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When you’re looking for support on your health journey, the options can feel overwhelming. There are doctors, specialists, nutritionists, counselors, therapists, and of course—coaches. Each plays a valuable role. But health coaching is often misunderstood. Is it just advice? A meal plan? Therapy-lite? Guidance? Accountability?

 

At Functional Pharmacy, our approach to health coaching is grounded in motivational interviewing—meaning we start with you: your strengths, your values, your priorities, and your lived experience. Let’s explore what makes health coaching unique, and how it differs from consulting and counseling.

 

 

What Health Coaching IS

 

Health coaching is a collaborative partnership designed to help you move toward the health you want—one intentional step at a time. Your coach is a partner, guide, and encourager who walks with you, not ahead of you.

 

A health coach helps you:

 

• Clarify your goalsIdentify what matters most
• Understand the habits that support your wellbeing
• Build confidence in your own ability to make meaningful change
• Stay supported and accountable as you grow

 

Rather than telling you what you should do, we help you uncover what you’re ready to do—and why it matters to you.

Coaching honors the idea that you are the expert on your own life.

 

We simply help you access that wisdom, and apply it consistently.

 

 

How Coaching Differs from Consulting

 

A consultant is the expert who tells you what to do.
They provide analysis, answers, and recommendations. And that’s incredibly useful—especially when you need specialized knowledge.

 

But knowing what to do is not the same as knowing how to live it out.

 

Health coaching focuses on the how.

 

For example:

 

• A consultant might tell you to reduce stress.
• A coach helps you discover what stress-reduction practices feel natural and sustainable to you—and supports you in integrating them into everyday life.

 

Consulting = Expert direction
Coaching = Empowered transformation

 

Both can be valuable—but they are not the same.

 

 

How Coaching Differs from Counseling or Therapy

 

Counseling and therapy often focus on healing past emotional experiences and understanding patterns that have formed over time. It requires licensed mental health training and is essential for processing trauma, anxiety, depression, and emotional challenges.

 

Health coaching is future-oriented.

It focuses on where you are now and where you want to go.

 

Therapy asks:
"What has happened, and how is it affecting me?"

 

Coaching asks:
"Where am I going, and how do I get there in a supportive, sustainable way?"

 

If therapy is about healing,
coaching is about growth.

 

 

Why Health Coaching Matters in Functional Medicine

 

In functional and lifestyle medicine, long-term health change isn’t about quick fixes—it’s about nurturing the roots of health:

 

• Sleep
• Nutrition
• Movement
• Stress response
• Purpose and connection
• Nervous system regulation

 

These shifts are deeply personal. They take time. They require patience, honesty, and support. And this is where coaching changes lives.

 

Coaching doesn’t hand you another to-do list.
It helps you build the confidence, clarity, and consistency to live the life you want—with joy, not pressure.

 

The Bottom Line

 

Consulting

• Offers expert answers
• Tells you what to do
• Focuses on strategy

 

Counseling / Therapy

• Heals emotional + mental patterns
• Focuses on healing
• Explores why you feel or act as you do
•  

Health Coaching

• Helps you do the things you want to do
• Helps you build habits and confidence
• Focuses on growth + action

 

All three can be valuable.

 

But if you’re seeking a supportive guide to help you actually live the healthy life you want… coaching may be the missing piece.