Why Health Coaching?

I have practiced medicine as a physician assistant (PA) in a family practice setting for the past 12 years. I love many things about being a PA including helping patients achieve positive health outcomes. Two years ago, I started getting fed up with the “there’s a pill for that” mentality. A lot of patients want to make changes without taking medication. Others simply want a quick fix, which often comes in the form of a pill. 

Don’t get me wrong, medications are necessary in some situations, like the treatment of uncontrolled high blood pressure and really high cholesterol, both of which can increase a person’s risk of heart disease. Another example is the use of an antidepressant in the treatment of severe depression. These medications can be lifesaving.

There are a lot of situations that can be treated with lifestyle changes though. Over time, I started to focus more and more on motivational interactions with patients rather than jumping to “there’s a drug for that” conversations. I found that when a person is motivated and ready to make a change, lifestyle changes can make a HUGE difference in a person’s health. 

With motivational interviewing, I have helped patients achieve amazing results and even enabled some of them to get off medications. Due to this success, I have chosen to focus on health coaching where I can help my clients take steps toward improved health. One client was able to reduce the number of  blood pressure medications from 3 to 1! Another client with a history of Type 2 Diabetes was able to get off all of her glucose lowering medications! Both of these clients had something in common: they were motivated and ready for change. 

In healthcare, when we counsel people on quitting smoking, we ask the patient, “Are you ready to quit, thinking about quitting, or not ready to quit?” You only dive deeper into counseling if they answer that they are ready to quit. Working with a health coach is no different. You will get your best results if you are ready to improve your health. If you aren’t there yet, I encourage you to think about it. If you are ready, let me know and we’ll take the next step together.