Frequently Asked Questions

What is wellness coaching?

Professional coaches have long been recognized for their skills in helping athletes and executives perform at their best and Wellness Coaches are helping people reach their best health and well-being. Wellness coaching is done through a relationship that creates transformation and learning in people seeking to change the parts of their lives that are no longer serving them well. It starts with an engaging conversation in which we re-imagine your health and sometimes access what you already know.

Wellness coaching is a relational tool (with me) to get at your deepest wants and desires around your health and lifestyle. It is a conversation in which I listen intensely to what you want and work closely with you to use your strengths to get it. We focus on the present and the imagined future and only the past as it relates to prior successes. We work together to bring out your very best self and apply it to the wellness arena, “ to your own self be true”.

So it is like therapy or personal training?

It is neither. A wellness coach will not be standing over you while you do crunches, but will have you design or change your fitness program as needed. As for therapy, we do not spend too much time in the past or on the problem, with one exception- we do look at your past successes or times when you were remarkably brave or fierce and bring those experiences forward to propel you towards your highest self. We mainly focus on the present and the imagined best future.

I see that you live near DC. Do I need to live near you to be coached by you?

Research has found that people are more candid over the phone, when there is no eye contact. I do most of my coaching over the phone and we often never meet in person, although I will know you very well from the conversations we have. I also see clients in my office in McLean Virginia. Wellness coaching works best when the coach and coachee start out as strangers. Should you prefer face to face meetings and live near DC we can arrange in-person meetings.

What kind of commitment do I need to make?

Each call is about an hour and they can be at any interval you choose. When you commit to wellness coaching, it is helpful to have some extra space in your life to reflect on what you are doing and to be mindful of the changes you want to make. If you are stressed out and not able to accomplish your goals, consider that we will be exploring the things in your life that drain you or are too small for you. We work together to bring more activity forward that makes you feel fully alive. It is best to commit to coaching for at LEAST 3 months in order to make lasting change.

Who could benefit from Wellness Coaching?

Adults or late adolescents who are contemplating a change in their life- who have not been successful in sustained change. We all have untapped potential, that with the right tools and support, can take us to a level of wellness and wholeness we may not have imagined. While ambivalence is very normal when initiating lifestyle change, wellness coaching is not appropriate for those who are completely resistant to changing. Basically, anybody in any sphere of the change cycle (contemplation, preparation, determination, action, or relapse) would benefit from a wellness coach relationship.

I can help people with:

  • Any kind of self-defeating behavior
  • A life out of balance/life that is not your own
  • Clinical signs of chronic illness
  • Obesity or overweight
  • Procrastination
  • A relationship with food that does not support wellness
  • A high amount of stress, anxiety or discontentedness
  • A desire to commit to and stick with regular exercise
  • No time to do what calls to them
  • Type II Diabetes or early clinical signs of diabetes
  • Elevated cholesterol
  • High blood pressure
  • A feeling that despite great accomplishments, something in life is missing
  • A life lived in quite desperation

It is important to say that coaching individuals benefits me as well. As we dig deep into what you want most in your life, it is an astonishing privilege for me to witness transformative change. So it must be said, that I am a benefactor of wellness coaching as well…

What wellness coaching is not

  • Psychotherapy, counseling or psychoanalysis
  • Personal training
  • Belittling, denigrating, punishing
  • In any way guilt-inducing

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