DestInAtIon sPAs
Fiona Cosgrove’s
wellness coaching
curriculum aims to
help spa providers
become integral
members of their
clients’ wellness team,
reports Lynn Malone.
Leading
the Way in
WELLNESS
COACHING
refined its established fitness and wellbeing
best described as striving for your personal
posted by a friend on Facebook:
program to incorporate her wellness
best—be it emotional, physical or mental.
“When ‘I’ is changed to ‘We’, ‘illness’
coaching methodology—qualifying the staff
Wellness coaching is all about inspiring
to deliver the program to guests.
clients to proactively move toward positive
becomes ‘wellness’.” My interpretation of this
message is that wellness is a team effort—and
every team needs a coach.
In mid-2011, Australian spa group The
With degrees in both sports science and
counselling, Fiona has made connections
between exercise prescription, health
behaviour and adopt a health-enhancing
skill set.”
In Fiona’s view, wellness encompasses
Golden Door engaged esteemed health
knowledge and action-oriented coaching the
not just physical fitness and nutrition,
industry leader and author Fiona Cosgrove
core of her program framework. “Coaching
but also family and partner relationships;
to take its curriculum and staff training
is all about empowering people with
business and career; enjoyment, fun and
program into the realm of wellness coaching.
self-responsibility for their own health and
recreation; learning and growth; and the
well-feeling.” Fiona says. “Optimal wellness is
physical environment.
In her role with The Golden Door, Fiona
62 |
istock / Mats Persson
T
o quote an inspirational message
Have you had your
vitamin bath
today?
Wellness coaches empower clients with
self-responsibility for their own wellbeing
as well as working with them to map out
a personal wellness vision.
“Wellness coaches support clients in
figuring out what they want, why they want
it and what’s stopping them. They then work
with their clients to create plans for action,”
she explains. “Many people want to pursue
a healthier lifestyle but seem to have trouble
making plans stick. Through this supportive
relationship, wellness coaches empower their
clients with a focus on facilitation, rather
than prescription, so that they take personal
responsibility and ultimately achieve
significant and lifelong changes.”
Fiona Cosgrove
DestInAtIon sPAs
Coaches can encourage clients
to verbalise why changes and
goals are important and enlist
support from friends or families.
Images courtesy of the Golden Door.
IN-SPA COACHING
CASE STUDIES
To incorporate wellness coaching into The
Golden Door programs, staff training was
paramount for success, Fiona explains.
“We encouraged all staff to participate in
the training—not only the program staff
Wellness coaches focus on individuals’ strengths,
shifting perspective from ‘what’s wrong’ to ‘what’s right’.
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who will implement the program to guests,
but also spa therapists, receptionists and
31/1/08 11:39:36 AM
ZEN HErbal liNimENt & GEl
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management,” says Fiona. “Following
the training, our staff reported a
newfound understanding of empowering
ZEN Liniment is
formulated with:
guests. We continually reminded one
another by saying, ‘Did I increase the
guest’s awareness with what I did or
said’? ‘Did I encourage the guest’s self
responsibility’?”
Given that The Golden Door
philosophy is closely associated with
nurturing and care, the wellness
coaching concept integrated into the
Brigid Walsh
existing program quite smoothly. “I encouraged staff to observe the
positive changes exemplified by our guests, then to use this model to
examine any behaviours they may need to modify themselves. This
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re-education encouraged humility in all of us,” she says.
With wellness coaching now in place for over 18 months, The
Golden Door team have continually fine-tuned the program
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and addressed feedback from guests. “Predominately it was an
educational process to ensure guests understood the program
offerings and inclusions to packages they purchased,” Fiona
summarises reflecting on the success of the program. “Golden Door staff
and guests have favourably embraced the wellness-coaching program.
Our objective was to get the in-house program running like a top—then
we begin promoting the at-home component to guests.”
Elysia’s general manager, Brigid Walsh, recently achieved her
certification with Wellness Coaching Australia as part of the process.
As an added bonus, Brigid has found that the coaching skills have
made her more effective in her role. “The key shift for me was to stop
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trying to inspire others to have confidence in me but rather to have
confidence in themselves,” she says. “I have modified my perspective
from ‘what’s wrong’ to ‘what’s right’, by focusing on an individual’s
strong suit. Taking a strength-based approach then guiding staff
toward appropriate roles that optimally utilise their skills allows for
greater self-efficacy and personal growth.”
Brigid relates that the key wellness coaching tools she draws from
when working with guests, staff and suppliers are collaborating,
undertaking enquiry, listening reflectively and building trust.
GoLDenDooR.coM.AU
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Wellness encompasses
not just fitness and nutrition,
but also relationships,
career, recreation,
learning and the
environment.
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DestInAtIon sPAs
Creating a Wellness Plan
A wellness coach can help clients identify the
habits that they wish to change. For example:
too tired to shop for groceries so I pick up
fast food for dinner;”
television to unwind from work then I find it
difficult wake up when the alarm sounds;” or
late for work.”
From this, a coach facilitates clients’
recognition of the barriers to wellness, such as:
Brainstorming strategies to overcome the
barriers is where a coach assists clients to
break through the psychological blocks that
limit them. Ideas may be to:
achieve a better life and balance; select
days to leave the work by a prescribed
time; or establish ways to say no when it
comes to taking on too much work.
plan tv-free nights; or set the alarm to turn
off the tv at a certain time.
of healthy foods and book a time to
go shopping.
From these strategies, a coach guides clients
in establishing one or two realistic goals to
be achieved in three months:
hourly earlier than I do now.”
meditating or stretching at least three times a
week instead of watching television.”
weekly healthy food shopping list and
shop on my day off work.”
Breaking down three-month goals into
weekly goals makes them achievable and
allows clients to see immediate successes:
earlier on tuesday and thursday.”
tuesday and thursday.”
and make a healthy recipe for
Wednesday’s dinner.”
coaches can also encourage clients to
verbalise why these changes and goals are
important and enlist support from friends or
families to help them achieve it. Because
wellness does indeed include ‘we’, not ‘I’.
Enrich’s welcome video
demonstrates a simple
method to switch off from
work mode and relax.
SO WHAT ABOUT wellness when it
of our clients from the moment they
comes to day spas and salons? Part of
walk through the doorway to the time
Fiona’s vision is to help spa owners and
they leave,” says Karina. She has found
managers infuse wellness principles into
that she’s been able to enhance client
all spas to create an ongoing wellness-
experiences using wellness coaching.
conducive environment.
As part of this, Enrich has created a
Enrich Retreat and Spa is the
first day spa to implement Fiona’s
arrival, which demonstrates a simple
wellness coaching tools. Voted Best
method to switch-off from work mode
Rural Day Spa in the Australasian Spa
and relax.
Association’s 2012 Spa of Excellence
Following treatments and seminars
awards, overlooking Lake Terranora
at the spa, clients take home a
in seaside Tweed Heads and blending
complimentary stress management
the cultures of Indonesia and Africa,
DVD. “By providing after-care
Enrich was born out of
tools and strategies,
Karina and Ian Stewart’s
our engagement with
passion for inspiring life
clients continues and
balance by providing
adds another layer
stress management
of building ongoing
services to individuals,
relationships,” Karina
small businesses and
explains. “Individuals
corporations.
and businesses (large and
“As a day spa owner
small) are impacted by
and certified wellness
the phenomenal power
coach, my objective is to
improve the wellbeing
66 |
two-minute DVD for clients to view on
of wellness. The more
Karina Stephens
wellness coaching tools
courtesy of enrich Retreat and spa.
in your toolkit, the higher the likelihood of
your clients living life to its fullest.”
enRIcHRetReAt.coM.AU
Fiona Cosgrove has 25 years experience as a
business owner, trainer, lecturer, coach and
presenter. Her business Wellness Coaching
Australia trains people to help clients through
a step-by-step, structured approach. Her
book, Coach Yourself to Wellness, and the
accompanying workbook, supplement online
and in-person training programs.
WeLLnesscoAcHInGAUstRALIA.coM.AU
Sydney-based writer and
design aficionado Lynn
Malone’s first spa experience
was as an interior designer
researching best-practice
design for The Cloister at
Sea Island, an exclusive resort spa and
health club in the US. Lynn has been
a columnist for The Sun-Herald and
Sunday Age Sunday Life and is a regular
contributor to design, lifestyle and travel
publications worldwide.