During my Yoga practitioners journey I have had the lovely opportunity to access Yoga Torquay & purchased the 5 class pass with an NHS discount. Communicating that I do a role within the NHS one session with very synergistic qualities to Yoga and they invited me to blog – so here is a touch of Health Coaching and what you’d expect to receive at Torbay Healthy Lifestyles.
My blend of Health Coaching builds on my RSPH Understanding Public Health & City Guilds qualification. This aim is to reduce inequalities in health via Coaching and Motivational Interviewing and has helped me to carry out this task ever since. Added to this I have a background degree in exercise science and am passionate about describing as succinctly as possible the benefits of activity that can take effect in people.
This translates into my practice via many ways. For a start there is no point forcing change onto somebody - you need to be in the right place to enact change. Hence during both assessments and ongoing appointments to measure progress you are asked what you would like to focus on. One such model that is applicable here would be the COM-B where we help individuals to realize their potential through exploring potential avenues of change that only become accessible via conversations with ourselves. Finding out your focus allows you & I to focus on your own key concerns.
Ongoing with Torbay Healthy Lifestyles we very uniquely do not dish out services alone even though we have many partnerships with major commercial providers and leisure centres across Torbay. Appointments to measure progress are free-of-charge and scheduled at the outset. This is my passion helping you to explore your journey from the embryonic stage through all of its stages as change is never linear in terms of progress.
Change is never easy and we fully understand this. People, places & feelings get in the way of progress. With regards to significant behaviour changes only realistic changes are encouraged i.e. a basic 1-2 lb per week in terms of say weight because this is more likely to be sustainable in the long term, whereas short, sharp changes where vast swathes of weight are lost and regained very easily lead to a catch-22 scenario where you all the time lose and gain rapid weight.
To help the change making process a key tool I have in my arsenal would be building in rewards in-line with your positive change making journey, self-care would be a particular favourite i.e. swapping out a packet of crisps for a bath bomb. So easily accruable when you don’t spend £10 on a takeaway but you have a yoga class with Yoga Torquay instead! Or a cinema ticket or even in the long term a short trip away.
Very, very briefly, because yoga has a combination of physiological, physical and mental health benefits consequently you exude the advantages such as the release of endorphins, connectivity with other class members, confidence improvements all-in-all impacting on your progression and outlook. One of my favourite sayings is to exhale to the root of your spine and to inhale taking the breath to your face like a sunflower reaching for the sun. So swapping poor quality habits for a yoga class has so many dividends and we can help you see realize this.
Myself, I come from a non-expert perspective and this is crucial. You are your own master, you know what works, what doesn’t work and what you have tried out in the past can be kneaded out of you so that you devise your own strategies for change on your own terms with the additional input of my previous experience dealing with like-for-like scenarios in other clients.
Lifestyles only works with evidence-based resources, by this those who have passed through rigorous meta-analysis research projects. Quality driven, accurate and very sustainable ideas materialize in effect in a simple but effective format. These add to the likelihood of success with the people whose journeys I support.
Goals, if we don’t have anything to aim for we don’t have the warm glow of achievement. Templates I incorporate enable you to think about the specifics, what is realistic, what is achievable and then set a target. However, I never berate someone for missing out on a pre-defined goal that is the nature of behaviour change it is non-linear.
Another element of my role involves assessing people. Confidentiality is crucial so the systems I use are multiple password encrypted, conversations are held in sensitive settings. Contacts are purposeful in nature and that is relayed to clients so we abide by the Claudicott Guardian Data Protection Principles. Many of the assessment tools I use are quality driven such as the WHO5, MET score and Audit-C score.
Why? We have just been through a long arduous pandemic, people are broke, low on time, money and energy and there is a war potentially impacting on fragile economies and broken infrastructures all around the world. Eating habits change, alcohol intake easily exceed moderate levels and exercise can be put to the wayside. As a Health Coach I can help you make little inroads in the right direction. There are so many services we can pinpoint with reputable trusted organisations, to a great degree.
Assessments allow you to identify any gaps or changes to instigate in a client friendly setting to be found at:- www.tsdft.uk/lifestyles
You can then be motivated and it’s absolutely free, we are affiliated to the NHS, we prioritise mental health, drug and alcohol users, carers, chronic conditions such as CVD, Fibromyalgia, arthritis, pregnancy and learning disabilities.
In my experience there is always something that can help someone.
“Every day the world pulls us down, shakes us up, slices into us, laughs at our attempts and belittles our triumphs. We legitimately need to hear afresh every day a few things that are honestly good about us. Most important of all, these good things will help us keeping thinking for ourselves with courage and clarity” - Kline, 1999
Dee Allbrook
Healthy Lifestyles Coach
