Current Concerns
Bill
A couple of recent statements about health/wellness coaching caught my
eye and I felt they were worth sharing with this community. Both have
added to my increasing concerns regarding the heavy promotion and
explosive proliferation of health and wellness coaching.
In the article “ Wellness Incentives Need Oversight” by Gloria
Gonzales, published May 26, 2008 in Business Insurance (http://
www.BusinessInsurance.com), Elona DeGooyer, Senior Consultant Health
and Wellness for Humana, Inc. is quoted as saying: “Humana, Inc. gave
incentives to employees to sign up for health coaches, but it found
that some employees ignored their coach’s advice.”
In the article “Wellness Programs on the Rise” by Kristen Frasch,
published May 14, 2008 in Human Resource Executive Online, (http://
www.hreonline.com), Tom Lerche, Health Practice Leader for Aon
Consulting is quoted as saying: “Employers and health insurers alike
are now getting it, that healthcare is neither health nor care without
wellness coaching.”
My comments about the two quotes:
1. What a shock to find out that employees didn’t follow a health
coach’s advice! Just because a coach says it doesn’t mean that people
are going to respond any better than when they get advice from their
healthcare provider or someone else. True health and wellness
coaching works because it is not about giving advice! A true coach is
about guiding and facilitating, not giving advice!
2. When it comes to employer health related costs and employee health,
coaching is only one tool or strategy to be considered. Coaching is
not a silver bullet!
What do the rest of you think?
Bill McPeck
William McPeck
Certified Worksite Wellness Program Consultant
Work-Life Certified Professional
Certified Health Promotion Director
Director, Employee Health and Safety
Maine State Government
207-287-6780 (voice)
207-287-6796 (fax)
william....@maine.gov
Reilly, Claudine T.
Bill,
Did you take an ICDS Course in Intrinsic Coaching® with Totally Coached? Your name sounds familiar.
I am pursuing Intrinsic Coach Certification because I believe it is the one model that can help people think better for themselves – that is where lasting change will take place.
I totally agree with your comments.
Take good care,
Claudine Reilly, RN,MA,CHES,COHN-S, Intrinsic Coach®
Wellness Manager
CVS Caremark
One CVS Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895
Tel. 401-770-5527
fax 401-652-9089
email: ctre...@cvs.com
Our Vision
We strive to improve the quality of human life.
Ruth Fikes
our concern has always been that most health coaching is being done by
traditional healthcare providers (e.g., nurses, nutritionists, etc.) using
behavioral health techniques. Our experience is that to truly appreciate
the coaching model, a coach needs a more extensive understanding of
behavioral health assessment and diagnoses. Our preference is to use
licensed behavioral health professionals as coaches. While our coaches are
not doing therapy, they have the expertise to identify when underlying
behavioral health disorders are complicating change and can refer for more
appropriate treatment.
In general, the healthcare industry underfunds the treatment of underlying
behavioral health disorders. Rather than aggressively screening for
depression and/or substance abuse and then providing treatment, the new
answer is wellness coaching. While I believe wellness coaching is valuable
and does reduce some healthcare costs, I would love to see the same
attention and benefit given for behavioral health.
Ruth
-----Original Message-----
From: health-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:health-...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of Bill
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 7:31 AM
To: Health Coaching
Subject: Current Concerns
Melanie Matthews
Thank you for contributing these items to the discussion. We have a new white paper
available that discusses some of the trends that are emerging in health and wellness
coaching.
This paper looks at Who's currently offering health coaching programs? What are the
top delivery methods for health coaching - telephone, e-mail, online or in person?
What kind of outcomes are organizations experiencing and what is the patient/client
response? To learn more about this paper, please visit the HIN blog at:
http://blog.hin.com/?p=321
In addition, this group may also be interested in our new complimentary e-newsletter
on health coaching. You can view our first edition online and sign-up to receive
future issues at:
http://www.hin.com/healthcoach/healthcoach.html
Thanks again,
Melanie Matthews
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Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Healthcare Intelligence Network
The Gateway to Healthcare Business Information on the Internet
(888) 446-3530
1913 Atlantic Avenue Suite F4
Manasquan, NJ 08736
mmat...@hin.com
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Mcpeck, William C
Thanks for adding your perspective to the discussion. Certainly one of
the strengths of coaching that I see is the ability of the coach to have
any number of expert backgrounds. The coaching successes I have seen
come not from the professional or subject matter expertise the coach
possesses, but from the coach's ability to successfully use the coaching
process.
Speaking of behavioral health and substance abuse, I am beginning to see
a shift in worksite wellness program programming towards incorporating
more about behavioral health and substance abuse. Part of this is being
driven by EAPs moving into the wellness market and partly by the
behavioral health and substance abuse folks looking to link to wellness
programs as one way to reduce the stigmas associated with behavioral
health and substance abuse issues.
You might also be interested to know that for the past year I was part
of a product development team at Ensuring Solutions of the George
Washington University Medical Center where we looked at how Alcohol Use
William McPeck
Certified Worksite Wellness Program Consultant
Work-Life Certified Professional
Certified Health Promotion Director
Director, Employee Health and Safety
Maine State Government
207-287-6780 (voice)
207-287-6796 (fax)
william....@maine.gov
Through our worksite wellness program, Maine State Government is leading
the way towards making Maine the healthiest state in the nation.
Mcpeck, William C
Thanks for adding your perspective to the discussion. Certainly one of
the strengths of coaching that I see is the ability of the coach to have
any number of expert backgrounds. The coaching successes I have seen
come not from the professional or subject matter expertise the coach
possesses, but from the coach's ability to successfully use the coaching
process.
Speaking of behavioral health and substance abuse, I am beginning to see
a shift in worksite wellness program programming towards incorporating
more about behavioral health and substance abuse. Part of this is being
driven by EAPs moving into the wellness market, partly by the shift of
traditional worksite wellness programs to the more encompassing employee
health and productivity model and partly by the behavioral health and
substance abuse folks looking to link to wellness programs as one way to
reduce the stigmas associated with behavioral health and substance abuse
issues.
You might also be interested to know that for the past year I was part
of a product development team at Ensuring Solutions of the George
Washington University Medical Center where we looked at how Screening
and Brief Intervention techniques related to alcohol use could be
introduced at the workplace. You can see the work product results at:
http://www.ensuringsolutions.org/resources/resources_show.htm?doc_id=673
239
Bill
William McPeck
Certified Worksite Wellness Program Consultant
Work-Life Certified Professional
Certified Health Promotion Director
Director, Employee Health and Safety
Maine State Government
207-287-6783 (voice)
207-287-6796 (fax)
william....@maine.gov
Through our worksite wellness program, Maine State Government is leading
the way towards making Maine the healthiest state in the nation.
-----Original Message-----
From: health-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:health-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ruth Fikes
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:39 AM
To: health-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Current Concerns
Janette Gale
I am not quite sure what the models are in use in the US. Here in Australia
Health Coaching is taught to health professionals to use as part of their
professional practice as usual, rather than having a dedicated health coach.
This involves weaving professional advice in with health behaviour change
assistance so that even when asking for advice from doctors, nurses,
dietitians, exercise physiologists etc., the professional recommendations
are provided to patients/clients in a way that decreases resistance and
empowers patients/clients to make health changes in a way that suits their
own circumstances.
We have developed a highly structured, time efficient method to guide health
professionals when assisting clients to engage in health behaviour change.
Many organisations are using it in our government-funded health system.
I would be interested to discuss health coaching practice models with anyone
who is interested in sharing their own information. There is a lot of talk
about health coaching in the marketplace, but health coaching seems to be
often equated with telephone service delivery rather than with health
behaviour change methods.
Janette Gale
Health Psychologist
Health Coaching Australia
www.healthcoachingaustralia.com.au
Phone: 61 2 4465 2185
Fax: 61 2 4465 2831
Mobile: 0402 065 673
-----Original Message-----
From: health-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:health-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill
Sent: Friday, 30 May 2008 12:31 AM
To: Health Coaching
Subject: Current Concerns