My Integrated Approach
When people ask me the type of health coaching I provide, I say, “Integrated.” If they look at me crooked, I add, “natural, restorative, or preventative ,” and that is usually explanation enough. Basically, Integrated coaching is incorporating what I learned at Vanderbilt’s NP program, clinical rotations and internships about medicine, and then adding what I have learned about natural approaches to wellness through my own personal journey and research.
What I learned in dealing with an auto-immune disorder of my own, was that traditional medicine approaches weren’t helping my body heal, and in a lot of ways, were doing more harm to my already struggling system. I started researching about other ways of treating auto immune disorders, and what I was led to was not treating at all, but really allowing my body to heal. I incorporated what I was learning and shifted my focus to spending more time in prayer, listening to my body about how much rest I needed, being honest about my limitations and allowing others to help with things I would typically just add to my plate, taking nutritional supplements, exercising, and eliminating foods that cause inflammation from my diet.
For me, like many of the clients I coach, I was already an avid exerciser, already ate a healthy diet, and felt like I could take on the world, and then my body told me I needed to slow down. For me, it was more about stress, not getting enough rest, needing nutritional supplements added to my diet, and the most important, doing emotional and spiritual healing work.
So, in a nutshell, using an integrated approach, I help clients explore the unravel in their stories. When did they start feeling bad? When did they notice bowel patterns change? When did sleep become a problem? When was their first panic attack? When did they first notice the skin rashes? Thread by thread, we explore together and collaborate in coming up with a plan that works for each individual patient. It may include collaborating with their other providers for pharmaceuticals, it may include lab testing, nutritional supplements and diet change, it may include low dose immune therapies and adding quiet time into the day and intentional prayer time…whatever it includes, it’s a plan they are comfortable with and we walk out together.
