Who is a Health Coach?
A health coach is a supportive wellness partner who takes into consideration your values, lifestyle, career, relationships and health and wellness goals as they guide you to make strategic choices and informed health decisions. When you work with Dr. Bojana Jankovic Weatherly, you have a dedicated Integrative Health Advisor on your team who is an experienced health coach and who works closely with you and your doctor to help you implement your lifestyle and nutrition plan and achieve your health goals.
What Does a Health Coach Do?
“As a health coach, I assess my patients’ well-being while encouraging them to drive the conversation and determine areas of desired focus. I work in tandem with Dr. Bojana Jankovic Weatherly to help our patients see the results they desire by implementing small but mighty lifestyle changes. I am the accountability partner that helps you get things done!“, says Bianca Kamhi.
How Can a Health Coach Help Me?
“I support each client to thrive in health and life by helping them establish or fine-tune the key habits that are necessary for health.”
Bianca Kamhi
You may feel overwhelmed by all of the information online on what we should or shouldn’t be eating, how we should be exercising to lose weight or how we should be reducing stress.
While some of this information is evidence-based, a great deal of it is not supported by scientific evidence and can be misleading, or even dangerous. Whether you are working towards optimizing your health or dealing with a chronic problem, you should not put all the pressure on yourself to figure it out. Having a health coach on your team allows you to have the support you need. You benefit from expertise that is evidence-based and customized to YOU, a unique individual, and your lifestyle.
For instance, if a patient has SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), our Integrative Health Advisor, with the guidance of our physician, will guide them in making the necessary dietary changes to alleviate their symptoms. For people with insomnia, our Integrative Health Advisor provides support in establishing bedtime (and daytime) habits that support healthy sleep for their particular circumstances. Patients who need help managing multiple demands of work and life, and feel overwhelmed with stress, work with our Integrative Health Advisor to manage their response to stress so they are more in control and have a greater awareness of triggers and how to use their inner resources to cope with stressors effectively.
Prior to our visits, our Integrative Health Advisor always reviews your chart and checks in with your doctor regarding any updates in your plan of care. Your Integrative Health Advisor will make recommendations customized to each unique patient, to help clients enact health-supportive modifications and healthy habits. These recommendations might include developing strategies to incorporate more physical activity in a way that is fulfilling and sustainable. They can range from implementing an action plan to optimize your nutrition, to learning to nurture good relationships, identifying career aspirations, developing strategies to actualize your goals, and deepening your spiritual practices.
“During our time together, we will create specific action steps for you to utilize throughout your day. Together, we talk through your health and wellness goals and prioritize them. In many cases, you may know exactly what you need to be doing but need someone to be by your side to make sure that you are actually doing it — and this is exactly where health coaching comes in.“, according to Bianca Kamhi.
During your initial visit, you and your health coach will create a plan for how frequently you will check in and how often you’d like your health coach to reach out. Your health coach will check with you as much or as little as you need. Your health coach is here for you and only a message away if you have any questions or need their support!
Bianca adds, “Over time, as you achieve your goals, my objective is to teach you to become self-sufficient by learning to observe your body’s response to various lifestyle and dietary modifications and choosing health-promoting behaviors that work for you.”
Is There Evidence for Health Coaching?
According to a review of studies published in Patient Education and Counseling, patients who engage in health coaching are able to better manage their weight, they are more active and enjoy better mental health. This translates to superior management of chronic disease in people who work with a health coach.
A review of studies from the American Journal of Health Promotion found a positive correlation between health coaching and at least one health behavior, including nutrition, physical activity and weight management. Common features of effective programs were goal setting, motivational interviewing and collaboration with healthcare providers, all of which we implement in our practice.
Evidence points to the fact that the most important factors in developing chronic disease are environmental, rather than genetic. In fact, it is estimated that among US adults, > 90% of type 2 diabetes, 80% of coronary artery disease, 70% of stroke and 70% of colon cancer cases are potentially preventable by healthy lifestyle and nutrition habits.
Together, we can change your microenvironment and habits, which reduce the risk of chronic disease, and can reverse chronic disease. If you want to have control over your habits and environment, we are here to help you. We look forward to empowering you to be the creator of your own health story.
Message from our Integrative Health Advisor, Biance Kamhi:
If you are ready to experience your best health, I would be honored and thrilled to support you in your health journey with my health coaching services. My name is Bianca Kamhi, your Integrative Health Advisor. I received my certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in both holistic health coaching and hormonal health coaching, and I continue to further my education in health coaching with additional certifications and programs through IIN and other institutions. You can learn more about me on our team page, here.
To book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call with me, or to book a visit, please call 646.627.8000 or email our practice manager, Bridget Shaffo, at bridget@drbojana.com. I would love to be your Integrative Health Advisor.