A Coach with Credentials
With so many coaches out there, often finding the right one can be a daunting task. What does a coach do? Do I need coaching and if so, what kind of coach do I need? How do I find the right coach for me? What are the credentials I am looking for in my coach? These are questions we often hear.
Why coaching?
If knowing something was enough to drive change, then we would all be in perfect health and living our best and fulfilling lives. Unfortunately, knowledge alone is often not enough to convert intentions into action. It also requires a desire and motivation to change, and often hard work as well. Working together with a coach can help you to stay on this journey. Taking one step at a time, being supported, and encouraged, knowing someone has your back and is cheering you on, helps to achieve the goals you have set. Coaches should offer regular catch ups and check-ins to support their clients and help them to stay on track. Together they plan the actions for the days and weeks ahead and monitor progress, what’s going well, what’s more challenging, tweaking and adjusting as needed.
By focusing on small and achievable steps together, with the larger goals in mind, over time progress can be mapped and celebrated, always a strong motivator to continue!
What credentials should I be looking for in a coach?
There are many different types of coaches offering a range of different coaching supports. What’s important is that you find someone who can support you on your journey. Most coaches should have completed a coaching programme that is recognized by the International Coaching Federation. You might also want to find out more about the other skills and qualifications a coach holds and what their clients say.
What coaching is available at HealthFirst?
Dr Mecky is our in-house coach at HealthFirst. She offers health and performance coaching and works together with clients to help them to feel well and thrive. Her coaching approach is based on her medical background, with years of training and clinical experience and working with patients. Her passion is to identify the root cause of problems and then address these, along with a holistic approach that focuses on physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being.
Mecky qualified as an associate coach in 2017 with the University of Cape Town Postgraduate Business School. This training complements her medical knowledge and experience to understand her clients’ needs, helping them to identify what goals they want to achieve and design a personalized coaching programme to achieve them.
In 2022, Mecky became a certified Hintsa performance coach following 10-month training programme with Hinsta who have over 20 years’ experience in coaching elite athletes, top executives, and global organisations to improve their well-being.
“Mecky will empower you to think critically and make better choices with her thought provoking questions and powerful insights. Sometimes it’s just one line that will change your perception and undo years of limited thinking! Mecky also has the ability to find the positives and opportunities for growth.”
What is health and performance coaching?
All the evidence shows us that when we feel well, we are so much better able to achieve the things in life that are important to us to the best of our ability. When we are well-rested, well nourished, physically fit, and agile and pain free, we are in the best shape for success. In fact, studies show us that high performance is a by-product of good well-being. Health and performance coaching has this at its core. By working together to optimize physical, mental, emotional well-being, health and performance coaches support their clients to achieve high performance both at work and in the other domains of their lives.
What does a coaching programme with Dr Mecky look like?
After an initial detailed health and well-being assessment, Dr Mecky begins by identifying the core needs of her clients to help identify their inner motivation and explore what really matters to them to lead a more meaningful and purposeful life. Using tools from the Hintsa Circle of Better Life, her clients gain insights into these crucial questions. Together Dr Mecky and her clients design a personalised plan that focuses on specific health and well-being goals that can help them to thrive and achieve higher performance, a greater sense of energy and build resilience to stress.
Dr Mecky offers a series of different coaching programmes to suit her clients. These range from a short coaching programme, that usually runs for three months, focusing on one or two goals, to longer six-month and twelve-month programmes.
To book a free discovery call with Dr Mecky please email: contact@healthfirst.ch
