Pathway
The Whole Health Pathway includes Partners, Coaches, and Registered Nurses who collaborate with Veterans to identify priorities and ensure care aligns with them. Partners are the initial contact, helping develop the Personal Health Plan and teaching introductory classes. Coaches assist with the Personal Health Inventory, focus on lifestyle modifications, and set both long-term and short-term goals. Registered Nurses oversee care management to ensure it aligns with the Personal Health Plan and supports the best possible outcomes.
Whole Health Coaching
Whole Health Coaches partner with Veterans seeking to enhance their well-being through self-directed, lasting changes, aligned with their values. Health Coaches display unconditional positive regard for their Veterans and a belief in their capacity for change, and honor that each client in an expert on his or her life while ensuring that all interactions are respectful and non-judgmental. Health Coaches work with Veterans on identifying the Veterans’ motivation for change, determining goals for their work together, developing treatment plans to reach these goals, implementing those treatment plans, and assessing progress in order to adjust plans as necessary.
Health Coaches collaborate with the Veterans and their primary care and specialty care providers to develop goals designed to improve health outcomes, reduce risk from chronic
illness, and lessen the likelihood of admission to the emergency department, inpatient care, or long-term care.
Coaches support clients in mobilizing internal strengths and external resources and develops self-management strategies for making sustainable, healthy lifestyle behavior changes and more effectively managing chronic disease. Health Coaches may work in primary care as a member of a PACT to assist Veterans with weight management, smoking cessation, addressing problematic areas in the eight components of proactive health and wellbeing, and adherence to chronic disease such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic pain. Health Coaches may work in specialty care—including mental health, nephrology, oncology, cardiology, infectious disease and others—to assist Veterans with identifying goals, developing behavior plans, and taking action steps to increase adherence to treatment. Health Coaches may work on inpatient units to assist with identifying goals, developing behavior plans for discharge, and assisting with post-discharge follow-up. In all settings, Health Coaches conduct interventions that lead to improved functioning, decreased probability of deterioration or admission, and enhanced quality of life.
Whole Health Coaching is available at all TVHS major hubs. To connect with a Whole Health Coach, contact the following:
Chattanooga: tvhwholehealthchcoaches@va.gov
Clarksville: tvhwholehealthclcoaches@va.gov
Murfreesboro: tvhwholehealthyorkcoaches@va.gov
Nashville: tvhwholehealthnashcoaches@va.gov