Health & Wellbeing Coaches
Health & Wellbeing Coaches work in GP practices and are part of the NHS. They are here to give you extra support to achieve your health goals, such as stopping smoking, losing weight or being more active.
How do I refer to a health and wellbeing coach?
Not all GP practices have Health and Wellbeing Coaches.
If you're interested in this service, please contact your GP to find out if this service is open to you and to request a referral.
If you work in Newham and want to refer someone to a Health and Wellbeing Coach, the following practices accept referrals from professionals on behalf of a resident:
If your practice doesn't have a Health and Wellbeing Coach yet, Social Prescribers may be able to help by referring you to a service, such as Live Well Newham, which supports people to meet their weight and physical activity goals, and signposting you to services in the community.
You can also visit our Well Newham Hubs for light-touch health coaching if you are not able to see a Health and Wellbeing Coach.
What do Health & Wellbeing Coaches do?
Health & Wellbeing Coaches are here to support you to achieve your health goals, such as:
- Stopping smoking
- Losing weight
- Being more active
- Changing the way you eat
They are here to help you improve your knowledge, confidence and skills so that you are more likely to achieve your health goals.
Health & Wellbeing Coaches create a safe space for people to talk alone without the judgement of others. Health and Wellbeing Coaches can provide some accountability and motivation to help patients to stick with, and reach their goals.
Hear Mrs Kaur's story
Mrs Kaur (name has been changed for anonymity) came to her first appointment presenting with a number of issues, including high blood pressure and a high BMI.
She was feeling overwhelmed and anxious particularly about her weight and health. She explained she was snapping at her family and had no time to exercise.
I worked with her to create a safe space where she could explore her emotional, social and medical stresses.
We spent time brainstorming activities to help her to manage these feelings. We also spent time understanding things that trigger her stresses.
As a result of working together Mrs K ….
- Lowered her blood pressure and BMI
- Started using the Active 10 app to track her daily walking
- Now takes a step back and takes time to rest
- Independently applied for a new job
- Learnt to apply skills in times of stress (including experiencing a bereavement)
- Needed less appointments with her GP as she learnt to self manage her health
Hear Miriam's story
Miriam is a 28 year old mum of 3 children who was desperate to lose weight.
Miriam first met with a Health and Wellbeing Coach in May when she weighed 100.2 kgs , waist circumference 97cm.
Miriam had 6 45 minute sessions with the Health and Wellbeing Coach where they focused on small changes Miriam could make that would fit into her lifestyle.
There were a couple of changes she could easily do, such as setting a regular time three times each week, when the kids were out, to use her treadmill for an hour. Previously, she had only used it when she remembered to.
Another small and easy change Miriam made was watching her portion sizes and eating earlier in the evening when her children were eating their dinner. She made sure she had had lots of vegetables with her meals. Before working with the coach, she ate whenever she wanted to after she had put the children to bed.
At the last meeting in September, Miriam weight 91.4 kg, waist circumference was 87 cm. That is a 10 cm loss around her waist and almost 10-kilogram weight loss. Miriam was so delighted with her achievement that she went to her local supermarket and lifted a 10kg bag of rice to really conceptualise how much weight she had lost.
Hear Abdul's story
Miriam is a 28 year old mum of 3 children who was desperate to lose weight.
Miriam first met with a Health and Wellbeing Coach in May when she weighed 100.2 kgs , waist circumference 97cm.
Miriam had 6 45 minute sessions with the Health and Wellbeing Coach where they focused on small changes Miriam could make that would fit into her lifestyle.
There were a couple of changes she could easily do, such as setting a regular time three times each week, when the kids were out, to use her treadmill for an hour. Previously, she had only used it when she remembered to.
Another small and easy change Miriam made was watching her portion sizes and eating earlier in the evening when her children were eating their dinner. She made sure she had had lots of vegetables with her meals. Before working with the coach, she ate whenever she wanted to after she had put the children to bed.
At the last meeting in September, Miriam weight 91.4 kg, waist circumference was 87 cm. That is a 10 cm loss around her waist and almost 10-kilogram weight loss. Miriam was so delighted with her achievement that she went to her local supermarket and lifted a 10kg bag of rice to really conceptualise how much weight she had lost.
How we store your personal data
We take your privacy very seriously. As part of our service, we use the Joy platform to store your personal data so we can keep up-to-date records about your health and wellbeing in a safe and secure way.
We will not share your data with anyone or any service without your consent. If you decide you do not want your data stored on the Joy platform, you can tell us and we can delete the data permanently.
For more information about the Joy platform and how they commit to storing your data securely, please visit their website or take a look at our privacy notice.