What is preventing you from living your best, joy-filled life?
Living with a chronic health condition can leave you feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and maybe even struggling with mood swings or sadness. All too easily, chronic illness can bring you to a place where it’s hard to enjoy life and be happy. But what if your autoimmune disease, or diabetes (or whatever your chronic condition may be) could be an opportunity to transform your health and life so that you are feeling and living better than you ever imagined possible?
Maybe you already know about the potential for diet, movement, or stress management to help you feel better, but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’ve already tried to make some healthy changes, but just haven’t been able to make them stick? Developing and sustaining healthy habits is challenging, and most people struggle to do it on their own. That’s where I come in.
Let’s take this journey together.
As your health and wellness coach, my goal is to help you establish new habits that put you on the path to achieving your best health and enjoying all that it makes possible for you. If changes in diet and nutrition are a missing piece of the puzzle, I have the background and knowledge to support you with the guidance and resources you need to be successful.
I believe that together we can turn your diagnosis into an opportunity- a chance for you to reset your health trajectory and take joy in all that vibrant health and well-being make possible for you.
Wellness Coaching
For Happiness & Health
One-on-one coaching empowers you to reach your goals for a healthy mind and body.
Meet Linda
The Wellness Coach
Health coach and nutritionist helping women with chronic illness reclaim their lives.
Blog
Nuggets and Know-How
Nutrition news and wellness tips and strategies to take with you on your journey to better health.
FREE INITIAL CONSULT
Schedule a 15 minute call to see if we’re a good fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you meet with clients?
Health & wellness coaching is frequently conducted entirely by phone.. Other options include video conferencing and in-person meetings at my home office in Hamden, CT. Often we conduct the initial session in-person or by video conference, and then conduct all subsequent sessions by phone. It is really up to you and your personal preference.
What types of people do you work with?
I specialize in helping women who are living with one or more chronic health conditions, and are interested in harnessing the power of their diet and lifestyle choices to improve their health and well-being. But you don’t need to have a diagnosed condition to work with me; I also work with women who are at risk for a chronic illness due to factors such as obesity, poor nutrition, a sedentary lifestyle, or unmanaged stress. Often the women I work with are not sure where to start in making healthy changes, or, have struggled to build or maintain healthy habits in the past.
What is the difference between a health & wellness coach and a dietitian/nutritionist?
A dietitian/nutritionist focuses primarily on your diet, and typically will give you specific recommendations, often including a meal plan, on what you should eat and what supplements to take. Some may offer assistance with the process of changing your eating habits, but the emphasis is on providing you with a diet plan, and typically you are left to your own devices to implement that plan.
A health & wellness coach encourages you to look at all the different areas of your life that impact your health. You may choose to focus your coaching on nutrition, or on another area of your life that affects your well-being, such as stress management or sleep. A health & wellness coach is an expert in facilitating behavior change rather than in a particular health field- although they may also have an additional area of expertise, as I do with nutrition. Rather than telling you what to do, the coach helps you tap into your deepest motivation for change, clearly name your health goals, and create your own plan for reaching them. The coach provides support, resources, and accountability to help you reach your goals.
Now that I know the difference between a health & wellness coach and a dietitian/nutritionist, which one are you?
I am trained and certified as both a health & wellness coach and a nutritionist, however, I have chosen to put health & wellness coaching in the front and center of my one-on-one work with clients. I do this because I believe that a holistic, client-centered approach, that focuses on behavioral changes, leads to better and longer-lasting results for my clients. I do not conduct in-depth nutritional assessments, nor do I typically create meal plans for clients, but I do offer nutrition education and resources when a client chooses to focus their coaching on nutrition and they are looking for that kind of support. In addition to my one-on-one coaching work, I also offer group nutrition education programs and write about nutrition-related topics on my blog.
What are the possible benefits of health and wellness coaching?
Because clients’ desired outcomes vary, so do results. Benefits and possible outcomes include, but are not ensured or limited to: decreased symptoms of a chronic health condition, more energy, improved mood, weight loss, weight gain if desired, better sleep, better management of stress, increased physical fitness, reduced food cravings, having a healthier relationship with food, achieving better work-life balance, improved relationships, and having an overall greater sense of well-being and quality of life.
What are your qualifications as a health and wellness coach?
I received my foundation-level training in health coaching in 2014 at Duke Integrative Medicine, one of the leading health coach professional training programs in the U.S. A few years later I completed additional training and became a Certified Integrative Health Coach, also from Duke Integrative Medicine. In 2018, I passed the national board exam in health & wellness coaching to become a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). My education in nutrition complements and enhances my health coaching. I have an M.S. in Human Nutrition and am certified by the State of Connecticut as a Certified Dietitian/Nutritionist. Additionally, I’ve lived for over 30 years with rheumatoid arthritis, so I know what it’s like to live with chronic illness, and I’ve experienced the challenges and rewards of making diet and lifestyle changes to improve my health.
How do I know if health & wellness coaching is for me?
Take a look around my website. If you’re intrigued but not sure if my services are right for you, schedule a free consultation with me to see if we’re a good fit. That being said, there are two kinds of situations that are usually not a good fit for working with me. If you’re interested only in losing weight and not in improving your overall health and well-being, I am probably not the right person for you to work with. At the other end of the spectrum, if you already have a healthy diet and lifestyle dialed in (i.e., you already eat a whole foods nutrient-dense diet, get plenty of movement and sleep, and manage your stress through meditation or some other mind-body practice) and you are still suffering significant symptoms of one or more chronic conditions, you probably will be better served by working with a functional medicine practitioner or integrative M.D. who can help you identify and address less common root causes of your complex health issue(s). Once you are working with a functional medicine practitioner, then I could work with you to implement their recommendations for any additional diet or lifestyle changes.
Are your coaching services covered by insurance, and if not, are they affordable?
Currently health & wellness coaching is not covered by insurance, however, you may be able to use a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to pay for coaching. If you are unsure you should contact your plan administrator for more information. Depending on the coaching package you choose, the cost of a 45-minute session will range from $65 to $75 per session, and typically a new client will commit to seven sessions over the course of three to four months. If this would be a financial hardship for you and you are really interested in pursuing health coaching, please contact me. If we are a good fit to work together, we can work out a sliding scale fee arrangement. It is my strong belief that no one should be unable to access health & wellness coaching due to cost.
“I cannot imagine a more thoughtful, encouraging coach with the tools, training and experience to help you achieve and sustain well-being on so many levels…”
