“Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.”

This insightful quote from Rachel Naomi Remen serves as GPS for many of us trying to stay honest in the work of healing.

Key to integrative health coaching is being present with the person being coached…listening deeply to what matters to them…trusting that they know best what direction they want to take for greater health…and collaborating with them to come up with a clear plan for moving forward. There’s no room in that model for ‘helpfully’ telling someone what they should do to be more healthy. Or trying to ‘fix’ someone who is struggling with a long history of food and eating issues.

Most of our training as health care professionals focuses on helping and fixing. Mind you, fixing a leaky heart valve or a broken bone is a really important skill in acute and emergency situations. But most of us aren’t in acute danger — we’re wrestling with chronic illness, long-standing unhealthy habits, or beliefs that we are somehow too weak or undisciplined to be truly healthy.

What is most effective, and potentially life-changing, is to see each person as whole and intact and completely capable of making healthy decisions. We then serve as witnesses and supporters of that process of whole-person health. We are informed by our nursing knowledge and expertise, but it is our caring and coaching that allows for true healing work to happen.