For every survivor to have access to a wellness coach that wants one.
Goals:
• To provide training to support health care professionals and coaches in learning more about healthy survivorship
• To provide consulting for cancer centers and organizations to facilitate a successful wellness coaching program
• To provide trained and certified wellness coaches to cancer centers and organizations
• To provide communication tools for health care providers to refer and motivate healthy survivorship
A note from the creator of the program, Pam Schmid:
“When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2004, I remember thinking how healthy I felt. I had never been more fit, doing eveything I’d been teaching others to do since 1981. I was jogging to relieve stress soon after the diagnosis, and before treatment had begun. I remember thinking, “I am healthy and fit WITH cancer!” How bizarre that feeling was. The next thought that came to my mind, was that I would be healthy and fit AFTER cancer as well. As I moved through aggressive treatment, and the years after, I became very aware of the challenge that statement would be. Between treatment and medication side effects, fatigue, bone and muscle loss, sudden menopause, sleep issues, multiple surgeries, and not one part of my life being untouched (mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, financially, etc.), saying that it was challenging would become an understatement. Striving to be healthy and fit became a necessary priority to get my life back and manage the continual ups and downs of survivorship. My company’s name, Priorities Simplified, took on new meaning!”
Need
Recognizing that she was not alone in this challenge and that her background had given her a lot of advantages others didn’t have, she wanted to ensure all survivors would have what they needed to be their healthiest after a diagnosis of cancer. She learned about the research around cancer and the risks that her friends faced by not living a healthy lifestyle. She came to realize that most cancer centers and doctors don’t tell survivors the importance of healthy lifestyle habits and weight for reduced risk of recurrence or other disease. She learned that the majority of cancer survivors are not exercising the minimum recommended of at least 30 minutes five days a week and not eating the minimum of five fruits and vegetables each day. She learned they are also overweight, like other Americans, and at risk for other chronic diseases, as well as increased risk of recurrence. She realized that there was much that professionals and patients did not know.
Answer
Before cancer, she became involved in a new profession called wellness coaching through Wellcoaches®, an organization that certifies physical and mental health professioals to be coaches. After certification, she was invited to become faculty and teach for Wellcoaches®. As a result of seeing how powerful, supportive, and often transformative, wellness coaching could be for her clients, she knew the results would be even greater for survivors. Wellness coaching provides a multidisciplinary approach that supports survivors to be their best. A “just in time” expert approach provides expertise only when needed. Coaching is not about telling people what to do, but helping them figure out what matters most and how to make it happen using a toolbox of strategies from the fields of coaching and positive psychology. Survivors face more obstacles than most in living healthy. Teaching professionals about those challenges and bridging the gap between physicians and health and fitness professionals is key.
Initial studies showed improved overall quality of life, lower depression and anxiety, reduced BMI and weight, and improvement in eating and exercise habits with a 3 month coaching program. Lifestyle behaviors were sustained one year after the program ended. See results published in The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences here.
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