What is a mind-body or mental health coach?

A mind-body or mental health coach is a trained professional who helps people improve their emotional well-being, build resilience, and achieve emotional and physical wellbeing goals. We support clients in making behaviour changes, managing stress, building confidence, and developing better habits – through individual or group structured conversations over a series of sessions.

What is a Coaching Approach?

It’s the difference between asking, what’s wrong with you, to asking, what step can you take that will move you forward and align with your values?

Coaching is a whole self, strengths-based, future-focused approach that helps people move from surviving to thriving. We uncover what is getting in the way of achieving your goals, and help you build skills, expand options, shift mindsets, and take action.  Step by step we build your confidence that you can sustain changes that make a difference.

How is coaching different from therapy?

Unlike therapists, coaches don’t diagnose or treat mental illness. Coaching clients may, however, feel decreased distress and increased life satisfaction through coaching. We use some similar tools to work with difficult thoughts and feelings and become more able to take action that matters. These tools include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-c), and mindfulness.

Coaching practice also includes using lifestyle medicine such as nutrition, exercise, and sleep improvement techniques because we know a well body and a well mind go together.

What Are the Benefits of Coaching?

Research from the Mayo Clinic showed coaching can improve emotional resilience, reduce stress, and enhance overall wellbeing and quality of life. Clients often report feeling more confident, self-aware, calm, and in control of their lives. Coaching helps you build psychological flexibility, develop self-compassion, and take aligned action toward a life that feels good from the inside out.

Coaching also helps you to feel more capable of overcoming future challenges.  It gives you a blueprint of how to approach bumps in the road, that makes you feel more in the driver’s seat.

How Many Sessions Do You Need?

Most of the evidence shows results in 6-10 coaching sessions, and this matches our experience at ThinkFRESH. Some clients choose to work with us over several months to sustain and embed significant new habits. Coaching is flexible and tailored to your goals. You set the pace, and your coach supports you in creating lasting change.

What Does PREKURE Certification Mean?

PREKURE is a leading provider of university-level training in preventative health and mental wellbeing in Australia and NZ, and is endorsed by the RNZCGP. Their Mental Health Coach Programme includes neuroscience, ACT, CBT, trauma-informed care. The Health and Mental Health coaching training includes over 50 hours of supervised practice.