Health coaching to support patients with addiction

Aleksandra’s article highlights the importance of holistic, person centred care in the context of addiction.1 In our view, patients living with addiction—including alcohol related addictions—can benefit from health coaching.Health coaching is both a skill and a mindset; it aims to support patients to identify and tackle their health related goals. These are specific to them and therefore relevant and attainable. With this approach, the doctor becomes the enabler and the patient the expert—only the patient knows the true context of their life and what works best for them.2Our experiences with learning and practising health coaching skills have been positive. We acknowledge that it isn’t always easy to make the first step to get help,1 but applying a person centred, non-judgmental coaching approach may encourage patients to open up to healthcare professionals earlier about subjects they otherwise find difficult to discuss. It also enables patients to consider the challenges or barriers…
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