Health Coach Service
Depending on your health needs, you may qualify to work one-on-one with a Health Coach to help build new skills to meet your personal health goals. After you take your Personal Health Assessment (PHA) , a UI Wellness staff member will get in touch with you to review the results of your Personal Health Assessment and assist you in developing your health improvement plan, if your responses indicated that you're ready to make a health-related lifestyle change.
Coaching provides a positive connection — a supportive relationship — between the coach and the person who wants to make a change. That connection empowers the person being coached to recognize and draw on his or her own innate ability and resource to make lasting changes for better health and well-being. – Anne Helmke, National Wellness Institute.
A Health Coach can work with you in person, over the telephone, or via electronic communication depending on your preference.
What is coaching?
Coaching facilitates behavior change via a structured, supportive partnership between you and your coach that will:
- Set both long and short term goals
- Set action plans and monitor progress in attaining goals
- Develop strategies to utilize your strengths most effectively and maximize your potential to achieve desired outcomes
What makes coaching effective in helping people change behavior?
- Provides written commitments from you to fulfill the action plan
- Tracks your progress and holds you accountable to these commitments
- Is provided in a structured, supportive environment
Reasons to have a health coach
If you . . . .
- Need motivation, discipline, or accountability to meet your goals
- Need a personalized plan that meets and evolves with your unique needs
- Are overwhelmed by all the conflicting fitness, health and nutrition information
- Want the privacy and confidentiality provided to you by your coach
What’s included in the Health Coach Service
- Individualized report from your Personal Health Assessment (PHA).
- An individualized health improvement plan based on the PHA and your specific goals.
- Generally, you meet with your Health Coach up to 5 times over the course of 10-16 weeks in person, via telephone, or via email.
- Follow-up contact at one and three months.
- There may be other programs that will complement the Health Coach service as part of your personal improvement plan. Visit the Resource and Referral Sources page for a complete list.
- The University will pay the program fee for select Referrals.
Individual vs. Group Health Coaching
- Individual Health Coaching provides a one-on-one forum to work on your Health Improvement Plan. You can meet with your Health Coach in person, over the phone, and arrange visits to suit your schedule.
- Group Health Coaching involves meeting with 6-12 others who are also working on making health-related lifestyle changes. Group coaching may be right for you if you if you are seeking:
- Convenience - Participate in a location close to where you work
- Support- Social support is a critical component for long-term success
- Synergy - An environment where healthy habits are encouraged creates an energy that assists in making good choices.
- For current groups, visit the calendar page; to consider a group in your work area, contact 353-2973 or email livewell@uiowa.edu.
Forms
Prior to or at Initial Visit
Client Background Information and Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) (.pdf)Health Coach Initial Visit
Health Coach Participant Agreement (.pdf)
A Change Plan Worksheet (.pdf)Subsequent Health Coach Visits
Subsequent Visit Goal Sheet (.pdf)
Referral Source Participant Agreement (.pdf)
Satisfaction Survey - Referral Program (.pdf)
Satisfaction Survey - Referral Program - REACH (.pdf)
Eligibility
University of Iowa regular employees, employed at 50% or greater are currently eligible, including medical house staff. Long term plans include a phased approach to provide this service to dependents and retirees.