--- title: Coaching skills - Real Balance Certified Health and Wellness Coach Training description: Get certified as a health and wellness coach with Real Balance. Comprehensive training and certification designed for wellness and healthcare professionals. --- # Coaching skills ## [15 Vital Books for the Wellness Coach – 2020 – Straight Off My Shelf](https://realbalance.com/15-vital-books-for-the-wellness-coach-2020-straight-off-my-shelf) ![15 Vital Books](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/15-books.jpg) In the last ten years the field of health and wellness coaching has continued to evolve as a professional filed with standards, credentials ([https://nbhwc.org](https://nbhwc.org)) and a solid evidential base ([https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1559827619850489](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1559827619850489)). We’ve attained more clarity about what effective health and wellness coaching looks like and more awareness of what all coaches need to learn. Coaches have an… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/15-vital-books-for-the-wellness-coach-2020-straight-off-my-shelf) ## [Astonishing Non-compliance – Understanding Grief and Readiness for Change in the Health Challenged Client](https://realbalance.com/astonishing-non-compliance-understanding-grief-and-readiness-for-change-in-the-health-challenged-client) ![medicine cabinet](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/medications-senior-cabinet.jpg) Medical noncompliance is a vast and complex issue that results in widespread human suffering and immense healthcare costs. **Of the 3.8 billion pharmaceutical prescriptions written each year (USA) it is estimated that more than 50% of them are taken incorrectly or not at all.** Medical noncompliance also includes failure to do medical self-care, self-testing and attend follow up appointments with… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/astonishing-non-compliance-understanding-grief-and-readiness-for-change-in-the-health-challenged-client) ## [China Embraces Real Balance Wellness Coaching](https://realbalance.com/china-embraces-real-balance-wellness-coaching) ![Real Balance Wellness & Health Coach Certification Class in Shanghai – 2017](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/class-pic-best-med.jpeg) **Faced with the same lifestyle-based health crisis many other countries are experiencing, China has been searching for a way to help people truly succeed at lasting lifestyle change**. Over half of the men in China smoke. The diabetes rate is now higher than the United States, with heart disease, COPD and other “lifestyle diseases” on the rise. Health information… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/china-embraces-real-balance-wellness-coaching) ## [Client-Centered Directiveness: An Oxymoron That Works – Part One](https://realbalance.com/client-centered-directiveness-an-oxymoron-that-works-part-one) ![direct ororchestra](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/directororchestra1.jpg) **At its very foundation, coaching is client-centered. The work of Carl Rogers profoundly influenced the founders of the life coaching profession.** Yet, among the thousands of health and wellness coaches we have trained at Real Balance ([http://www.realbalance.com](http://www.realbalance.com)),**the question of how directive or non-directive to be remains an area of unsureness and anxiety.** ![Carl Rogers 1902-1987](https://realbalance.com/images/rogerswhitebkgrd.webp)As time marches on… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/client-centered-directiveness-an-oxymoron-that-works-part-one) ## [Client-Centered Directiveness: An Oxymoron That Works – Part Two: Adapting To Your Client](https://realbalance.com/client-centered-directiveness-an-oxymoron-that-works-part-two-adapting-to-your-client) ![this way that way sign](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/thiswaythatway.jpg) **Effective wellness and health coaching adapts in many ways to the client we are working with.** As we assist a person in finding ways to live a healthier life there are many adjustments that need to be made to deliver a customized experience that will work best for that individual. In this post we will examine how to take… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/client-centered-directiveness-an-oxymoron-that-works-part-two-adapting-to-your-client) ## [Coach Like Hemingway: Confident, Succinct, Effective](https://realbalance.com/coach-like-hemingway-confident-succinct-effective) ![typewriter](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/h-typewriter-1.jpg) *Use short sentences.  Use short paragraphs.  Use vigorous English.  Be positive, not negative.*  Opening lines from 110 Stylistic Rules given to each reporter by the Kansas City Star where Hemingway got his first job in journalism (1917). Ernest Hemingway certainly picked up on those dictums and put them to good use over an extraordinary career as a writer.  When we think of these… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/coach-like-hemingway-confident-succinct-effective) ## [Coaching a Client Through To A Mental Health Referral Using The Stages of Change](https://realbalance.com/coaching-a-client-through-to-a-mental-health-referral-using-the-stages-of-change) ![referrals](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/referrals-1.jpg) **Times arise when it becomes apparent to a wellness coach that their client would benefit from working with a mental health professional.** The need for referral may be urgent and involve client safety as when there is a threat of harm to self or others. That rare situation is usually more clearly recognized, referral is made and coaching is usually… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/coaching-a-client-through-to-a-mental-health-referral-using-the-stages-of-change) ## [Coaching Emotions for Better Lifestyle Choices](https://realbalance.com/coaching-emotions-for-better-lifestyle-choices) ![2 people in the forest](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/two-people-forest.jpg) Check out the best in Health Coach Training: [www.realblance.com](https://realbalance.com/) Lifestyle behavioral change is not simply a rational process. Emotions influence or sometimes completely determine the outcome of decisions we are confronted with every day. ***When dealing with people remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.*** [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/coaching-emotions-for-better-lifestyle-choices) ## [Coaching Habits That Can Take Away From Your Effectiveness](https://realbalance.com/coaching-habits-that-can-take-away-from-your-effectiveness) ![practice good habits sign](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/practice-good-habits-sign.jpg) The longer we do anything the more we fall into habits. Habits are time savers. They help us avoid making our lives more complex than they need to be. They often are shortcuts that help us to experience less stress and get things done, sometimes quite efficiently. Doing certain things by rote can serve us well. Health and wellness coaches… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/coaching-habits-that-can-take-away-from-your-effectiveness) ## [Dancing In The Moment: Three Keys To Thinking On Your Feet During The Coaching Process](https://realbalance.com/dancing-in-the-moment-three-keys-to-thinking-on-your-feet-during-the-coaching-process) ![line danc](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/linedance-small.jpg) I never did get the Cha Cha. It looks like line dancing is a lot of fun, but I’ve got two left feet that seem to always get in everyone’s way. **Following prescribed steps in a precise way is just not how I like to dance.** Now, fire up some swing, some impromptu, totally kicking it up blues or Telluride… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/dancing-in-the-moment-three-keys-to-thinking-on-your-feet-during-the-coaching-process) ## [Emotions, Feelings and Healthy Choices: Coaching for Greater Wellness](https://realbalance.com/emotions-feelings-and-healthy-choices-coaching-for-greater-wellness) ![various human emotions wood abstract](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/various-human-emotions-wood-abstract.jpg) One of the first things we learn about in the fields of Wellness & Health Promotion and Health & Wellness Coaching, is that **our lifestyle choices are a primary determinant of our health and wellbeing**. It seems straightforward that making the right or healthy choice is a rational process based upon having the best information. We often then address… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/emotions-feelings-and-healthy-choices-coaching-for-greater-wellness) ## [FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS: The Art of Keeping Your Client on Track](https://realbalance.com/focus-focus-focus-the-art-of-keeping-your-client-on-track) ![FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS: The Art of Keeping Your Client on Track](https://realbalance.com/images/800x600/AdobeStock_131967313_2_Medium.jpeg) **Focus and simplicity...once you get there, you can move mountains.** **Steve Jobs**   What keeps a coaching session from being as productive as possible?  While you can point the finger at a number of factors, **lack of focus** on the part of the client is often one.  Coaching sessions that meander, that drift off into tangents, down rabbit holes… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/focus-focus-focus-the-art-of-keeping-your-client-on-track) ## [Getting Yourself Out Of The Way: The Self-Vigilant Coach – Part Two – Projection In Health & Wellness Coaching](https://realbalance.com/getting-yourself-out-of-the-way-the-self-vigilant-coach-part-two-projection-in-health-wellness-coaching) ![Projection – A Freudian Classic](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/freud-caricatureopenhead.jpg) Our previous blog post: *Getting Yourself Out Of The Way: The Self-Vigilant Coach – Part One* ([https://wp.me/pUi2y-mu](https://wp.me/pUi2y-mu))  explored the many ways in which the coach can interfere in the coaching process and “get in the way” of the client’s own coaching work. Our own agendas, attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, projections and unfinished emotional business can all impede the coaching… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/getting-yourself-out-of-the-way-the-self-vigilant-coach-part-two-projection-in-health-wellness-coaching) ## [Keys to Coaching Clients Who Overidentify With Their Illness](https://realbalance.com/keys-to-coaching-clients-who-overidentify-with-their-illness) ![pier ocean](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/wellness.jpg) **We like to say that a coach listens to a person’s story and helps them to realize that they are not their story.** For the health-challenged client, their illness, conditions, or health experience is a huge part of their story. ***“I am a diabetic.”*** While this is true, how strongly does the person now see themselves through this lens? What… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/keys-to-coaching-clients-who-overidentify-with-their-illness) ## [Making and Maintaining The Shift To The Coaching Mindset](https://realbalance.com/making-and-maintaining-the-shift-to-the-coaching-mindset) ![clouds vista perspective](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/cloud-vista-perspective.jpg) **We meet our coaching client with the very best of intentions.** We want to help. And help sometimes means throwing ourselves into doing what the client seems to be unable to do themselves up to this point – figure out solutions. Instead of empowering our clients to come to their own solutions, we seek to fix it for them. We… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/making-and-maintaining-the-shift-to-the-coaching-mindset) ## [Masterful Health & Wellness Coaching: Deepening Your Craft A New Book by Dr. Michael Arloski, coming in 2020](https://realbalance.com/masterful-health-wellness-coaching-deepening-your-craft-a-new-book-by-dr-michael-arloski-coming-in-2020) ![Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC, CWP, NBC-HWC](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/arloski.mike_.1506_pp.jpg) *The profession of health and wellness coaching is fully engaged in a process of transformation. As we grow to be of service to wellness programs, lifestyle medicine practices, employee assistance programs, insurance carriers, disease management companies, and all manner of healthcare providers, around the globe, the demand for greater quality coaching only builds.**We are moving from a need for*… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/masterful-health-wellness-coaching-deepening-your-craft-a-new-book-by-dr-michael-arloski-coming-in-2020) ## [Motivation Plus Mobilization: Coaching For Success At Lifestyle Improvement](https://realbalance.com/motivation-plus-mobilization-coaching-for-success-at-lifestyle-improvement) ![panda body](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/panda-body.jpg) **“I just don’t seem to have the motivation to really make changes.”** This is a lament frequent to the ears of health and wellness coaches. Our clients are often puzzled by a lack of success in their efforts to start living a healthy lifestyle, or keep such efforts going. They blame it on either a lack of motivation to get… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/motivation-plus-mobilization-coaching-for-success-at-lifestyle-improvement) ## [Refining Coaching Linguistics: Verbal Tics, Placeholders and Fingerprint Words](https://realbalance.com/refining-coaching-linguistics-verbal-tics-placeholders-and-fingerprint-words) ![linguistics](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/linguistics-660x330.jpg) In a recent New York Times article, writer Gregg Easterbrook shared this observation of modern day speech. "***The verbal tic of saying “real quick” is surging ahead of “you know” in the American lexicon.** “You know” is an empty expression, a verbal placeholder. By contrast, “real quick” has significance, reflecting the continuing acceleration of life. “Good morning, I would*… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/refining-coaching-linguistics-verbal-tics-placeholders-and-fingerprint-words) ## [Seven Expressions Of Courageous Coaching](https://realbalance.com/seven-expressions-of-courageous-coaching) ![northern trip](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/northern_trip.jpg) **Courageous coaching! What would “courageous coaching” look like for you?** There are many ways to approach the subject of courage in coaching. As a trainer of wellness & health coaches here are some of the ways I would like to see courage show up for the coaches we educate. **1. The Courage To Stand For NCRW- Naturally Creative, Resourceful**… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/seven-expressions-of-courageous-coaching) ## [Structure Is The Wellness Coach’s Friend: Seven Ways To Coach Better](https://realbalance.com/structure-is-the-wellness-coachs-friend-seven-ways-to-coach-better) ![wellness coaching graph](https://realbalance.com/images/wellness-blog/800x600/wiseuseoftime.png) **Great coaching finds a balance between structure and spontaneity, customization, “dancing in the moment” and organization.** While some large coaching organizations err on the side of too much structure, using scripts and ridged protocols, some coaches “wing it” way too much. Listening to hundreds of coaching recordings, done with real clients, I’m continually amazed at how loosely many coaches go… [Read more …](https://realbalance.com/structure-is-the-wellness-coachs-friend-seven-ways-to-coach-better)