Health Coaching During a Time of Adversity and Disruption

 

In a world where chronic disease makes up 71% of deaths each year, health coaching for habit change and self-care fulfills a need, not a luxury. (WHO, 2018)

 

Health Coaching Without Barriers (HCWB), formerly Health Coaches Without Borders, believes that with structured support from trained health coaches people can use their own self-knowledge to identify and overcome challenges by making habit changes that improve their health outcomes.

 

In March 2020, during the the global pandemic of COVID-19, a group of ADAPT trained functional health coaches came together to volunteer their expertise.

 

Knowing that:

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• Six out of every 10 people in the US alone suffer a chronic condition, and four in 10 have multiple chronic diseases. (CDC) This both increases their need for ongoing health and lifestyle support, and makes it more likely they will become high-risk patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• Many people’s wellbeing and self-care routines have been suddenly disrupted by broad, sweeping changes to socio-economic life, and that this too increases stress. And,

• Physical distancing is critical to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and also contributes to loneliness, another known cause of stress and poor health outcomes.

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HCWB was formed to provide free health coaching services, specifically for people who are seeking to adapt to the circumstances caused by COVID-19. Coaching will focus on cultivating realistic optimism to build personal resilience and hope, and include support related to stress management, sleep, movement, food, and the formation of other healthy habits.

 

According to the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Board of Medical Examiners, health coaches partner with clients to make self-directed, lasting health and behavioral changes.

 

In this time of COVID-19 and the ongoing global epidemic of chronic disease, we believe that such lasting individual changes, if implemented across communities and populations, would help tip the scale on global health toward better outcomes for all.

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Erica Evans, NBC-HWC, A-CFHC, Co-founder

Sybil Sanchez, A-CFHC, Co-founder