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Lanier-Handout 8-1 Telling Clients What To Do

The document discusses the role of health coaches in providing both coaching and education to clients, emphasizing the importance of understanding clients' motivations for change. It highlights the need for ongoing support to help clients maintain new habits and navigate challenges during their wellness journey. Ultimately, it asserts that education is crucial for clients to transition from knowledge to sustained behavior change.

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Brooke Barnett
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37 views1 page

Lanier-Handout 8-1 Telling Clients What To Do

The document discusses the role of health coaches in providing both coaching and education to clients, emphasizing the importance of understanding clients' motivations for change. It highlights the need for ongoing support to help clients maintain new habits and navigate challenges during their wellness journey. Ultimately, it asserts that education is crucial for clients to transition from knowledge to sustained behavior change.

Uploaded by

Brooke Barnett
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HANDOUT 8.

Telling Clients What to Do


When the WHY is clear, the HOW is easy.
—Anonymous

If you’re working as a health coach within the medical model, there may be times when clients will say
to you or to their referring medical provider, “I don’t need a coach; just tell me what to do.” The referring
practitioner may ask you to step in and become the wellness educator. In my experience, it’s possible to
do both coaching and client education in an MI-consistent way. We can share health information while
providing coaching support, and we use the ask–offer–ask method to do this.
In the beginning, clients may feel motivated by short-term enthusiasm, excitement, and hope for
improvement. They may experience the “high of change,” which can provide the momentum to propel
them forward. However, that does not negate the need to explore their motivations, visions, dreams, and
“whys” for making a change. By unearthing clients’ whys, they will be further empowered when tempted
by life to stray from their journey of healthy choices.
Along the healing journey, clients may encounter pitfalls and temptations to return to their familiar
habits and behaviors. This is why they need a coach throughout their entire journey toward wellness. The
coach can support them in transforming their new habits into more permanent lifestyle changes.
The bottom line is, many people need education and information in the coaching process to make a
shift from knowing to doing and finally to sustaining newly formed habits.

This is a supplementary resource to Motivational Interviewing in Life and Health Coaching: A Guide to Effective Practice,
by Cecilia H. Lanier, Patty Bean, and Stacey C. Arnold. Copyright © 2024 The Guilford Press. Permission to download and
print this material is granted to purchasers of this book for personal use or use with clients.

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