Do you need a nudge to see the light?

If you can't attain a healthy lifestyle, a 'wellness coach' could be the answer, says Barbara Lantin

You need to lose a stone or two, but just cannot manage it, or want to give up smoking but remain resolutely hooked. You know you should have more exercise and less alcohol, more sleep and less salt, but, somehow, despite your best intentions, you're stuck with your unhealthy habits.

Enter the wellness coach. Neither doctor nor counsellor, personal trainer nor guru, a wellness coach is an ally who will help you identify your own health goals and stick to them. And we are likely to hear a good deal more about this phenomenon - already well established in America - over the next few years.

"This is a new concept, using an approach that has proved very effective in the coaching field and it applies to people's health," says Dr Michael Arloski, an American psychologist and coach, who will be addressing a seminar on the topic in London this weekend.

"Well over 50 per cent of diseases and illnesses, and 90 per cent of injuries are caused by the risky behaviour choices we make. Most people know what they need to do to be healthy and the big question is 'why don't they do it?'

"The 'prescribe and treat' approach taken by doctors works for medical treatment, but not for changing behaviour, and nor does the 'educate and implore' approach used by health educators. Coaching gives people an ally who works only for them, but who doesn't have to live or work with them, and so can be objective.
We challenge people to do what they feel they can and support them while they are doing it."

People tend to visit a coach when they are ready to make a change and need a little nudge. Some doctors are recognising this and are beginning to refer their patients to coaches in the same way that they have long referred to counsellors and other therapists.

Wellness coach Susie Briscoe sees patients from a Hampshire GP practice, whose physical symptoms may have a psychological cause, such as bereavement, redundancy or retirement. She also helps clients manage lifestyle changes that affect their health.

"I ask permission to challenge self-limiting beliefs. Then we set goals that are achievable and celebrate each step on the way, because it is the small steps that make a big difference."

Source: The Telegraph - March 06

Talking back to happiness

The craze for life-coaching shows no sign of dying, says Lucy Atkins. These days, a life coach is fast replacing a personal trainer as the lifestyle must-have. Coaching is a relatively new phenomenon in Britain but its popularity is booming. Eight years ago, the discipline was virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Now even Patricia Hewitt is receiving life coaching at the taxpayers' expense.

Many universities run life- coaching courses, there are at least two accreditation bodies and an estimated 80 to 100,000 life coaches are working in Britain today. Even reality television has caught on: this month on UKTV Style, A Life Coach Less Ordinary sees two specialists curing, in just a session or two, the phobias, hang-ups and neuroses of various unhappy "celebrities".

Speed is the key to this craze. "With the self-help explosion, and emotional-makeover television shows, people are realising they don't need a hundred years of therapy to change their lives," says Gladeana McMahon of the Association for Coaching. In other words, self-improvement is in and navel-gazing is out. A life coach will not ask you to analyse your relationship with your mother or trawl through childhood memories. Instead, a coach will help you to define your goals in a practical, no-nonsense way, and - critically - focus on results.

"Life coaching grew from the field of positive psychology," says Annabel Purves, a life coach in London who works with individuals as well as companies such as L'Oréal and the BBC. "It basically helps people to fulfil their potential."

She says that the approach is non-directive: "We ask questions and help you to set goals and to work out your own solutions, according to your strengths." Self-awareness is crucial, but not in a touchy-feely way. "We help people to accept their weaknesses and grow their strengths."

Source: The Telegraph - August 06

Stress-hit Rom's £1m blues

CHELSEA tycoon Roman Abramovich splashed out nearly £1million to book an entire health resort — to battle STRESS.

The Russian billionaire spent ten days having intensive therapies at the detox clinic with THIRTY doctors and experts on hand.

Abramovich, 40, jetted to Austrian clinic The Lanserhof last month.

Abramovich told therapists he wanted his heart and circulation checked because of “recent stress”.

He also had hours of counselling from a life coach.

A clinic insider yesterday said: “Mr Abramovich came with stress and nervous tension.”

Source: The Sun November 06