There’re a million reasons’ to have someone help you with health and lifestyle but figuring out what type of mentor can be rough. Last fall, a new client asked me why she should invest money and time in coaching at all! It’s a great question. Knowing the key ingredients of a good health coach can help you decide if you want a life coach, business coach, or a health coach.

First, these are not the same thing and often a health coach does lifestyle coaching while a life coach is not qualified to mentor on health and wellness. Having three coaches can be expensive, though trying to find one person who ‘does it all’ can be disastrous to your business, life, and health. Below is a list of traits and guidelines you want in an integrative health coach.

The Integrative Health Coach

An integrative health coach is someone who works with your health issues and has expertise in relationships, fitness, careers, and the big one – Spirituality often referred to as mindfulness or mindset. Food, home cooking, recipes, different dietary theories all play a part. Top on the list of key ingredients of a good integrative health coach is they understand what is happening in your life is just as important what you put inside your body.

Next – The Key Ingredients Of A Good Health Coach

What your integrative health coach is like:

• Is Happy to see you! They create a strong first impression. They’re friendly, create safety, and make you feel okay to be yourself.
• They’re okay with you being a little nervous. They help you build confidence and self-esteem.
• They want to hear what you have to say and actually encourage you to speak while they listen.
• They understand your primary health concerns and that life can be a factor. They help you invest in wellness approaches that you choose, not the other way around.
• An integrative health coach can empathize and support your journey and progress.
• They understand that YOU understand what’s going on with yourself and you just need a little help, accountability, or support.
• They care about your family, friends, children, and pets. They really do and know the names and events happening in your life.
• As great listeners, they use mirroring by repeating things you share creating clarity around your future.
• They catch subtle things that are important. The way you turn a nasty shade of green when asked if you like tomatoes or that you ball your hand into a fist when talking about your ex-mother-in-law.
• A great integrative coach introduces humor into conversations knowing that smiles are healing medicine for the mind and the body,
• They love you up. Simply they are non-judgmental and accept you just as you are. Guiding and helping you where you feel comfortable not forcing you or judging you.
• Finally, they help you breathe because they know life can make you feel overwhelmed and that we often forget to just slow down and breathe.

Integrative Health Coaches Mesh With Business Coaches

A good integrative health coach will hold you accountable for your commitments and they will offer ideas or suggestions that fit you; they don’t spend time ‘telling’ you what you should do better or differently.

In turn, they aren’t a business coach. I remember one of my business coaches a few years back. He wanted me to write a book every 3 months starting with taking my bestselling book, Unleashing Your Hidden Potential and ‘rewriting’ it into a book for women and then another ‘copy’ for men. His thinking was it gave me three books to market and grow my business. It didn’t matter to him that they would be technically the same book. It did matter to me. I found another business coach.

Health coaches aren’t business coaches nevertheless they mesh helping you have true success. A good business coach will have the same key ingredients of a good health coach. Both understand that the important component is you. Your happiness is essential to success in health, life, and business. Business coaches come and go a fully integrative health coach works with life and health.