For new Sport Waitaki health coach Andrea Mair, the job is about “walking alongside people” on their health journey.

“They come up with what they want to do, and I’m like their cheerleader who helps them get to that goal.”

Andrea began working in practice in March, and has spent the first few months finding her feet, with ongoing training, and integrating into the three medical practices she is based at - Te Kāika Ōamaru (formerly Whitestone Family Practice), South Hill Medical, and Kurow Medical Centre.

A health coach is one member of the integrated primary mental health and addiction team, and is a nationwide initiative to support enrolled patients to meet their health and wellbeing needs. 

She describes herself as a “health and wellbeing champion”.

“Supporting [people] to self-manage [their] physical and emotional wellbeing.

"I can assist in implementing healthy habits and self-management techniques across a range of areas, including stress, nutrition, sleep, activity, long-term health conditions, and emotional wellbeing, or help connect [people] with and navigate through the healthcare system and social service providers.

“A fairly common one is someone who’s maybe been diagnosed pre-diabetic, and so their GPs told them this, and then I can support them in how to prevent them getting to diabetic. So we look at goals they might like to work towards.”

She can also help people dealing with long-term conditions, and for some people it’s more about emotional support, she said.

“They might have been diagnosed with something, it’s all quite new, so information finding, and also connecting them with support in the community as well.”

Before taking on the role, Andrea worked in Central Otago managing vineyards. And while viticulture and health coaching might seem worlds apart, both boil down to people skills.

“A lot of that was with people, it’s a massive part of it. Because within my role there was a lot of supervision and it’s tough physical work, so there’s a lot of motivating people, but also, there’s a lot of backpackers and international workers. So, part of my role was also, just by default, sort of pastoral care as well.”

Andrea moved to Ōamaru about four years ago, to help Karen and Murray Turner at the River-T Winery Cellar Door, in Kurow.

She has trained in psychology and is currently continuing postgraduate studies in health sciences, with a project underway in women’s mental health during perimenopause.

Andrea admits her psychology training adds a valuable string to her bow in the health coach role.

“There’s no denying, that like anyone, you use your knowledge and it threads through into your biases and the way you do things, for sure.

“Particularly the therapeutic relationship, which you learn in counselling 101, that is actually the most important thing right from the get-go is people feeling like they’re not being judged, and I guess, walking alongside them. 

“What I find people love, because my appointments are up to an hour, is we can dig into a lot of what’s going on for them. Naturally in the GP clinic that’s not possible in a 15-minute consultation. 

“So I do learn a lot about people, what’s motivating, and what are the barriers to them, and that is certainly a key to success, is to understand that more.”

A lot of the feedback Andrea gets, is that people are grateful to have someone who is willing to listen and who they can talk to about everything, enabling an holistic approach - viewing a problem from all angles.

She finds the job incredibly rewarding, especially when a person reaches their goal, whatever that might be.

“It’s just seeing their faces light up . . . really that’s just so satisfying, that’s what keeps you going, for sure.

“And just working with people in general, it’s super interesting. People’s stories. There’s incredibly strong amazing people that just have so much on their plate, and have been through so much. It’s often not just about the diagnosis, there’s so much else going on as well sometimes.”

People do not need to be referred by their doctor to see Andrea, but they do need to be enrolled in the practices where she works. She encourages anyone who wants to have a health coach in their practice to let their practice know.

“I think the idea is to try and get into as many practices as possible.”

Her service was free for anybody over 16, and there is no limit to the number of times she can see somebody.

Andrea is also aware how difficult it can be to get in for a doctor appointment, and while she is not a substitute for a medical professional, there are things she can do “around the fringes” to help, and an appointment can often be made on the day by phoning the medical practice directly.

“Sometimes just talking it through, if they’ve had a new diagnosis or something,” she said.

People are sometimes under the misconception, because she is employed by Sport Otago, the focus is on exercise, but she wants people to understand it is not just about that.

“There can be so many factors, whether it’s stress, sleep, nutrition - social isolation is a big one - especially for elderly.”