Health and Wellbeing Coaches
Health and Wellbeing Coaches are experts in supporting people with behaviour change and setting realistic personalised goals. They also provide access to information and resources to help people build knowledge, confidence and skills as they work their health goals. Health and Wellbeing coaches can support people with achieving their health goals, such as weight management, healthy eating, increasing activity levels and reducing stress.
Our Health and Wellbeing Coaches work as part of the Personalised Care Team within the St Ives Primary Care Network and support people in taking proactive steps to improve the way they manage their health, based on what matters to them.
What is Health Coaching?
There are a number of approaches designed to help improve your health and wellbeing. Most people know they need to adopt more healthy behaviours, but can find putting this into practice difficult. Many people are also managing long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, coronary heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, amongst many others.
A health professional may have talked to you about a referral for health coaching to help support you to manage your health condition or to support you to improve your health and wellbeing.
Health coaching will help you learn new skills and build your confidence to enable you to reach your health and wellbeing goals.
Your coach will work alongside you to discover what your health and wellbeing goals are over an agreed number of sessions. Health coaching will enable you to explore your values in relation to your health and wellbeing and explore the reasons you want to change your health behaviours. Using a range of resources in partnership with your coach you will agree what is possible and create goals of your choosing.
Health Coaching will enable you to:
– Establish step by step goals
– Learn new skills
– Be persistent
– Reward success
– Seek support
– Take one day at a time
– Focus on one behaviour change at a time
It may also include:
– Providing access to information and resources to help you to build your knowledge, confidence and skills.
– Linking you to other services
Studies show that health coaching can build your knowledge, confidence and skills to help you to manage your long-term condition(s). People who have had health coaching report feeling more confident and have better health outcomes. Health coaching will help you to take a more active role in managing your health and wellbeing.
Meet our Health and Wellbeing Team
Even though our Health and Wellbeing Coaches are based in a surgery, they work across the whole of St Ives Primary Care Network.
Carolyn Parkin
- Background in Psychology and Education
- Joined in September 2022
- Based at Spinney Surgery
Kajal Karki
- Background in Public Health and Health Studies.
- Joined in May 2023.
- Based at Spinney Surgery.
Links to Organisations we work with:
Healthy You
Healthy You – Improving health across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
We are a free service for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough residents who are looking to make changes to their lifestyle. So, whether you want help to stop smoking, lead a more active lifestyle, lose some weight, or simply take advantage of the NHS Health Checks we offer, Healthy You – funded by Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council – can help you
Diabetes UK
Diabetes UK – Know diabetes. Fight diabetes
We are Diabetes UK, the leading charity for people living with diabetes in the UK. Our vision is a world where diabetes can do no harm.
Mind – Mental Health
Mind – A mental Health Charity
At Mind we are passionate about positive wellbeing and provide support to local people who may experience mental health challenges.
Cambridgeshire Libraries
Join Cambridgeshire Libraries, it’s free. Browse the catalogue,borrow the latest titles. Discover our range of services, advice, support and information.
Huntingdonshire – One Leisure
Huntingdonshire – One Leisure Active Lifestyles Team
The One Leisure Active Lifestyles team offers a wide range of sport and health related activities to promote a healthy population within the district.
The team works closely with a number of partners to help provide these activities, such as young people’s holiday programmes, disability sports clubs and health walks. Support is also offered to local sports clubs to help provide access to leisure.
Volunteer Centre Huntingdon
Volunteer Centre Huntingdonshire
Supporting volunteers & voluntary organisations
NHS Psychological Wellbeing Service (IAPT)
NHS – Psychological Wellbeing Service (IAPT)
Psychological Wellbeing Service (PWS) is part of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. Our aim is to make psychological therapies more accessible to people experiencing common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. The psychological therapies offered are approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
St Ives In Bloom
St Ives in Bloom is a group of volunteers who help to make St Ives a great environment to live, work and visit.