Your Health Coach Will See You Now! with Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum, Ph.D.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:00:03 Hi and welcome to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Jessica Drummond, and I am so thrilled to have you here as we dive into today’s episode. As always, innovating and integrating in the world of women’s health. And just as a reminder, the content in this podcast episode is no substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your medical or licensed health care team. While myself and many of my guests are licensed healthcare professionals, we are not your licensed health care professionals, so you want to get advice on your unique circumstances. Diagnostic recommendations treatment recommendations from your home medical team. Enjoy the episode. Let’s innovate and integrate together. Welcome back to the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Jessica Drummond. And today I am introducing you to Sandy Sheinbaum. Sandy and I have known each other for, gosh, more than a decade at this point. And we have a very similar mission about integrating health coaching within the traditional health care system or outside of it. Honestly, whatever we can do that works at this point all over the world, and Sandy has a special interest in implementing health coaching within primary care, which I think is so important.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:01:36 She just published a brand new book called The Health Coach. We’ll see you now. And the idea is not that health coaches replace physicians or any other licensed professional. And my vision of this actually, is that many licensed professionals also become health coaches. And there’s this very particular role for people who are health coaches and have that really strong communication skill set, because at the end of the day, the implementation of health care recommendations is where people get stuck. And as she mentioned in our interview, there is so much research about how effective health coaching is for physical health, for mental health, for women’s health in particular. And I just have this really strong vision around the work that she does about just having health coaches integrated within the primary care system pediatrics, geriatrics, internal medicine, adult primary care at every stage so that people really understand their recommendations of their providers and even understand all of the health information that they might be getting from other sources. So join me in welcoming Doctor Sandra Sheinbaum. She is the founder and CEO of the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:03:00 She co-founded this health coaching education school and this business at age 65. So we’re also going to talk about her own story. So if you’re wondering, you know, is this still a profession for you? It’s never too late and you’re going to be so inspired by her. I’ll see you on the other side for a couple of tips that you can use in your practice starting today. Hi and welcome, Sandra. Everyone, I’m so excited for you to meet Sandra Sheinbaum. She has been educating professionals in health coaching specifically for quite some time now. So tell me how you got started in this shift. Gosh, probably more than a decade ago, right?

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:03:53 Yeah. So I had several careers. I had started out actually in education, special education specifically, but even back then we’re talking in the 70s. I was doing stress management workshops, stress management for teachers, relaxation tapes for kids, and this was what led me then to study clinical psychology, got a doctorate. And the world of clinical psychology was very much focused on your broken, there’s something wrong.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:04:26 And then you need to be fixed. Whether it was a psychiatric intervention as medication or psychotherapy, and people were told you need to be in therapy for life, you’re damaged. And I was drawn to what, didn’t have a name then, but was now referred to as positive psychology. That’s the study of what’s right with you, not what’s wrong with you. And even when I worked with children with learning disabilities, I was always focusing on what’s their strength? Oh, this child has. You know, it’s so funny. He has such a great sense of humor. He’s so creative and emphasizing those strengths as opposed to the deficits. And I continued along that path as a psychologist, and I was focused on what’s called health psychology. So the people that I was seeing typically had something that was a physical diagnosis, like a migraine headache or irritable bowel syndrome. And I was using those mind body strategies like breathing techniques like guided imagery, or changing your thoughts. And how changing your thoughts can lead to changes in your physical state.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:05:31 And I was getting to the point where I was like 65 and my colleagues were retiring, but I had a number of people come to me often. I was doing a workshop. People would come to me and they’d say, I’m a health coach and I would love to learn what you do. I would love to learn more. At that time, I had been also studying functional medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine. And so the idea of putting together all of these different pillars that come from. Mind body medicine, functional medicine, positive psychology, and of course, those classic coaching principles where you are client centered. And those principles actually came from psychology, humanistic psychology to be specific. And that was another facet of my training. And so I created a school to train health coaches in collaboration with the Institute for Functional Medicine. And at the time, the whole field of health coaching was still quite new. And fortunately, now we have so much research that is showing how remarkably effective it is. And that’s why I wrote the book, to really tell the world the effectiveness of health coaching and the need for health coaches.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:06:51 Yeah. So your book, Your Health Coach will see you now. I really think the title itself is starting to talk about what I know, you know, as also running a health coaching education school. The common question on everyone’s mind is how is healthcare going to change in the era of AI? And for me, the answer to that question is generally we will actually need more health coaches, as hopefully the AI can begin to give us more personalized and complex answers on the complexity of particularly chronic illnesses or acute chronic illnesses, acute triggered chronic illnesses, acute exacerbations, whatever. We have more and more complex clients. But the trick is not the checklist of what they’re supposed to do. The trick is actually implementing those day to day changes because the research shows that people aren’t even very good about consistently taking just one medication. Never mind a list of 5 to 10 things to change in their health care behaviors.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:08:05 That is spot on. So we are truly facing a health care crisis. It’s a perfect storm because at the same time that we have people getting sicker and sicker, as you know, only 7% of adult Americans are considered metabolically healthy.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:08:22 And so we have the rise of chronic disease, and it’s been estimated 70, even up to 90% of those chronic conditions like type two diabetes, are brought on or exacerbated by lifestyle choices like what you’re eating and how you’re moving or not moving throughout the day. Your stress in your life, your sleep quality of your relationships. Do you have meaning and purpose in your life? So at the same time that we’re getting sicker and sicker, it’s also an aging population. We have a situation where we are running out of doctors, particularly in primary care, because I speak to a lot of doctors. I was just at a fundraising for one of the big hospital complexes in Chicago area where I’m located, and I happen to be chatting with the head of the medical staff, and he said, oh my God, my doctors, they’re burnt out. The older doctors are retiring. We can’t get new doctors to specialize in primary care anymore. And so the wait time to see a doctor is increasing. When you finally do get into your doctor, you have seven minutes, ten at most.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:09:28 You don’t feel heard, you feel rushed, you feel like I’m left there. And the questions I had didn’t get answered, or I was even too embarrassed to ask this question. Especially women feel that a lot. And so the coach is really is there as your guide, your advocate, your ally. And we know that coaches are told things by their clients that most people don’t tell their doctor because they see the coach as more like like a girlfriend. More like a friend who’s not going to judge them. And so they often divulge things like, as you said, like, oh, I’m not taking that med or this is too complicated for me to follow, for example. That support, especially as we have more and more I people need that heart centered communication, which is health coaching.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:10:20 Yeah. So here’s the challenge that I see in the world of health coaching. I completely agree with you. Our health care system is really falling apart. It’s being exhilaratingly defunded. We have very few young doctors in primary care because they can’t afford to do primary care after having $300,000 of student loans, and it’s also very difficult for them.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:10:42 It’s a burnout job. And so in an ideal world, if you could redirect the funding of the health care system. How would you place health coaches within the health care system?

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:10:56 I would train millions of them to be not medical doctors. So I want to be really clear that what we’re saying is that health coaches will not replace the doctor. Acute care. It’s critical. If you think you’re having a heart attack, you don’t need a health coach at that time, of course. But what happens when you are discharged? Let’s say you’ve had a cardiac event. Who’s going to be with you to help you make those lifestyle changes that we know are driving cardiometabolic conditions, so you don’t land back with a second coronary event or third or fourth. And so where they would be in every primary care office, they would be the ones truly, your health coach will see you now. You meet with your coach and you are asked questions. This is often for many people the first time that somebody will really listen.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:11:50 And that’s what we train as, you know, we train coaches to listen. That’s their primary role. They’re not judging you. They’re not the experts telling you what to eat or how to exercise. They’re the ones who are listening to you. And so you go to your doctor’s office. Now you have somebody who truly hears you. Also, it can help you navigate through this increasingly complex medical system. Perhaps you have a lot of questions that you don’t understand. Often some of the practices that do have health coaches are having their health coach be like the concierge for the practice. So instead of having a long wait time to see the doctor, you might be seen in a group to focus on starting to make these lifestyle changes. Now they’re not making a diagnosis. They’re not treating you because that’s not what coaches do, but they are helping you to perhaps initiate those lifestyle habits. And they’re asking these questions like, what do you really want your health for? What matters most to you? What brings you the most joy in your life? And just being in that type of relationship, just that alone is very, very therapeutic.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:13:03 So I would put them in every primary care office. Primary care that means family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics. Parents are often just overwhelmed these days, and having that support for them for their kids can be critical. And although coaches, of course, I want to be clear that they’re not therapists, they’re not doing psychotherapy. They are supporting emotional wellness. There’s been a lot of studies about that. That shows when you work with a health coach, your mental health improves.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:13:38 Yes. And so most of our audience are women’s health or wellness professionals or coaches or both. For those who don’t really understand what a health coach is, you’ve hit on a few key points. They actually have a specific communication skill set. And that I think, is a little bit misunderstood by the general population. There’s a bit of a misunderstanding that health coaches are essentially, you know, telling you what to eat, you know, telling you what to do from a lifestyle perspective. And while sometimes there’s an educational component to it, the majority of the work that is done is actually that really clear, mindful listening and connecting people’s health goals to their health activity.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:14:26 Because even if your doctor says, okay, your blood pressure is too high, you have type two diabetes, you need to get healthier. Helping people actually stick to that and overcoming the barriers to making that change, which is what another key aspect of health coaching. Like, what about when you’re on a trip? Or what about when you’re working too late? Overcoming the barriers to change. But why? A lot of times health is just seen as a separate thing. But what are some of the most inspiring stories you’ve seen of connecting people from their health implementation to the actual goal of why they want to be healthy?

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:15:08 Yeah, so it starts with self-efficacy. Every study and we did our own research a few years ago. What increases? What’s the primary driver of change? It is a sense that you do have control over your health status. You can be in charge. You can be the CEO of your health. And that’s self-efficacy. It’s a sense that you have control over your destiny. It’s not just all in your genes.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:15:36 I hear people all the time say, oh, it’s just the luck of the draw. And as my parents had it, this is in the genes and there’s nothing I can do about it. This is just my lot in life. Disease just happens to you based on genetics. Well, we know that genes love the gun, as they say, but diet and lifestyle pull the trigger. So what health coaches do is help people find that moment. And so many health coaches describe this. They’re working with somebody and they get an moment. How does that come about. It’s because the coaches, as you said, is certainly not telling them what to do, because that doesn’t lead to an moment that often leads to resistance. If somebody tell you should eat this and not eat that, or this is what you should be. How many minutes of exercise you need to be getting every day? Well, people don’t follow that. They don’t like to be told what to do. It has to be internally driven where they want it.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:16:34 They have that moment like, yes, I’m ready, I’m going to do this. And they A link. That specific habit that they’re going to change, I’m going to start walking today to. I will then have the energy to play with my grandkids. So it’s that connection to a purpose that they can see for their future selves. And the coaching process is really an art. It’s this conversation where, yes, people are coming in expecting just, oh, just give me the food plan, just tell me what to eat and I’ll do it. And the coach say, we’ll ask those questions like what really matters most to you? And if you were to start and they’ll start to talk about that, like, oh, I really, really want to live to see my grandkids grow up. I really want to have an energy to stay independent. I don’t want to be in a nursing home. Okay. What can you do today? My refer back, your doctor has written out this plan for you.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:17:37 I want to know what are your thoughts about it? What on this plan? Are you ready to start? And then they might say, oh, I guess I can start by walking. Great. Okay. Then let they dig further. Okay. Well, when would be a good time for you to start that they might say, okay, let’s say tomorrow. Okay. And then maybe, you know, do you have walking shoes. Do you have. And they would get very, very specific. And then they hold that person accountable. Okay. You’ve told me that tomorrow after dinner you’re going to take a walk for ten minutes. The next time we meet. We’ll talk about that. We’ll see how it went. And often that individual has that coach’s voice in their head, like, oh, I made a promise to do this and I’m not going to let them down. It becomes this partnership in creating their own health. Or they might come back and say, oh, it just didn’t work.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:18:31 And I got too busy after dinner and I was too tired. But the coach does not judge. They will then revisit and rework it. Okay. What could work? You know, how can we rearrange that so that it fits for your life at that time? Or they may decide that’s not where I’m going to start. Maybe I’m going to start with food and making different choices so the coach is not in control. The client is. It comes from humanistic psychotherapy, which we call client centered. And so when you feel like even in this coaching relationship that you are in the driver’s seat, that’s it. That’s the magic. Because they feel that’s that self-efficacy. Like, no, it’s not this coach telling me what to eat or how to work out. I can make those decisions for myself. And that is leading to effective habit change and why coaching is so powerful.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:19:24 I love that because there’s this thought that coaches can just be displaced by eye, and we’ve already see eye coaching inside of things like the aura app or other apps.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:19:37 But the reason why I don’t think that’s going to be really effective in the long term is while app based coaching sort of tells people what to do, right? Like, today’s a good day to get more rest. Or, you know, did you eat your five servings of vegetables a day or those kinds of checklist recommendations? It’s actually the relationship and the accountability and the continuous reminder of connecting that person to their goal, that the AI is just never going to be able to do as well. Because quite frankly, I can just turn that thing off on my phone versus like, oh, I have an appointment with a human who’s inspiring me, who’s helping me see a very personalized vision of my life now in five years and ten years. And I think you’re such a beautiful, living example of that. So you were talking about how you started this career in your 60s when your colleagues were retiring. And I’ve seen you a little bit recently on your social media, like squatting and heavy weight lifting in your 70s.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:20:48 Tell me a little bit about how doing this work has changed your view of your own personal health journey. Over 65.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:20:58 So it is really evolved and it’s not giving into the stereotypes because I hear frequently, oh, you know, it’s awful getting old and it’s all downhill from here and nothing to look forward to. And I really focus. Part of why I wake up with energy is because I have a big mission to train millions of health coaches and to be an advocate for health coaching. Like why I wrote this book to explain the importance of health coaching to really transform health care. And so to do that, I need to be physically at the top of my game. And so paying attention to what’s coming out now, because I grew up in an era where women didn’t lift weights, that part of the gym, that’s for the bodybuilders. That was a no go zone for women. I was doing the Jane Fonda style aerobics, for example, or years of yoga and Pilates, and I still love those forms of movement, but it’s not going to cut it, especially in your 70s when you are losing bone mass, when you are losing muscle, and to avoid sarcopenia.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:22:09 I’m just determined to stay strong. And so that does involve being in the gym, going to those sections of the gym where still often I am in there and it’s just men. I’m often the only women or women will go in and they’ll pick up the light £5 weights. And I just look at the research and what’s shown in terms of what’s necessary in post post-menopausal. So I’ve actually built muscle and and feel myself getting stronger because I’m doing compound movements, things like deadlifts and chest presses and barbell squats. Things I never would have considered years ago. And the key difference, and I think this is what health coaches can do so beautifully. Yes, I worked out years ago doing some strength training, you know, using some machines, but my goal was always attached to an external outcome. I was like, I want to have toned arms. I have my daughter’s wedding coming up, and I’ve got a strapless dress that I’m going to be wearing it, so I want to look good. Now I focus on an internal strength.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:23:13 I’m doing this for my future self. But also I know that on days when I do heavy lifting, I actually feel good. I have energy, I feel better, so I’m able to do work that is related to my mission, but I’m also able to. I have two and a half year old grandkids? And, you know, I can pick them up, which often, again, many people lose that strength or be able to get up off the floor. I can get down on the floor and play with them and get up. So those kind of functional activities, that’s why I do the workout that I do and spread it around. So it’s not just one. I do some high intensity interval training. I still do yoga. I still do Pilates for flexibility and jumping, which is shown to be very, very important for bone health.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:24:02 Absolutely. So I think that’s such a beautiful example of not just like, okay, you know, I think we could all we have the data to know what the recipe of exercise is for the vast majority of women, over 50 or even under 50.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:24:18 And then, of course, there’s the skilled personalization of that literature that we can do with physical therapists, with exercise scientists, with fitness professionals or physicians that are trained in sports medicine. But then the actual execution. Your story is such an example of how, if it’s related to your goals, you want to be able to keep doing this work. You want to play with your grandchildren. You want to be able to have an internal sense of feeling rested and energized and not tired and in pain. That is what keeps people doing this consistently for years. So as we turn back to the role of health coaches coming into the future, your health coach will see you now or starting today. Really? Both of us have graduated thousands of professionals already. Where are you seeing the growth areas of employment for health coaches, and which medical centers? Is there anyone doing anything particularly innovative in actually getting this ball rolling in terms of implementing adding more health coaches to the health care system.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:25:31 We’re seeing it with some of the very cutting edge practices often that have started as functional medicine practices.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:25:39 So, for example, a digital practice where they have clinics in almost every state or every state, for example, and they are tying seeing the physician with seeing a health coach. So there’s one, for example, that what they are doing is often having relationships incorporating what were single functional medicine practices. And now they have a whole network of practices. So they are employing health coaches. That is one area of growth. So digital practices practices like Parsley Health for example is one and there are many others. Many of these also have unique relationships like we’re seeing like Instacart, Instacart, Health, where they are considering having coaches. And so there’s been some initiatives there. We’re not quite there yet, but I think this could be the future where everything will be tied together. It is important when they hire health coaches because they recognize, as we talked about earlier, the importance of this human connection, because I will revolutionize diagnostics, for example. But the AI health coaches that are in development, they all talk about it’s about giving advice.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:27:03 It’s about taking your data from your wearables and then coming up with advice for you, personalized advice or personalized support. But it’s not really support because there have been studies showing, given the choice, working with both an AI coach and a human coach, people want that human element. So we’re seeing those functional medicine. Integrative medicine practices. We also have growth in corporate wellness, where many companies are recognizing that the health of their employees is critical for their bottom line, for their profitability. Many people are isolated, they’re working remote, they’re disconnected and lonely. And so we know that health coaching can be really helpful there. So many are committed to offering health coaching to their employees. So that’s another area of growth that we are seeing. This is poised to be a very, very fast growing industry, a fast growing profession. But I also want to say that it’s very critical. And I know you’ve been an approved school as well by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, because with the growth of health coaching also comes the potential for people out there who are just hanging up a shingle.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:28:20 They took a weekend course. So I’m a health coach and they are out there interpreting labs, ordering labs, ordering supplements. And so it is important to when you do work with a health coach, that before you contract with them for coaching sessions, that you really have those critical questions that you’re going to ask, you know, are you board certified? You look. We recommend looking for a board certified health coach. Just as if you were looking for a medical doctor. You would want to look at their qualifications and credentials.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:28:54 Yes, absolutely. And I think that distinction between health coaching and health education is so important. Now, certainly there’s a role for health education, for health coaches, especially because a lot of health coaches also have other clinical licenses, which that integration I think is even more valuable. But I think the role for health coaches, you practice in a very purist health coaching way that focus on the therapeutic relationship. This is not you know, it is kind of like the openness of a friendship at some level, but it’s a very particular therapeutic relationship.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:29:34 and that all those communication tools of everything from readiness to make change to overcoming barriers to change, to connecting people with their goals and their vision. This is a skill set that you can’t really learn in a weekend. You know, our programs are at minimum six months, overseen with highly skilled faculty who have a decade of experience in training or more. And you hold yourself to that same level of standard, and I think it makes a huge difference. It’s like the the personal trainer who had one weekend of training versus someone who’s been immersed in exercise science, who specializes in a certain population, who understands risk and safety and has had a lot of experience. They both might be certified fitness professionals, but one is of a much higher caliber than the other. So I think definitely be looking for that. And we see that across any profession. I mean, people are licensed physicians and some are amazing and some are terrible, so, you know, it doesn’t. This is not just about health coaching, but it’s a little bit lower barrier to entry and health coaching.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:30:42 So it’s even more important. So finally, you know it sounds like there. The other oh the other place I wanted to quickly mention around areas that are innovative in terms of health coaching. I think it’s important to mention the VA hospital, the Veterans Administration hospital. They’ve been doing amazing work in health coaching for probably ten, 15 years now. Yeah, about 15 years, because they started just after my youngest daughter was born and she’s turning 15 this fall. So I have to track everything by like when I was pregnant where we were living. Right. Do you do that? Like. So, You know, I think they’ve done a lot of really good work in helping people who are, by and large, not accessing concierge level medicine. Now, I hope that we keep that. Obviously, there’s a lot of funding question marks right now in the federal government, but I think they’re a real model for how this can be done, even for people who aren’t the wealthiest. The unfortunate thing about concierge medicine and functional medicine and even some of the most innovative practices, they’re just very, very expensive.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:31:53 So, you know, using the VA as a potential model for expanding this into regions where people don’t have that same level of access to health care.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:32:01 Oh, absolutely. Such a good point. And often that’s done through group coaching. Groups are so powerful where the community becomes the medicine, it’s a more affordable value and it’s one that coaches excel in facilitating groups. And so we have a model that’s been really for many years, a group medical visit where you can have the coach facilitate the group. And then one at a time, people are led to breakout rooms. If it’s virtual and they get their evaluation and management session that way. There’s also chronic care management sessions. So many practices, primary care practices who are insurance based where people can be seen by that practice’s health coach for their chronic care management. And what better visit than to use that to focus on these lifestyle habits and help people change so that they can truly manage and often even reverse their chronic conditions. So that’s a way that coaches can be affordable.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:33:05 And I always say to that you are at becoming, if you are your advocate, you go into your doctor’s office and say, do you have a health coach? I’d like to see a health coach. And if not, well, do you have a referral? Can you refer me to somebody in the community. And so often that has happened, we’ve actually had people who have chosen themselves to become health coaches because they see the need. And this is such a rewarding, gratifying profession, because with every encounter you have with your client, you are transformed as well, because it’s such a therapeutic conversation.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:33:42 Absolutely. And I think other places where health coaches who are listening to this can look at for as models or as places where they can look for work or collaboration. One of our faculty works with the state of Connecticut, implementing a group health coaching program to people who are underserved and have chronic illness, generally speaking, diabetes or related chronic metabolic conditions. And so our your state like area, your state offices on aging or state offices on Medicaid and other low income health care options for resources are another place to go and speak with because it’s it is really financially viable to have small or medium sized groups working with health coaches to implement these day to day lifestyle changes.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:34:36 That ends up being very cost effective for the state and local governments as well.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:34:41 Absolutely. That’s very, very effective.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:34:45 So before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share about your book or what you’re up to in your work these days?

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:34:53 Well, it’s my hope that those health coaches who are listening can use this book. Use. I have a lot of research studies that are quoted and doctors like data. And so it is often a misperception that there’s not a lot of research about health coaching, but there is. And so go to your local doctors, your community, your network and talk about shouted from the rooftops wherever you are, your your PTA meetings. So people are waking up to take control of their health like never before. And so you can go out and you can be that advocate for health coaching. And I will continue to to do that. It’s why I wake up every morning and I think about, as I know you probably do as well, the thousands of people who are who we’ve trained and who are now out there with this ripple effect.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:35:47 Because when you help one person, you are also helping their family and their community as well. And that’s how change truly happens.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:35:55 That’s so true. Thank you so much for being here with us today. And where can people best find you if they want to learn more about your work or your educational courses or your book or any of that?

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:36:08 So the book is Your health coach will see you now. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Com and personally they can go to my Instagram which is doctor Sandy that’s doctor Sandy a website functional medicine coaching. Our Instagram is functional med coach.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:36:27 Thank you so much. This has been wonderful. And I just salute you for all the work you’re doing and continue to do to spread the word about health coaching, really help people step into this such a rewarding career, and really continue to advocate to add health coaching to primary care. I think that is the absolute best place for it. They need it the most, the patients need it the most. So thank you for your work and your advocacy, and thank you for your time today.

Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum 00:36:57 And thank you for having me as a guest. And thank you for the wonderful work that you do. You are committed to growing this field and creating increased awareness of its power.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:37:08 Thank you. All right. Thanks everyone and I will see you next week. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Sandi Sheinbaum. She’s so inspiring to me because she really walks the talk. But she’s also doing a lot of advocacy work to get health coaching into primary care. So here’s your little homework for this week after listening to that interview. If health coaching feels like an inspiring job that you’d like to consider, go check out Sandy’s site. Look at our site Integrative Women’s Health Institute. Com. Have a chat with Kelsey, our career coach. If you’re like this might be the career for me. You can scroll down our main home page and find a spot to sign up for a free call with Kelsey, our career coach, too. If you’re already a health coach working in health care and using your health coaching communication skills, Girls.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:38:11 Think about one place this week where you can spread the word, where you can advocate, where you can go in and talk to. Whether it’s a corporate setting like she mentioned, or a primary care setting, or even your own medical or health care team. Hey, do you have a health coach you could refer me to? Do you want to start working with health coaches? What could that look like? Look at your state and local governments. Do they support health coaching programs for people with chronic illnesses who are underserved? How can you be an advocate in one little way this week to help people understand the real gold that is health coaching, and help it reach more people and the people who need it the most, who’ve been struggling with chronic illnesses for years, with very little to no support and very little to no access to health care. This is your opportunity to be a bigger part of the ripple effect. Thank you for all the work you’re doing. Thank you for the deep value you put and understand around health coaching.

Dr. Jessica Drummond 00:39:18 And if health coaching might be the right career for you. You’ve got two great organizations to take a look at and learn more. I’ll see you next week on the Integrative Women’s Health podcast. Have a great and energized week. Take care. Thank you so much for joining me today for this episode of the Integrative Women’s Health Podcast. Please share this episode with a colleague and if you loved it, hit that subscribe or follow button on your favorite podcast streaming service so that we can do even more to make this podcast better for you and your clients. Let’s innovate and integrate in the world of women’s health.