by fostering “change talk” rather than “sustain talk.” The most effective coaches bring connection, presence, and balance to their sessions, embodying what’s known as the “spirit” of motivational interviewing.
The Health Coaching Approach
While health coaching is collaborative and goal-oriented, a coach does not diagnose, prescribe, or direct. Instead, with the client’s permission, they may provide education to support informed decision-making.
The outcome of a successful health coaching relationship is that the client discovers their own intrinsic motivation to make meaningful, lasting changes—often in areas like nutrition, physical activity, stress management, or lifestyle habits—leading to enhanced wellness and quality of life.
References
Lanier, C. H., Bean, P., & Arnold, S. C. (2024). Motivational interviewing in life and health coaching: A guide to effective practice. Guilford Press.
International Coaching Federation. (n.d.). What is coaching? https://coachingfederation.org/about/what-is-coaching
Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching. (n.d.). Scope of practice for health and wellness coaches. https://nbhwc.org/scope-of-practice
