Though I try to practice gratitude every day, the new year always gives me an extra reason to look back at the things I’m grateful for and the many lessons I’ve learned. It’s a chance to reflect on the progress we’ve made within YourCoach and the health coaching world more broadly, while aligning with the YourCoach team on our goals for the future.
I always look forward to sharing these annual insights with our Coaching Community, but especially after the exceptionally important year we just had. Last year, we entered what we’re calling the Health Coaching Revolution–and it’s only just the beginning! We’re on the precipice of an exciting global shift in the way health coaches are perceived and integrated within health and wellness.
Namely, health coaches are becoming more deeply ingrained in healthcare settings; inside digital health organizations; and within corporate wellness. We’re proud to deepen these connections, while creating more opportunities for health coaches, through our burgeoning industry partnerships. There’s so much more to come for our YourCoach team, our progressive partners, and the 3,000+ coaches that are practicing on our platform. Here are just a few things we learned this year and plan to carry into the next.
Community Builds Resilience – The Rise of Health Coach-Preneurs
Though it’s been an important year for health coaches, it hasn’t been an easy year for many. We were saddened to see several large organizations cull back their coaching teams given global economic uncertainty. However, through these changes we witnessed the inspirational rise of the Health Coach-Preneur.
We coined the term “Health Coach-Preneur” to represent the many resilient coaches who are practicing flexibly. They may be part- or full-time coaches, they could be fully running their own practice or they might work part-time within healthcare or digital health. These hybridized environments offer coaches more flexibility, and more opportunity, when one sector might be experiencing major change. Through uncertainty, the Health Coach-Preneur will always thrive.
As the only operating system for behavior change, powered by health coaches, we’ve cultivated a community that’s supported the resilience of Health Coach-Preneurs in many ways. At a time when other organizations were scaling back, we were delivering more opportunities for practicing coaches on our platform through our industry partnerships. In addition, we also created two new full-time health coaching operations roles within YourCoach, and it was one of our best decisions yet!
(Behavior) Change Needs Opportunity
Speaking of opportunity—it’s no surprise to coaches that lasting change requires access to opportunities. This is, of course, necessary for behavior change, but also for major life and career shifts.
This past year, we introduced the Rita & Gene Presman Memorial Scholarship Program in honor of my late parents, two wonderfully important people who continue to inspire me to this day. They recognized the power of opportunity, and worked so hard to provide whatever opportunities they could for their family, friends—even strangers! Their legacy lives on through this program where we sponsor five coaches to sit for the NBC-HWC exam, plus provide exam prep, for each of the three terms per year.
This is just one of the many ways we work to empower health coaches to continue their growth trajectory within health coaching, opening doors to even more opportunities down the road. We’re excited to continue this program through next year and introduce even more exciting growth opportunities for coaches in the year ahead.
Momentum and Accountability are Key to Establishing New Habits
This was a huge year for Eugene (my husband and YourCoach COO and Co-Founder) and I when it comes to establishing new habits. At the beginning of last year, we made it a goal to run 3.5km (a little over two miles) each day. I’m excited to share that as of today, we hit 351 days of running consistently! I learned a few things throughout this process—many of which reasserted the many reasons why health coaches are so effective in helping clients achieve lasting behavior change.
Once I hit the 60-day mark, I started to experience the incredible effects of momentum. I felt physically better and my confidence was at an all-time high. I impressed myself by following through with a goal that once felt near-impossible. I’ve never loved running, but showing up on the mornings when I felt tired; when the weather wasn’t great; when I felt like I was just too busy to get it done, made me continue on—if I could do it then, I could do it tomorrow, and the next day…The power of momentum is truly unmatched, and it’s something we can create for ourselves through habit!
Accountability was also key for accomplishing this goal. Knowing that Eugene was part of this goal with me, and having the support of my YourCoach team cheering me on (we even posted publicly when we hit 100 days!) made me feel hugely committed to hitting the one year mark (and beyond). It’s this same accountability that’s established through regular sessions with a health coach that leads to major successes.
After our micro-successes as a team, we’re excited to enact habit challenges for coaches practicing on the platform (and their clients) in the new year to implement some of these key learnings.
As we close out another year, we couldn’t be more grateful to those who’ve helped us learn along the way; those who will stick with us through more learnings in the new year; and those who have yet to get on board. We have plenty of exciting things in store for health coaches and our current/future industry partners in the new year and can’t wait to unveil them as the new year progresses.
Wishing you, your families and loved ones a healthy, happy and prosperous 2023. I’m so excited for what’s ahead and look forward to continuing on this journey together!