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Person-Centred Care toolkit

Health Coaching

The founding premise of coaching is a belief that everybody is resourceful to some degree. The process of health coaching is to encourage people to tap into and grow their internal resources, so that they can improve and maintain their health.

It involves a partnership approach between the coach and coachee, agreeing topics to focus on, and outcomes that matter to the person. Time is spent exploring the person’s reality to help them come up with their own ideas and plans to achieve their goals.

Key characteristics of health coaching include:

  • A focus on the individual’s goals
  • An approach in which both the person and professional are seen as experts, the person as an expert in their conditions and the professional as an expert in healthcare
  • Support is tailored around the capabilities the person, and their assets within their context
  • Breaking down of goals into manageable steps

The principles and techniques of health coaching can support other conversations. Health coaching mindset, skills and techniques can facilitate proactive conversations to make primary care support planning more effective.

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