Today, I want to talk to you about what to do between health coaching sessions. Maybe you just had your first health coaching session at PartnerMD. You've had an opportunity to learn more about health coaching.
Before your follow-up session, it's important to understand and use a couple of tips to make sure that you are utilizing your health coach appropriately. Watch the video or read on for details.
The first thing is scheduling a follow-up. Make sure you've got that time on the calendar, so you understand what you have coming up and that you're going to follow up with that health coach to make sure you're progressing appropriately.
Right when you get home from your appointment, start to understand why your health coach would have told you what to do.
From a nutritional perspective, why would you want to eat a little bit more of your fat sources in comparison to a carbohydrate source?
What would benefit me from an exercise perspective?
Try to understand why a health coach would mention that to you in the first place and then make sure you're looking at your calendar.
Everything we're going to tell you to do is ultimately going to take time. Look at your calendar. Start understanding when you have that availability to put forth an extra 20-30 minutes a day to start to implement those things that the health coach recommended.
Just remember, health coaching is complimentary here at PartnerMD, everything that we have from consultations to the programs that we have available.
So, make sure you're reaching out to your health coach when you need help. If you have specific questions, if you're thinking about these things and you want to understand them, feel free to reach out.
Have a conversation through email or give us a call to make sure that you are on board and we understand what it is that you're going through, so we can provide you with the resources that you might need.
What are the things that are going to make it difficult to start to implement these things? Obviously, a busy schedule, a traveling schedule, things that are going on with our family, food allergies, availability of time, all of those different components, identify where we're going to have those issues, and put a plan in place.
If you need best practices, health coaches talk to plenty of people on a regular basis. Have those conversations with the health coach, because other patients are probably going through something pretty similar, and your health coach can help.
Start to gather the information for your next session. What am I eating? How am I exercising? How is my sleep schedule? All of those different components.
The more information that you can bring to your health coaching appointment, the better we're going to be able to complement the things that you're already doing to make sure you feel more supported and we better understand what you're going through.
When you come in, start talking to your health coach. This is what I need from you.
"Hey Brandon, these are the things that I really want to focus on. What do you have to guide me in the right direction?"
Whether that's resources, whether that's information, or whether that's the accountability component of things. Whatever that thing is for you, make sure when you come into your next health coaching session, you have a plan in place and you're letting us know what you need from us to help you be a little bit more successful.
Health coaching is included in the cost of your PartnerMD membership. Check out these resources for more information:
Ready to get started with a health coach? Call your local office or reach out through the Patient Portal.