Corporate Wellness Mistakes

Individual Benefits of  Fitness

Do you want to get fit, lose excess fat, or have more energy?  Most individuals  would answer “yes” to this question. It’s hard to imagine why whoever would not want to achieve fitness to become a healthier person.  

If you’re overweight or obese, have a family history of heart illness or diabetes, have high cholesterol or blood pressure, or simply feel that you could be a healthier you, then you may benefit  from a fitness program.  

Regular exercise is an easy way to help prevent many diseases by eliminating the major risk factors such as obesity and lack of movement.  A combination of aerobic exercise and strength training is the best way to achieve your fitness goals while bettering your health.  

When picking  a fitness program, the most difficult aspect might  be finding an activity or exercise that is fun as opposed to one that doesn’t motivate you.  

Individuals are motivated in different ways which is why there are so many fitness programs out there. If you attempt something that you don’t like, you can always move on and attempt something different until you discover a certain activity that appeals to you.  

Many times, person create their own plans for exercise but lose interest in the health promotion program and accordingly find themselves steering away from their good intentions.  This is why a wellness coach could  be exactly what an individual needs to keep them on the right track to achieve fitness for life.

Exactly how a Health Coach can make it Possible

Health coaches are trained experts that assist patrons in achieving fitness for life in a variety of ways. an individual can hire a personal trainer to work with them at the health and fitness center and help them with their fitness goals; notwithstanding, a wellness coach does a great deal more to help their patrons reach success.  

A wellness coach uses a health risk appraisal to determine the individual needs of the client and uses this information to develop a during action for their fitness plan.  Because everyone has unique fitness goals, each fitness program is personalized to fit the needs of the client.  

A wellness coach not only excites you to achieve your fitness goals but also teaches you to motivate yourself.  

Health coaches understand that individuals  have busy lives and require convenient ways to exercise.  That is why a wellness coach develops customized health promotion programs that will work with an individual’s busy schedule.  

They’re also available 24 hours a day through web-based communication and hold sessions as often or as little as the customer needs. Wellness coaches may assist their customers by telephone, e-mail and instant messaging, or face-to-face meetings.  

Even though wellness Coaches focus on other aspects of a person’s wellness like nutrition, stress management, and sleep management, it is imperative that you understand that each of these aspects of a wellness program intertwine to assist a individuals in becoming the healthiest individuals they can be.

Before you call it quits and decide to give up on having a healthier lifestyle, you might want to consider what a wellness coach can do for you. A lot of people  get so frustrated working out on their own that they give up before they really have a chance to succeed.

Luckily, by hiring a health coach you can avoid this issue, and end up with the body that you’ve been dreaming of. But before you jump forward too far, you need to know what a health coach is in addition to what one can do for you.

Usually speaking, a wellness coach is a fitness trainer, dietician, and much more all rolled into one. While this may sound like an impossible job on the surface, the fact of the matter is that wellness Coaches are very good at what they do.

These specialists have many years of experience in the health industry, and have a knack for communicating what they know to others on a very personal level.

The main goal of any health coach is to work with you so that you are able to reach the goals that you’ve set forth for yourself.  And guess what?

If you don’t know what you want to accomplish your health coach could help in that area as well. Simply put, they’re there to make certain that you’re on the right path to success.

Health coaches come from a variety of different backgrounds. While most people do not go through schooling thinking that they want to be a wellness Coach, over time they start to transform into this career.

For  instance, many health Coaches have backgrounds in personal training, bodybuilding, health and nutrition, exercise science, and much more.

After you hire a health Coach, he or she’ll be at your disposal day in and day out. Many people  rely on coaches to help them on an individual basis.  And although this is a good  idea for some, online health Coaches are becoming more well-liked due to busy schedules.

So before you think that you don’t have time to work with a health Coach, you should really reconsider. They will be willing to work with you in the capacity that best suits your lifestyle.

While working with a wellness coach you will be able to get professional advice on reaching your goals. If you want to lose weight, you will be supplied with an exercise plan  that will get you moving in the right direction.  The same thing holds true for those people  who want to eat healthier, get in better shape, etc.

As you can see, a health coach is more than just your typical Joe. They are trained in multiple disciplines, and work with clients for help them reach their goals.

Wellness incorporates many facets of our daily lives. From the amount of sleep to the water we drink, to the food that we eat and the activity that we maintain, our health is dependent upon many factors of our lifestyle.

Working to improve our wellness could be difficult to achieve on our own. That is why we can utilize the assistance of a health Coach.

What is a wellness Coach?

A health coach is a profoundly educated specialist who is trained in behavioral change. They hold degrees in Exercise Science, Health Education, Exercise Physiology, Counseling and Education.

A wellness coach assists individuals in recognizing current health concerns as well as preventing future medical issues. These specialists work with clients in a selection of ways including; face-to-face, telephone, instant messaging and / or via email.

The latter of those is also referred to as electronic coaching and is the most efficient and cost effective method of working with a health Coach.

Whatever method is used for communication a wellness coach provides a personalized program specifically designed to address the needs and concerns of each individual customer.

Precisely how can a wellness coach help me?

Many person maintain a few healthful habits in their lives. One person may  be a fitness enthusiast; another may abstain from alcohol and tobacco; while another may maintain a healthful daily diet.

However, overall wellness is much like a puzzle, and a high level of health is only achieved when each piece of this puzzle is in place. A health coach will assist an individual in correcting his or her missing piece of the puzzle.

An internet based health coach may address the needs of sleep deprivation, stress management, diet, or any number of medical problems.  The health coach will motivate, guide, and provide valuable resources to provide customers with the necessary tools to make life changes.

Exactly how is a wellness coach unique?

A wellness coach serves a distinctly different purpose than a fitness trainer, a counselor, or a supportive family member or friend. First, a wellness coach is an professional in his or her specific field.

When a client determines the need for a health coach he or she will complete a health risk appraisal. Based on this assessment the client are going to be assigned a health coach particularly selected to address his or her individual needs.

Additionally, a wellness coach is available electronically 24 hours per day. Through online communication patrons have the opportunity to contact a wellness coach as much or as little as he might like.

Communication with a wellness coach may range from daily to weekly, and can occur by e-mail, journal or a variety of both. Lastly, a wellness coach is trained to assist in changing the way that the patron thinks and the way that they view themselves.

A health coach maintains the purpose of helping the customer to work towards achieving a higher quality in life. This happens by addressing the cause of a certain problem instead of simply addressing the effects of a problem.

A wellness coach will help individuals recognize their needs, determine objectives, and take the necessary steps towards achieving these objectives.

While wellness are growing concerns in our daily lives, it could seem difficult to make the time to educate oneself and address the needs or our well being.

Working with the assistance of a wellness coach empowers us to focus on our specific needs and make progress towards changing.

Do you find it difficult to stay aroused when trying to make changes to your health? Are you aware that changes should be made in your daily life but you don’t know where to begin? If so then wellness coaching might just be the solution you have been seeking.

Health coaching is a service provided by trained experts who work with you individually to help you reach your wellness goals. Health coaching motivates, guides, and supports individual’s to reach sustainable behavioral changes by giving creative solutions to their problems.

Health coaching provides individually designed health promotion programs to meet your unique needs by focusing on physical, mental, and emotional health. They help you become proactive in your life by eliminating unhealthful behaviors and making wellness a priority.

Benefits of  Wellness Coaching for Your Employees

Workers may benefit  from wellness coaching in a selection of ways. Wellness coaching may help person decrease major health risks in their lives by changing high risk behaviors.

Some of the many reasons why workers work with wellness coaches are to get in shape, lose weight, reduce stress, quit use of tobacco, and develop balance in their lives. Health Promotion coaches assist individuals with current medical problems as well as preventing future health problems.

Because each wellness program that a health coach creates is unique to suit the needs of the patron, they can be certain that it’ll be a program that is right for them. A lot of busy personnel mistakenly believe that they do not have the time for health coaching.

Luckily health coaching specialists have the ability to provide their services in a variety of convenient ways. While electronic coaching through the use of e-mails and instant messaging has become a well-liked method because of its convenience, telephone and face-to-face interactions might also be used.

Staff Members have the ability to achieve their objectives and improve their lives through the assistance of wellness coaching.

Benefits of  Health Promotion Coaching for the Company

The overall advantages of health coaching for a organization are remarkable. Staff Member high risk behaviors such as smoking and obesity cost businesses millions of dollars every year.

These high risk behaviors often cause avoidable illness and keep workers from coming to work. Wellness coaching guides, supports, hold customers accountable, and ensures that they receive continued motivation to help them achieve their wellness goals and eliminate unhealthy behaviors in their lives.

By beginning health promotion programs and using wellness coaching in their businesses, companys reduce the risk of avoidable disease in their businesses.

This improves the overall health of staff members, reduces healthcare and insurance costs, reduces absenteeism, and ultimately enhances performance and productivity.

When employees experience the advantages of higher levels wellness in their lives it causes an improvement in job attitude, energy, and morale.

Companies that utilize wellness coaching for their employees experience the advantages of higher productivity.

In today’s fast paced world our busy lives leave little time, energy, or motivation for people  to focus on their own needs.

Those that do seek to improve their wellness traditionally turn to friends, family, specialists and published materials for support and information. All too often those support structures fail to make a lasting difference.

This happens for a number of reasons. Friends and family may not be capable of helping. Working with experts is time eating and costly and very few of us are effective at taking published, generic information and applying it to our own lives.

Gold’s Fitness Club Winston-Salem has developed a new online health promotion program that expands the range of support available to those wishing to make healthful lifestyle changes.

The health promotion program, Gold’s Fitness Club Wellness Coach, focuses on the daily challenges of making positive lifestyle changes and has the advantages of being more customized and efficient than generic, published information and less intense and expensive than expert face-to-face counseling.

Utilizing a collaborative problem-solving model the goal isn’t to give advice, but rather to help person think through the problems and come to their own conclusions.

The coach offers ideas for consideration, assists the individual generate ideas of their own, assists the individual consider the various ideas, choose a direction, and then supports them in the implementation of their decision.

Challenging the conventional wisdom that relationship formation requires in-person interaction; Gold’s Health Club has found that members and coaches have the ability to build significant relationships via internet based communication.

Utilizing industry leading technology a Gold’s Fitness Center Health Coach can offer members a secure, user-friendly personal website where they can access their coach in a real-time or via email with responses delivered in less than 24 hours.

The site permits coaches to hand choose relevant articles that are written on a consumer level and that are targeted to the issue at hand and add them to a member’s online personal library.

The site also contains various wellness programs and tools which are developed to assist the coach and member to set, implement and track specific objectives.

The collaborative relationship formed between member and coach enhances the quality ice and efficiency of service.  The familiarity that a coach develops with a member’s circumstances and significant relationships authorizes them over time to more rapidly offer useful ideas and assistance.

With traditional call-in assistance lines, the time intensive exercise of getting background and contextual information is repeated each time. IN that scenario efficiency is lost.

Moreover, Gold’s Gym Health Coach has developed a protocol based on key principals from the field of psychotherapy and behavior modification.

The protocol is embedded within a proprietary problem-solving that is based on the theory that individuals  often act without a excellent  understanding of a problem. Their responses then complicate matters and often make matters worse.

Gold’s Gym Health Coach offers the opportunity to step back, take a second look at what has going on, and rapidly asses the factors influencing the situation. But, having an idea of “what” to do is very different than actually “doing” something about it.

People  need help with the follow-through. Additionally, after figuring out “what” to do, Gold’s Fitness Club Wellness Coach focuses on implementation.

Here Gold’s Gym Wellness Coach builds on sound research and experience from the field of behavior modification that has to do with goal-establishing and with implementation support.

The end result is a extremely personalized, effective, user-friendly way of improving the wellness of an individual.  The efficient nature of the online relationship authorizes Gold’s Health Club Wellness Coach to keep the price point within reach of virtually whoever.

Information to evaluate your wellness program comes from routinely gathered screening and follow-up data of your wellness program that look at process and outcomes of your program.

The Employee Medical Program has available a computerized case-management system which includes queries that allow easy assessment of process and outcome results at any point in time.

Process Analysis

Process investigation looks at the wellness program’s impact as seen at various points in time.

Information that is gathered from the various forms that wellness employees fill out should supply you with the following

o Just how many personnel were screened?

o Just how many staff members who were referred to a physician went?

o Precisely how many workforce who expressed interest in wellness programs went?

o Just how many staff members who were referred to wellness programs went?

o Exactly how many personnel who went to health promotion programs completed them?

o How many staff are in follow-up caseload?

You could use this type of process analysis to evaluate and learn about the health of your wellness program.

Health Promotion Program Outcome Evaluation

A central objective of the wellness program is to increase the health of workforce. Information on how to judge how well your wellness program is meeting this objective is called “outcome examination” because you are analyzing  the end results or outcome of your wellness program.

In health promotion programs, goals are measured by specific (outcomes) behavior changes and reductions in health risk levels. Have workforce reduced their blood pressure? Have they lost weight? Are they exercising more? is alcohol consumption at a safe level?

For  instance these are the types of questions you are able to ask to find out when you’re reaching your objectives

o For workers with high blood pressure (BP) (140 / 90 or higher or on medication) at screening, what percentage have it under control (below 140 / 90) a year later?

o What is the change in typical blood pressure levels among all workforce with high blood pressure 1 year after screening? Two years later?

o For workers with high blood cholesterol levels (above 240) at screening, what percentage has decreased their cholesterol to borderline-high levels (200-239)?

o For staff members with borderline-high blood cholesterol levels, what percentages have reduced their cholesterol to the desirable range (below 200)?

o What is the change in typical cholesterol levels among all staff with high and borderline-high blood cholesterol levels 1 year after screening? Two years later?

o For personnel who were overweight at screening, what percentage have lost 20 pounds or more a year later? Ten pounds or more? What’s the average weight reduction?

o For workforce who were smokers at screening, what percentages have quit use of tobacco? for at least a year?

o For employees whose level of alcohol consumption put them at-risk at screening, what percentage have quit drinking alcohol? Are consuming alcohol at levels considered safe by CDC guidelines? Have reduced their drinking, but are still at-risk?

o For workers, what percentages are exercising at least three times a week for at least 20 minutes?

o If levels of fitness were measured, what percentages have improved fitness?

Make sure to set a regular time like every 6 months to look at which personnel your wellness program is reaching and how effective it is at assisting them reduce their health risks. Use this information to make new decisions about how to direct your wellness program efforts. Then make the change you need to improve your wellness program.

Some may feel that evaluation is a frill; it is not. Analysis is a necessary part of a wellness program. You’ll need to know what is working and what is not.

Decision-makers who fund the health promotion program need to be updated on the performance of the health promotion program. Evaluation will provide you with necessary data to maintain and expand the health promotion program and convince executive management to continue to support the health promotion program.

The keys to a successful wellness program are persistent one-on-one outreach and follow-up counseling to encourage health improvement, adherence to treatment programs, changes in way of life behaviors, and to prevent relapse.

Periodic outreach and follow-up procedures provide employees with a safety net which keeps them involved in the wellness program and prevents treatment dropout and relapse.

Counselors ought to follow up on staff members at least every 6 months throughout the career of the worker at the worksite.  The objectives of follow-up are to

o Involve workforce that have health risks in treatment and risk reduction programs.

o Involve all employees in health promotion programs and worksite-wide wellness activities.

o Support personnel in carrying out the risk reduction or health betterment activities they have chosen.

o Make certain to help staff obey their treatment programs.

o Prevent relapse.

o Prevent staff members from dropping out.

o Make sure to help staff members maintain behavior changes.

Follow-up can be conducted in individuals, by phone, mail, and via computer if the technology is available. Most preferable is an in-person contact.

Computer programs which may do case load management are available to help counselors track information and perform follow-up.

Priorities for Follow-Up

Individuals  with multiple health risks must be at the top of the list. Individuals  in key positions such as union leaders or department heads with health risks should also be contacted early so that they learn what the health promotion program is about and can share the information with others.

People  who need a medical examination for high blood pressure or cholesterol should also be targeted early. A lot of workforce will have seen their doctors then of the screening, but some will need more encouragement to do so. Those with no health risks can be followed up each year.

A follow-up counseling session can take 20 to 45 minutes.  At minimum, follow-up must include those who were told to seek medical investigation for high blood pressure readings, high cholesterol readings, or borderline high blood cholesterol readings with 2 or more other risk factors.

It might include those who were identified as at-risk for one or more of the other major risk factors –  at-risk levels of alcohol consumption, being overweight, and having low HDL.

Follow-Up With Doctors

A letter (see forms) must be sent to the physician or clinic of each employee who’s high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or is under a physician’s care.

The letter ought to explain the health promotion program and ought to include the worker’s relevant, current health measurements.

Along with the letter, send a self-addressed return envelope. Follow-up with the physician ought to be repeated every 6 months until it’s determined that the staff member is under satisfactory control.

Contacting the doctor is important for three reasons

o The physicians receive employees’ health measurements taken at the workplace.

o You receive the blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol readings the doctor takes and information on the treatment the doctor prescribes.

Many times the staff member does not have this information or does not remember it.  The information may be used when counseling the staff member.

o Follow-up encourages physicians to pay closer attention to heart illness risk factors among their patients.

The menu approach offers staff members a range of options to support way of life changes. It allows people  to choose the type of help that suits their schedules and preferences.

The four basic types of health promotion programs include

o Classes

o Minigroups

o Guided self help

o Individual counseling

Classes

Courses (8 or more) can be an effective means of providing education and social support for behavior change.  The length of a class can vary depending on topic requirements. It is not sufficient to give only courses at a worksite.

Many staff are under time constraints with after work commitments and although they may be interested they simply can’t participate because of their schedules.

Workers may  be very eager to begin a wellness program but because of lack of participants to meet class quotas, the wellness program is canceled.

A lot of national businesses such as the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, Weight Watchers, etc. offer classes; you should’ve little trouble in identifying a provider for class type wellness programs.

You may want to contact your local hospital, health department, or YMCA for possible choices. for selecting  a provider to provide a health promotion program you may want to review the section on health promotion program structure.

Minigroups

When there is not enough interest to develop a class, those who are interested in a given health topic could be formed into a minigroup (2 to 7).

The minigroup can cover the same content as a class but do so in a less formal manner. Presentation of information and discussion is the major format of the minigroup.

Guided Self-Help

Most employees do not want formal help in making health changes; they prefer to do it on their own. In guided self-help, the wellness counselors provide support, materials, and encouragement.

Meeting times may be arranged and contact may be made either in individuals, by phone, or computer. Materials may be made available at the workplace, or mailed to the individual. Some workplaces now make information available via intranets or the Internet.

Individual Counseling

Among the most successful ways to help person change and improve their health status is counseling (or coaching) on a one-on-one basis.

In published studies, wellness programs which incorporated individual counseling as part of the wellness program process achieved significantly higher participation rates and achieved greater risk reduction/risk elimination than standard group programs. Scientific studies have demonstrated that individual counseling is both cost effective and cost beneficial.

A wellness counselor should be trained in screening techniques, for in certain situations, they might be required to both screen individuals and counsel them. They ought to know how to do the following

o Review staff member health risks

o Contact staff members that have health risks.

o Counsel staff on a one-on-one basis, helping them set objectives, solve problems, and get professional help when they need it.

o Make sure to help workforce follow their treatment recommendations and make lifestyle and health behavior changes.

o Recruit employees into health promotion programs, such as weight loss and smoking cessation.

o Make sure to work with workforce on a one-on-one basis using guided self-help.

o Conduct classes and minigroups if necessary.

o Make sure to work with wellness committee members to plan and conduct worksite-wide wellness activities.

Health Promotion counselors are health generalists; they must’ve basic knowledge about a wide range of health topics and health risks.

Counselors should be able to talk with workforce about their medical problems and the treatments prescribed by their doctors.

They should’ve a great  overview of nutrition, exercise physiology, pathophysiology of illness, pharmacology, psychology, and behavior change skills.

The educational program ought to include approaches to stress awareness/reduction at the environmental level and at the individual level.

Social, physical, and organizational stressors ought to be explained and methods to ease or elevate stressors ought to be presented.

At the individual level how changes in attitudes and behaviors help one to cope with stressors; learning methods to minimize stress response, such as meditation, relaxation response, and exercise.

Content of the program should provide the following

o Identifying sources of stress

o Relationship of stress to health

o Just how the individual experiences stress, personal, family, work

o Solutions for coping and managing stress

o Techniques for lowering stress

o Value of stress, both negative and positive

o Practical steps of incorporating stress reduction into way of life

Personnel conducting stress management programs should have training in psychology, behavioral sciences, or related disciplines like mental health experts, counselors, health educators, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Training in a reputable program on how to teach the stress management course including group process skills is a must.

A nutrition education program should include a nutritional needs assessment, education counseling, and referral as necessary.

Nutrition education sessions and materials should include the following information

o The relationship of nutrition and chronic illnesss

o Improving eating patterns

o Relationship of nutrition and proper weight maintenance

o Exercise

o Stress

o Blood pressure (BP)

o Cholesterol

o Diabetes and other chronic diseases.

o Nutritionally precise information regarding the relationship of health to diet, including cholesterol, fats, fiber, alcohol, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and vitamin/mineral supplementation.

Methods for identifying healthier foods and incorporating low-calorie, high nutrient foods into eating habits. Suggestions for bettering eating habits should be based on or in line with national recommendations such as the Food Guide Pyramid.

Nutrition instructor should be a registered dietitian, registered nurse, or have a baccalaureate degree or higher in health education with training in nutrition.

If an allied health professional instructs the program, a consultation and review of the program design by a registered dietitian is recommended.