Courtesy Emily Coutts
By Susan E. Campbell
High Peaks Health Coaching is a new company that offers support and encouragement to anyone who wants to achieve and sustain a healthier lifestyle.
“It is a wave of the future,” said Emily Coutts, who has been a registered nurse in Glens Falls for the past 13 years. “Even insurance companies are showing more interest in life coaching because they want people to be healthier and to prevent the long-term affects and climbing costs of illness.”
Coutts said the underlying concept of her business is to help clients change their habits and, in the process, “help them become the best versions of themselves.”
Catalysts for change can come from any source, said Coutts. Perhaps the client wants help pursuing a different career. Maybe he or she has some relationship challenges or financial concerns. Some even seek assistance when their children go off to college and face an empty nest.
“In all these cases, people are simply looking for more out of life,” she said.
Coutts herself hired a life coach when she was “navigating the peaks and valleys of my life and a difficult divorce.”
“You can find the knowledge but a coach gives support along the way,” she said. “Whereas a therapist or doctor tells you what to do, the coach helps you change your life on your own, one small step at a time.”
For example, one goal may be to improve health by losing weight. A doctor says how much weight to lose, but a coach breaks down the goal into appropriate steps, she said.
“We need the right system of action while determining what may have gotten in the way of achieving the goal in the past,” said Coutts. “Physicians don’t have time to figure out how to make these inroads.”
The two qualities to do the job of coaching effectively are listening and building trust.
“To help people reach their peak potential, clients have to be encouraged to talk about what their healthiest life would look like,” Coutts said, and that means strong listening and communication skills on the part of the coach.
“Being in a trusted profession as a registered nurse, clients enjoy the feeling of compassionate care and knowing I have a history of wanting patients to live healthier,” she said. “There are no results without trust and rapport.”
“I can assist them on the road to a better life because I have an understanding of the disease process, anatomy and physiology,“ she said. “Many come in because they don’t like how they feel. But I can translate scientific verbiage to help clients understand a disease process and also the scientific benefits of nutrition.“
Coutts trained for nine months with the Health Coaching Institute online and started High Peaks Health Coaching as soon as she received dual certification, for both life and health coaching, in August. There is no special state registration or oversight for the profession at this time.
High Peaks Health Coaching provides one-on-one private coaching all over the Capital Region and group fitness sessions in Queensbury. Coutts hopes to open a Girls Empowerment Camp in the North Country for teenagers next summer.
“Young women have conflicting thoughts about themselves. The day program will be aimed at strength, conditioning, empowerment and building confidence so that they can lead healthy lifestyles,” she said.
Coutts said she resonates with those who are lost or frustrated because she has been there in her own life.
“I can find similarities in their life paths and have in common that desire to be the best version of oneself,” she said. “ I need to be a positive, balanced, healthy person myself so that I can help others.”
Her website is www.highpeakscoaching.com.