What Is A Stress Management Coach?
Having a coach in your corner can help you feel less overwhelmed and irritable, and more calm in daily life
Stress management is often included as a main pillar of health alongside diet/nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. Managing our stress levels is that important!
The thing is, modern life is riddled with stressors and we experience stress in our body daily. Our brain doesn’t know the difference between an actual dangerous stressor, like a wild animal about to chase us, and a perceived dangerous stressor like our thoughts about how chaotic our workplace is. Because this is the way our brain functions we can feel triggered over and over, day and night.
As much as we might want to, we can’t wish away stress or leave every stressful situation we encounter. We need solid insight into our stressors and actionable plans on how to cope with the stress. Fortunately, we have many tools available to help us process the stress so it does not lead to chronic stress and myriad health conditions.
This is where a stress management coach can come in to help us create a new relationship with stress.
A stress management coach is someone who helps you work on coping with stress in your life, thus helping you feel and function better.
These coaches help you better understand your stressors (the things causing the stress in your body) and help you make a plan to reduce, eliminate, or cope with the stressors in a more appropriate way. These coaches give you techniques and tools to use for life so that stress no longer builds up in your brain and body causing suffering and health issues.
One thing to note is the focus is not on “health hacks” but rather putting systems in place that work for the long-term.
Stress management coaches are trained in:
Understanding the human stress response and how to achieve a balance in the nervous system that supports a healthy body and brain
The sympathetic nervous system, also known as “fight or flight”
The parasympathetic nervous system, also known as “rest and digest”
Breaking down the difference between “good stress” and “bad stress”
Identifying stressors that trigger the stress response in the specific individual they are coaching
Guiding the client in creating habits that balance the nervous system
Utilizing stress management techniques
Managing the physical and emotional aspects of stress
Co-creating stress-management plans with the client
How can coaching help reduce stress?
A safe place to talk
Stress management coaches provide you with a safe place to talk about everything going on in your life. Coaches do not judge you or offer advice that may or may not work in your specific situation. Often just by talking to someone else about your stressors you can start to ease the pressure of stress built up in your body. You will develop a relationship with your Coach based on trust and committed support.
Process of change
Coaches are trained in motivational interviewing, positive psychology, and stages of change. These phrases don’t tell us much by their names, but it means Coaches understand how humans change, or don’t change, their behaviors.
Coaches help you identify the root causes of your actions (or inactions). They don’t give you a band-aid to cover up a symptom, but rather help you create a system to implement in your life for the long-term. They also help you decide upon what you really want to do, have, and be in this one life.
Having someone in your corner to help you implement new habits is life-changing. Your stress management Coach will help you create goals and break them down to manageable bite-sized steps so you can make lasting habits and change.
Forecast obstacles and challenges
When we want to change a behavior and start creating a new habit we often don’t think about what might get in the way of doing the new behavior. We think, “I can start meditating tomorrow morning to manage my stress” and hope for the best. But when tomorrow comes, we forget that we had an early morning meeting, and need to take the kids to school, and it feels really good to stay in our cozy bed a few minutes longer.
The point of forecasting obstacles is not to feel defeated or to say, “see, I can never make this happen!” Figuring out obstacles with a Coach before you try your new behavior will help you be as prepared as possible for success. You might not even realize some of your obstacles until you talk with your Coach.
Together, you brainstorm what could get in the way of taking action on your new habit and create a plan for what you will do if/when that obstacle presents itself.
Instead of giving up when you meet a challenge, you already have a plan in place on how to move forward.
Accountability and support
In college I swam 4 hours a day on a Division I team. My coach and teammates were the ultimate form of accountability because I knew I had to show up to practice!
Your stress management Coach acts in the same way. Just knowing that you have a coaching call coming up helps you stay committed to your goals.
Your Coach will ask you how you’d like to stay accountable to your health and stress management goals. Do you like email or text check-ins? Do you want to reach out to the Coach, or have the Coach reach out to you? Together you will create the system that best helps you make your desired changes to feel better and less stressed.
Coaches also provide accountability by reminding you of your health vision and goals. The Coach may point out areas where they see your behaviors are not matching up with what you said you wanted to do. By connecting your health goals back to your overall vision of health you can be reminded of the importance of the Coaching work you are doing.
The benefits of stress management coaching
The physical, emotional, and mental effects of chronic stress are well documented. This review of the brain-body responses to chronic stress details how stress leads to: restructuring of our neurons leading to anxiety and depression-like behaviors, changes in the gut microbiome, increases in inflammation, weakening of the immune system, and challenges with glucose metabolism.
We have access to loads of information about how stress affects the brain and the body. But Coaches do not necessarily focus on the education about biology and stress, but rather focus on helping you change behaviors so you can feel better.
With your Coach you will work on:
Physical symptom reduction
Improving emotional health and resilience
Coping abilities
Implementing new healthy habits and removing old habits that no longer serve you
Working to have a more positive relationship with stress can help you improve your physical and mental health:
better sleep
enhanced mood, meaning less irritability and feeling “so stressed out”
improved immune system function
improved digestion
have more energy
reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease or autoimmunity
On my lunch break back when I worked as a bedside RN
If you work in an intense, unpredictable environment (nurses I’m looking at you) then it’s imperative to understand stress, the nervous system, and how to regulate. There is such a high rate of burnout in medical staff, and while much of that can be attributed to the medical system, we also need better training on how to cope with the stress of working in such an environment.
What do stress management coaches do during coaching sessions?
In your sessions your Coach will guide you to better understand your relationship with stress, and how to create a new relationship with stress to feel better. The Coach will:
Help you identify your common triggers of stress
Teach about stress management techniques and let you decide which ones you’d like to try
Co-create a personalized stress management plan
Help you create time in your day to work on weekly goals from your stress management plan (building habits small steps at a time)
Serve as accountability partner and celebrate your “wins” and “wisdom gained”
Connects improvements in stress levels to other areas of your life and health
When you first begin working with a Coach you will set the foundation for what you want your health and life to look like going from this point forward. Working toward your desired version of your future, regardless of what you has happened in the past, is a major component of Coaching.
Once you create your health you will begin setting long term and short term goals. The Coach will use a process of asking questions to help you set goals that you want to achieve, not what someone else has told you is important.
Each coaching session you will work with your Coach on identifying steps you can take to cope with the stressors in your life. As you begin to see progress of reduced feelings of stress in your body (like better sleep, more joy etc) you will celebrate and learn from the new habits you put in place.
This is the work of creating the level of health you desire.
What techniques do stress management coaches use?
The techniques, tools and strategies to help you cope with stress are endless! You will work with your Coach to find out what works best for you as you experiment with small steps each week.
Here are some options you and the Coach may utilize:
Deep breathing
Mindfulness/meditation
Thought awareness
Journaling
Gratitude practice
Movement/exercise
Early morning sun/getting outside
Listening to music, singing
A process of uncovering what you can control, what you can influence (have some control over) and what is beyond your control
How to find a stress management coach
A stress management coach may be a certified health and wellness coach or a life coach. Technically, anyone can call themselves any type of “coach” so it’s important to ask the Coach about their training, experience, and certifications in stress management.
Coaches who have proper training and experience in the coaching process will have a certification. Look for these certifications which have an accrediting body:
National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching: coaches who pass the national board exam become a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC).
That’s me! I’ve gone through a health coaching program and passed the exam. I also have a wide network of coaches I can refer people to based on the client’s goals.
International Coaching Federation (ICF credentials and certifications)
Stress Management Coach Certification (CSMC): many different organizations offer this certification. However, there is not one governing body overseeing this certification like there is for the above two organizations
Working with a stress management Coach can change your life
As a foundational pillar to health, working on stress management levels will positively impact every area of your life. You can eat the best diet and work out 6 days a week, but if your stress levels are out of control you will sabotage all those efforts at health.
All the stress management techniques listed above activate your parasympathetic nervous system which is where healing and health happen.
By working with a stress management coach you will learn to balance your nervous system by spending more time allowing your body to recover from the everyday stressors we all experience. And this is when the magic happens.
Your brain and body will feel less “on alert.” You will be able to fall asleep easier and stay asleep during the night. You will be able to walk into work without feeling overwhelmed and anxious. You will feel less irritable and reactive to your kids. Your gut health will improve leading to less gut symptoms like gas, bloating and pain. You will feel more joy.
The positive benefits of stress management coaching really are endless. It’s up to you to decide what you want to work on, how you want to feel, and get support in achieving the balance in life you dream about.
If you’d like more guidance on coping with stress sign up for my health newsletter! We talk about taking care of ourselves with as much energy and compassion as we give everyone else. See you there.
