Great opportunities, challenges and benefits are associated with health-oriented coaching. Great opportunities are to be found in complementing the treatment, amelioration and prevention services being offered by healthcare professionals. There are many ways in which we, as professional coaches, can contribute to the dialogue about where healthcare services should be directed in the near future—a fundamental concern that is being articulated in communities throughout the world. These opportunities have already been acknowledged in the professional coaching community. Many health coaching training programs have been established, and there are even at least two organizations that certify health coaches: the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaching (that we are featuring in this issue) and the National Society of Health Coaches.

While many of the current health-oriented coach training programs focus on assisting clients in sustaining wellness, preventing illness and injury, and successfully recovering from illness and injury, there is much more to be done – and this series of Coach Quad essays point to the potential future for health-oriented coaching. We offer an expanded perspective on health-based coaching by identifying the multiple levels at which health-based coaches can operate. We also frame our analysis of health-based coaching in a systemic manner—noting that coaches can not only serve their clients with regard to health-related issues but also help enhance the relationship established between their coaching clients and the healthcare professionals with whom their client interacts. Research shows health-based coaching creates a platform for more effective patient engagement.

There are so many other complementary purposes for health-based coaching, some of which our authors address in this issue. They could be small but significant shifts in habit—say, for changing diets for diabetics and those with depression, or implementing patient conducted physical exercise or therapy for stroke and myocardial infarction patients. They can be addressing potentially existential questions—like the issues of identity which sometimes arise when health concerns change the way people interact with others (such as the onset of significant hearing loss) or their environment. From accountability to perspective taking, to redefining personal relationships, there are many, many highly useful and impactful tools in the coaches’ toolbox.

We offer several road maps for a health-based coaching strategy. The first road map describes a four-tier approach to health-oriented coaching. It is based on a metaphor offered by Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones of the American Public Health Organization: Four-Tiers of Health Oriented Coaching.

The second road map surveys many of the dimensions of health-oriented coaching and wellness. The survey ranges from the head to the gut and incorporates important recent findings regarding the biopsychosocial bases of health:

The Many Dimensions of Health Orienting Coaching

We include a health-oriented coaching tool called Managing Life Transitions. It builds on the classic study of life change and health conducted by Richard Rahe and his colleagues. A Life-Change Scale is provided along with a Life Transition Grid and a list of strategies for managing major life transitions.