What is a Mental Health Coach?

what is a mental health coach and is it for you?

Incorporating many aspects of health, well-being and life coaching, mental health coaching addresses areas in your life which you might be struggling in - for example, stress, anxiety, addiction, depression, low mood or feelings of overwhelm.

Coaching in general is a strength & future based process, focusing on where an individual would like to be and helping to create steps on how to get there. Although your past is an important part of who you are - coaching is interested in where you are heading.

Mental health coaching also emphases building resilience with the aim of reducing future mental illness relapses. A mental health coach will have experience in dealing with people experiencing depression / anxiety and other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They will work with the individual to identify triggers which may cause the individual’s mental health to deteriorate and intercept early when possible.

You do not need to have a diagnosed mental illness or to be ‘ill’ to benefit from this style of coaching, simply a wish to experience more resilience and understanding about what makes you tick. It can help simply if you need help with feeling lost, unmotivated or directionless.

How are mental health coaches trained?

Mental health coaches are often trained in general life or health coaching and choose to specialise in mental health from there. In New Zealand there is no specific training for Mental Health Coaching so there are few mental health coaches around.

Mental Health coaches may be health psychologists, nurses, social workers or others who have previously worked in the mental health field.

Ideally, for the purposes of mental health coaching, you may want to ensure your coach has training in the area of mental health and has a background in understanding mental illness.

Holistic Approach

We know when it comes to mental health - we can not separate the mind from the body. What happens in the body is reflected in the mind and visa-versa. We also know that there are many reasons why you may be struggling mentally, and therefore many ways to support mental health alongside traditional methods such as medication and talk therapy.

For this reason a holistic ‘whole-body’ approach is ideal to address mental health. A truly holistic approach will include dietary, nutritional, physical health and lifestyle factors (see here) alongside psychological therapy techniques traditionally used.