Coaching for Mental Wellbeing

Coaching can take many forms. The most well-known coaching is probably for sports, but business and life coaching have definitely become more popular over the years. Coaching respects individual differences, as well as our values, beliefs, goals, and life situation. Wellness Coaches may be a newer kind of coach, but there is a growing need for wellness and mental wellbeing coaches. Because wellness coaching encompasses a holistic approach to wellness, it could be considered a meta-wellness improvement tool.

For International Stress Awareness Week, my special guest on the podcast was Louise Cartwright. She is a coach with heaps of personal experience. Louise struggled with severe postnatal depression, two decades of eating disorders, and body hating. At the darkest of times, she was a divorced, single parent on benefits, and financially blacklisted.

Therapy and coaching were two completely different experiences for me. Both approaches are valuable in their own ways; however, I personally preferred coaching. Of course, there are great and not so great coaches and everyone has their own experience. I found that while therapy always waited for me to “talk” about what was going on, coaching helped me find valuable learnings in my past experiences that I could apply to my current life situation.

Coaching felt like I was taking real, tangible action that was moving me forward. And coaching and therapy can also happily coexist if you prefer working with both.

A wellness coach can help you explore several aspects of your life, such as mental and emotional experiences. Coaching generally refers to a method that emphasizes improving your current and future conditions. This involves action and coaching is often more action-oriented or solution-focused than therapy. Although your past experiences can significantly impact your current wellbeing, coaching mostly examines the past as a way to improve your future, not as something that needs to be solved or even fully understood.

Wellness coaches can help with goal setting, for example. They can explore your mental patterns and self-beliefs while guiding and supporting you in setting attainable, realistic goals. Additionally, wellness coaches can help with setting boundaries and self-care, two components vital for your mental wellbeing. And your wellness coach will be there if things don’t go perfectly, so you can learn tools and techniques to process negative emotions and move forward.

One misunderstanding I feel I should mention is the idea that only therapists deal with emotions. Most coaches are trained on how to support clients in processing their emotions to create better futures. People routinely discuss their feelings with coaches, who assist them in exploring and managing them. Wellness coaches can help clients resolve many blockages thanks in part to their goal and action-oriented strategies. Processing emotions is a large part of that work.

In my personal experience, coaching and mentoring has been a profoundly positive journey. My coaches have had a personal interest in seeing me heal and succeed and this personal touch has gone a long way. When I was too tired and too overwhelmed to follow my path, my coaches were there to help me re-orient and re-align.

Coaching can be a great option to support mental health and wellbeing. With a coach, you can determine what you want to experience more of, learn how to make those experiences happen, and get through challenging situations. A wellness coach can help their clients develop resilience, self-control, and uncover key insights and strategies for "moving through" challenging situations. Mental distress including bereavement, worry, and stress can be supported through niche coaching as well.

A coach can explore with you what you actually want to experience in life or what your life purpose is. Powerful neurotransmitters that support your wellbeing, such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine, are released when you are in good emotional health. This makes it possible for the mind to think clearly and effectively in order to handle stress, difficulties, and challenging situations. Coaching can enhance satisfaction with life, self-esteem, confidence, mental health, and stress management, to increase the release of these neurotransmitters.

There are several important benefits to coaching that promotes mental wellbeing. These include exploring more awareness with yourself and with others, having a better knowledge of how your emotions and thoughts function. It can also include creating a more concrete vision of what you want to pursue, helping you recognize your boundaries, so you can take care of yourself before you reach burnout, and assisting you in making solid decisions.

Coaching can help you feel better, more in control, fulfilled, and inspired every day. It also enables you to support and foster your wellbeing, while increasing your productivity and focus. And, most significantly, wellness coaching can help you build more resilience to life's setbacks and difficulties.

Unlike therapists, coaches don't focus on treating complex clinical difficulties. However, they encourage mental wellbeing by helping clients manage their emotions, address unhelpful thought patterns, improve their interpersonal skills, and reduce stress and anxiety. To create and attain goals, they guide their clients in decisions and provide accountability.

In addition to offering support and direction, they assist clients in managing their wellbeing. Many coaches integrate holistic healing techniques like yoga, meditation, or sound healing into their coaching practice. These tools can help you balance and align while you are working with your coach and you can continue to use them should you choose to end your coaching sessions.

One benefit of working with a personal wellness coach is that they can help you feel calmer and less anxious. You might get better rest and sleep as a result, which can trickle down into your daily activities and your relationships. Coaching can also affect your entire family. For example, Louise works with parents to become better role models for their children. This has a positive effect on the whole family unit and parents and children can work together for positive changes.

Each coach will have their own strategy or method. You can talk to a potential coach beforehand and find out how they coach their clients. If their method speaks to you, they might offer a free consultation or clarity call to get to know you. It is important that you feel comfortable with your coach and there is nothing wrong with taking your time to choose your coach. You should never feel pressured or manipulated by your potential coach.

While many people find therapy a fit for them, wellbeing coaching is becoming more and more popular as an additional or alternative option. Although the idea of coaching has a strong connection to the sports and business industries, wellbeing is a great reason to work with a coach. This type of coaching can include overall wellness, wellbeing and life satisfaction issues, and also help and support with life purpose.

Coaches apply a variety of methods and strategies to coaching and you can choose a coach you feel most comfortable with. And don’t let the word coach scare you.

If you have visions of being pushed past your limits for perfect performance that’s the exact opposite of what a wellness coach would want for you. Your physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing is paramount.

I have used coaching and mentoring for a variety of situations and my experience has been amazing. Most topics have lately focused around life purpose and clarity, but you can also work with a coach on overall wellbeing, work-life balance, relaxation and stress-reduction, as well as any physical health goals you may have.

The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to try and sort your wellbeing out alone. A coach can be a great ally and mentor for your holistic healing journey.

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