Frequently Asked Questions

Curious about what a health coach is? These health coaching FAQ’s will answer all your questions and let you know if having a health coach is right for you!

The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) has collaborated with the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) since 2016 to establish a universal educational and professional standard and to demonstrate that competency with a robust board certification examination. Today there are more than 3,000 credentialed National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches. In order to qualify to sit for the 4.5 hour proctored exam, candidates must have graduated from an approved coaching program and have completed at least fifty coaching sessions. To ensure continuing competency and the maintenance of standards, NBC-HWCs are required to recertify every three years with a minimum of 36 continuing education credits.

According to the NIH, culinary medicine is a new evidence-based field in medicine that blends the art of food
and cooking with the science of medicine. Culinary medicine is aimed at helping people reach good personal
medical decisions about accessing and eating high-quality meals that help prevent and treat disease and restore well-being. A practical discipline, culinary medicine is unconcerned with the hypothetical case, and instead concerned with the patient in immediate need, who asks, “What do I eat for my condition?” As food is
condition-specific, the same diet does not work for everyone. Different clinical conditions require different
meals, foods, and beverages.

JERA means “fruit of the harvest” and WYN means “joy and light.” These are Runic symbols and, many years ago, when we bought our first boat, and couldn’t find a name that made us all happy, we “threw the Runes”. And that was the name it gave us. We knew it was the right because J E R A are the initials of my husband, our two children and me. So when it came time to name my new Health & Wellness coaching business – certainly a source of “joy and light” – that was the only name that made sense ☺. (We’ve also owned that URL for more than twenty years).

It’s really very, very easy. All you need is decent internet access, and a computer, tablet or a smart phone with a camera. I send you an invitation with a “URL”. You either click on it or copy/paste it into your browser, hit enter and follow the few instructions. And there you are! On my screen and I am on yours. We usually use “gallery view” so we are both on the screen at the same time. I have my own “room” with a dedicated address so it’s the same link each time. Before the pandemic, Zoom was a very useful, easy to use, relatively obscure service. Of course, now Zoom is huge and that can occasionally cause problems because it has grown at least twentyfold. But it is still a very easy to use.

M.A. – Masters in Health Education (Columbia Univ) . Ed.D. – Doctor of Education (Columbia Univ ). CHES – Certified Health Education Specialist. CIHC – Certified Integrative Health Coach (Duke IM). NBC-HWC – National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach.

Talk to me. I set aside a portion of my coaching fees to provide partial grants for those who can’t afford the services of a health coach. We will work something out.

Mystic, CT (mostly) and Longboat Key, FL

Integrative medicine is an approach to care that puts the patient at the center and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health.

Yes. I am happy to work directly with a client. The only program that I offer that requires the participation of a qualified physician is the ReCODE program to arrest or reverse cognitive decline.

Some private insurance companies cover Health & Wellness Coaching – but not Medicare. That said, the American Medical Association has approved three Category 3 CPT (insurance) test codes as a first step toward issuing Category 1 codes that will make the services of both Health Coaches (only NBC-HWCs) and Health Educators (only CHESs) reimbursable by insurance. The NBHWC is currently coordinating the efforts to move from category III codes to category I codes within the next couple of years. These temporary test codes are intended to support the wide utilization and data collection, with and without reimbursement, required for AMA approval of Category 1 codes. Reimbursement by payers of Category III codes became optional starting January 1, 2020. Payers typically wait until codes have Category I approval to begin reimbursement. Hopefully coming soon!!!

Yes, I have $2M liability insurance for Wellness & Life Coaching and Nutritional Consultants with Alternative Balance Professional Group, Henniker, NY with Citadel Insurance Services, American Fork, UT underwritten by Lloyds of London.

Absolutely. Working as part of an integrative healthcare team benefits everyone involved.

Please fill out the contact form with your question and I will be happy to answer.