Health Coach Talk: Conversations About Wellness Through Functional Medicine Coaching

How can tracking health data enhance overall healthcare? This week, Sandi sits down with FMCA graduate Omar Shaker to discuss doctor burnout and health data. After working as a doctor, Omar experienced burnout firsthand. He thought he was the only one, but it turns out burnout is common among healthcare workers. After this experience, he looked into ways doctors can re-engage with their patients. Turns out, the answer can be found in data tracking.

Where can health coaches look to for resources when looking to partner with primary care physicians? Research studies, of course. Dr. Sandi shares three significant studies she recently read that discuss the benefits of health coaching within primary care practice. The first focuses on the care of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), while two others look at how health coaching within primary care can help patients with weight loss goals. Show notes: https://functionalmedicinecoaching.org/podcast/

What inspires a health coaching journey? On this episode, Sandi is joined by Alessandra Miele, who shares her journey from running a Yoga studio to becoming a health coach. So many people who discover functional medicine and health coaching do so after a health diagnosis or another life event. Allesandra shares what inspired her, and discusses what it's like to be a student at FMCA. Listen along!

Dr. Robert Luby, Director of Medical Education at IFM and FMCA faculty member, shares insights on the evolving collaboration between doctors and health coaches to transform healthcare. He emphasizes the shift toward patient empowerment by addressing strengths rather than just problems. The conversation highlights the significant role health coaches play in enhancing care, improving patient outcomes, and increasing clinician satisfaction. Luby also explores how this collaborative approach democratizes healthcare, making it more accessible and effective for everyone.

Natalia Fernandez, founder of Period, shares her journey with pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder and how it led her to become a health coach. She discusses the impact of traveling and studying holistic techniques worldwide. Natalia emphasizes on the sense of community and purpose in functional medicine health coaching, and her mission to help people with menstrual health issues. She also talks about her relationship with her supportive father, business services, and the future of health coaching.

Jason Tate, a health coach in high schools, shares how he improves students' lives and grades through wellness coaching. He discusses the impact of health coaching on mental and physical well-being, as well as the importance of creating wellness spaces in educational settings.

Functional Medicine is all about addressing the root cause of illness. FMCA graduate Matt Portwood has taken the principle of "searching for the root cause" to another level. Matt explains how he went from job-hopping to graduating from FMCA and owning his own business. Now he addresses not just health concerns, but business problems with a "searching for the root cause" mentality. Matt Portwood owns Chronic Health Club and founded Healthy + Whole, which works to make health coaching available to all regardless of income. He hopes to expand his efforts. You can follow him @healthyandwholeyou on social media.

FMCA graduate Kris Greener decided on a career shift after working as a Physical Therapy Assistant for 20 years. Having a passion for health, she wanted to be proactive in educating others on health and wellness. After years of seeing people after their chronic illnesses started, she wanted to help stop the illness before it started.  This passion brought Kris to Functional Medicine and FMCA. After graduating in 2017, Kris now works as a health coach as part of a medically supervised weight loss program. But her dreams of helping others don’t stop there. She hopes to expand her team and open up even more coaching opportunities. Listen as Kris and Dr. Sandi discuss the importance of connections and support from others, the benefits of collecting data through client surveys, and how health coaching teams can expand within private practices.  BKgreener@charter.net

Daniel White is a Registered Nutritionist, Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, and Sleep Expert. He is the Founder of Sleep Better Live Better and Chairman of the Sleep Better Live Better Foundation. His organization’s mission is to deliver innovative sleep solutions that combine the best of science-backed education, behavioral change tools, and sleep products to help to unlock the enormous pool of untapped human potential that results from being well-rested. Over the past two years, Daniel’s passion and focus have been the delivery of a charitable research project in local schools on his home island of Guernsey, empowering future generations with sleep education and blue light-blocking glasses interventions to improve mental and physical health outcomes for adolescents and their families. The results of these trials have been very promising. His vision is to upscale these projects to positively impact the lives of individuals in schools and institutions across the globe. By 2025, he hopes to have supported 1,000,000 adults and children to sleep deeper and live light so that the future of our world becomes brighter. dan@danielwhitehealth.com

FMCA graduate and serial learner Ashley Taylor Haupt sits down with Dr. Sandi on this week's episode of Fresh From FMCA. Ashley started her journey to becoming a health coach as a board-certified nurse. She first enrolled in the Health Coach Institute, but felt she needed more practice and wanted to qualify to take the NBHWC board exam. This led her to FMCA. After completing two health coaching programs and her years of education to become a nurse, Ashley is still learning something new every day. She shares how she continues to learn and grow with every client she works with. What's more, she discusses ways she can see health coaches and nurses can work together after working as both a nurse and health coach in a hospital setting.