Health Coaching at PartnerMD: How to Get Started

Today I want to talk a little bit more about how to get going on health coaching, but also talk about expectations during health coaching sessions. Access to PartnerMD's team of certified health coaches is included in the cost of your membership.

We are equal parts educational resource and accountability partner as we work with you and your physician to help you achieve your goals. Here's how to get started. 

How do you make a health coaching appointment at PartnerMD? 

To just make an appointment, simply call your office. Calling your office is going to be the quickest and fastest way to get on a health coach's schedule. You would call just like you would for your physician, just like for labs.

Call the front desk. Let them know that you're interested in setting up a health appointment with a health coach.

You can let them know if there's something you specifically want to discuss, so if you watch one of our videos and strength training has been on your mind, and you have no idea how to get started, feel free to let them know.

They'll put in a little note for the coach, which helps us have an idea that you already know an area you want to discuss.

But don't worry, if you have no idea, that is totally fine. You do not have to have anything specific in mind. You may literally just come in and speak with us just to talk about health coaching.

Appointments can be virtual, on-site, or even over the phone. 

One other thing to consider when making an appointment is to let them know if you prefer virtual or on-site. We can even do phone if none of those work out well for you. We can call you on whatever phone number works best for you.

You can also do Patient Portal messaging and if you have a coach's email, you can directly email them and say, hey, I'm looking to get on your schedule. Give them some days and times that work well for you, and we'll get you on our books as soon as possible.

What should you expect at your first health coaching visit? 

What most people are curious about is what to expect once you sit down in the room or when you're sitting face to face with a health coach.

Be at ease that we're going to go at your own speed. Our health coaches are here to really guide you where you are and lead you to where you want to go.

We will not be sitting down and pushing you forward to make quick crazy changes when you're not comfortable.

During our first session, we're just going to speak on to what health coaching is, how we can work together, topics such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress,

Those are all areas we can kind of hit base on. Some other data we may be taking a look at could be some of your medical labs, from cholesterol to your A1C levels.

• Do you have blood pressure issues?
• What kind of medications are on?
• What kind of physical limitations you could have?
• Are we aging and having balance issues? Or am I reading that in your chart notes?

There's a lot of data we can pull because we'll have access to all that type of information so that we can assess where you are and what health concerns you may have.

But more importantly, we really want to sit down and see what is bothering you. This is a really great time to open up to your health coach to say this is where you've been thinking about things.

These are things that you're not sure of what to do. These are things you have questions about. So feel free to come in with a list of things.

But also keep in mind, you don't have to in with anything. We're here to guide you. Help you answer questions. And walk you through one thing at a time so that we can continue to work with you.

What are the expectations? 

There are no expectations of making all of these changes and doing anything. We're here to hold your hand to give you support and work with where you are and where you want to go.

You should feel at ease, hopefully, that this is really a support session, a very educational session, so you should leave feeling confident, feeling motivated, and have some more direction of where to go. Some steps and changes to start making as you feel more and more comfortable and more and more ready.

Hopefully, you feel a little bit more at ease knowing that this is a very relaxed atmosphere to support you and what you want to do.

If you still have questions and I'm sure you do, get on your health coach's appointment schedule. Reach out to that local PartnerMD office wherever you may be.

Everyone has access to every single health coach in the entire company, so you can meet with anyone and we'll continue to work together so that we can continue to make you healthier and stronger.