Coaching vs counseling? According to an article in Today’s Dietitian Magazine
(http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/110413p40.shtml), “Coaching involves being present, creating trust, partnering, and fostering accountability, Coaching is client centered, and it helps develop a better rapport with clients compared with counseling because it encourages them to get involved in the process of change. Coaches recognize that clients resist being told what to do, so they give clients freedom to make their own decisions.”
At Evangelical Homes – Saline our teams are embarking on this journey. This week Emily Gardner, RD and Christina Weber, MS, RD took the opportunity to sit down with clients to discuss SMART goal setting. Instead of approaching them with a preconceived plan for their goals, open-ended questions were asked about their diet/lifestyle habits, explained how to set a proper SMART goal, and then we guided them to goals that were appropriate and achievable for them. As referenced in the article above, we avoided using the word “why” and tried to replace it with “how” as it leads them to think about how they can change their situation. At the end of the session, we asked the clients to communicate what they learned and what they plan to work on after the session. One resident in particular provided 2 examples and was excited to get started!