Learn Basic Coaching Skills
Become a Behavior Change Agent
While Health and Well-being Coaches partner with clients seeking self-directed and lasting changes, we can each improve our relationships at work, and at home, by shifting just a few key behaviors.
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Based on the most important concepts in our full Health and Well-being Coach Training, this abbreviated course is designed for the student who does not intend to become a Coach, but acknowledges a need to shift the way that they interact with others.
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Self-paced course
This course is designed to provide you with essential skills needed to have engaging and influential conversations at home or in the workplace - with clients, patients, co-workers or loved ones.
The course includes six videos (50-60 minutes each) which explore the cultivation of connection, autonomy, self-compassion, positivity, motivation and confidence. The videos include lectures from Wellcoaches Faculty member Michael Scholtz, as well as student discussions and coaching demonstrations.
Once you have watched the videos, complete the Knowledge Assessment (passing score of 80% required) and the Course Feedback Form.
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Cost: $195
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Continuing Education: 5.5 credits from AAFP, ACSM, NCHEC, NBHWC and Wellcoaches.
There are several options for participating in this course:
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1. Purchase the six lesson recorded webinars (1-hour each) and add 2-4 group practice sessions, focused specifically on the unique issues in your organization
2. Invite a Wellcoaches faculty member to facilitate a six lesson (1-hour each) live online course for your organization
3. Invite a Wellcoaches faculty member to facilitate the "Behavior Change Agent" course on-site at your facility
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Other Course Formats
Topics
Cultivate Connection
Presence, through the essential skills of connection and communication, is essential for both the health professional and the patient to connect to the relationship and the activity.

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Cultivate Autonomy with the Coach Approach
We connect by employing the key being skills: calm, present, open, accept, humble, warm, grateful. We communicate by employing the key doing skills: mindful listening, open-ended questions, reflections, and inform.
Cultivate Motivation
Positivity opens the door to seeing clear to motivation. A patient’s motivation is the life force behind behavior change – the underlying “why” that drives decisions. This “why” cannot, and must not, come from the healthcare provider but must be intrinsic and internal.
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Cultivate Positivity and Strengths
The backbone of successful behavior change is efficacy. Efficacy begins with an acknowledgement of the patient’s strengths, skills and capacities. Positive emotions also lead to creative thinking, innovation and a willingness to utilize more resources in support of change.
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Cultivate Self-Compassion and Relationship
The relationship with a healthcare provider can be the most important determinant of a patient’s progress. We build trust through our acknowledgement of a patient as a capable collaborator, for whom we have empathy (not pity) and compassion.
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Cultivate Confidence and Readiness for Action
Mastery experiences, or successful experiments with behaviors, lead to long-term behavior change. Success begets success and through careful planning, with an awareness of readiness, patients can be set up for such success.
This course is perfect for:
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Front desk employees at a wellness center who interact with all members
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Doctors who want to have an impact on their patients in brief conversations
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Nurses who want to connect more deeply with patients in quick interactions
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Teachers who need more strategies for listening to and connecting with students
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Parents struggling with the relationships with their children
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Executives who can influence the culture of a team