Wellness & beauty coaching
Helping People Make Long-Term Changes
“Health coaching,” “wellness coaching,” even “eyebrow coaching” — coaching is
a concept gathering steam at spas, with new approaches ranging from the very
serious…to the simply engaging and fun.
First, the serious. While “coaching” seems to be
a term that can get wantonly slapped onto any
professional or personal goal, the concept is
especially applicable and packed with potential
for the spa sector. Integrative medicine leader Dr.
Ken Pelletier recently noted that the spa industry
is actually in a better position (than the medical
establishment) to deliver preventative “healthcare,”
i.e., to provide an environment and offerings that
can actually help people make long-lasting lifestyle
changes — the number-one medically proven path
to disease prevention and optimal health. But to fill
those large (and potentially profitable) shoes, more
spas must “switch” their model from delivering
isolated treatments and establish more personal,
post-visit connections with clients that could actually
help sustain the changes — i.e., “coaching.”
“Wellness coaching” and “health coaching” are,
therefore, very serious trends (rather than faddish
new marketing terms), and some very high-level
institutions are validating that position. Harvard
Medical School (www.harvardcoaching.org) now
underwrites an annual conference on coaching’s
role in healthcare, while supporting the Institute of
Coaching. And one of the many research initiatives
being analyzed by the International Coaching
Research Forum is developing coaching as a
global, academic profession. There are already
efforts underway to clearly define the parameters
of coaching and help distinguish it (which is
future-focused) from other professional services
like counseling (which delve into a person’s past).
Corporations are digesting the power and ROI
of coaching: Those ramping up investments in
corporate wellness programs, to reduce their crushing
healthcare costs, are reporting that wellness coaching
is the most effective model to get people to adhere,
long-term, to healthy regimes.
Destination spas are taking the lead with both atthe-
spa “coaching” models and post-stay coaching