Health Coaching - delivering key results

Image caption:  Sarah McGuinness, Red Tussock's principal head coach


The highly successful Flinders Program™ is proving to be a game changer in the field of health coaching for newly developed and innovative Christchurch-based company Red Tussock.

The program, developed in Flinders University in South Australia, is founded on ten years of research and clinical use and has been used with a wide range of people around the globe to help them improve their health and wellbeing, says Red Tussock’s principal health coach, Sarah McGuinness.

“Starting out on a lifestyle change to achieve fitness or better health can be easy but maintaining that momentum can be difficult. It can be hard to keep up the motivation when life gets busy and many people find a barrier comes up that they hadn’t expected, like a lack of support, so the desire to maintain a shift in lifestyle fizzles out,” says Sarah.

Health coaching is one of the newest and arguably one of the most effective programmes to ensure the best chance of delivering success for individuals striving to achieve health and wellbeing.  A well-defined and managed health coaching programme takes an all-of-life perspective to deliver momentum and results for clients. It doesn’t just work on one aspect of lifestyle change but takes a total package approach.

Health coaching provides a supportive partnership model that focuses on the present and future, and is action-orientated. The key goals of health coaching are to identify health challenges and develop a five point plan to tackle them, identify and overcome barriers that might stand in the way of achieving  goals and assist individuals to feel more in control of health challenges or conditions.

Health goals can include anything– from weight management and feeling fit to managing stress and having a better night’s sleep.

Red Tussock works with clients to develop a five-point plan that is realistic and tailored to each individual clients lifestyle so that they can actually achieve established goals.

“We take a whole of life approach to our work with clients and provide lots of support and guidance during the life of the plan so that clients feel more in control, and when barriers come up – as they do – they can get through them without feeling overwhelmed,” says Sarah.
Sarah says the coaching also includes monitoring and evaluation and, with a client’s consent, the plan is shared with the client’s health care team to enhance their overall support network.
The care team could be the client’s GP, or it could include a range of health or sport professionals.

“In my experience, having that cheerleader or group of cheerleaders makes such a big difference to how successful people are in achieving lifestyle changes to reach their goals. During my coaching career I’ve seen people tackle things they didn’t think they could like run five kilometres or change the way they eat because they knew someone would be there to support and celebrate with them.”

It’s never too late to think about making changes to your lifestyle. Whether you’ve tried and given up previously, or struggled to make that first step, health coaching could provide the best option to achieve your goals and steer you on the right path to a healthier, happier life.
Red Tussock’s health coaching is based at Moorhouse Medical Centre in Christchurch city.


About Red Tussock

Red Tussock is a Christchurch-based wellness and leadership development organisation.
Sarah McGuinness is Red Tussock’s principal health coach. She has a background and qualifications in psychology, communications, training and assessment, and exercise. Sarah is also a registered exercise consultant with the New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) and is trained in chronic care management.

Sarah also has more than ten years of experience supporting people through change in corporate, government and community-based organisations. She has a strong interest in weight management, body image and health behaviour, and has recently completed research on the body image and eating behaviours of men and women aged 30 to 60 years through Massey University.