How to Find a Coach in Healthcare: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare professionals face unique challenges that can benefit from specialized coaching support. Whether you’re experiencing burnout, considering a career transition, struggling with work-life balance, or stepping into a leadership role, finding the right coach can be transformative. But how do you find a coach in healthcare who truly understands your world and can help you achieve your goals?
When to Find a Coach in Healthcare
Before diving into how to find the right coach, it’s important to recognize the situations where coaching can be especially beneficial for healthcare professionals.
New Leadership Positions
“People just got a new promotion or thinking about getting a new promotion, and they’re wondering how to manage all of those things. And because it’s new territory, they look for a coach,” explains Dr. Lillian Liang Emlet, an intensivist, emergency physician, and coach.
For many clinicians, the transition from direct patient care to management or leadership comes with minimal preparation. A coach can help you develop the skills, confidence, and strategies to excel in these new responsibilities.
Feeling Stuck or Stagnant
Another common trigger is a sense of stagnation. Dr. Emlet notes that many healthcare professionals seek coaching when “they seem to be either stagnating, just sort of struggling and trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of feeling stuck.”
This plateau might manifest as decreased satisfaction with work, questioning your career choice, or simply feeling that you’ve stopped growing professionally.
Early Signs of Burnout
“They’re worried they’re starting to get burnout and actually they just don’t feel that things are in alignment for them anymore,” Dr. Emlet shares. Often, healthcare professionals have already “tried their mentor, they’ve tried self-help… they’ve tried therapy even” before turning to coaching.
Recognizing early signs of burnout and seeking support proactively can prevent more serious consequences down the road.
Decision Paralysis
Gillian Faith, a rehabilitation specialist and HR professional turned coach, highlights another common scenario: “Clients have come when they have an important decision to make, and it seems like it’s muddy out there… they don’t have clarity.”
These crossroads moments—whether about career direction, job changes, or work-life decisions—can benefit tremendously from the structured reflection and exploration that coaching provides.
The “Should I Stay or Should I Go” Question
Amy Bubser, a life transition and career coach, sees many healthcare professionals grappling with career continuity questions: “I see a lot of people who come in with the mindset of, should I stay or should I go? And with that, they’ve invested so much into their career, not just loans, education, but the experience and really their blood, sweat and tears.”
This weighing of sunk costs against potential futures requires careful consideration of values, priorities, and possibilities.
Work-Life Integration Challenges
For those with family responsibilities, the challenges can be particularly acute. “A lot of people might just say, ‘I just can’t do this. I can’t be the parent my kid needs me to be and do the job,'” shares Grizelda Anguiano, a mental health pediatrician and coach specializing in neurodiversity.
Coaching in this context focuses on creating sustainable approaches to honor both professional and personal commitments.
How to Find the Right Coach in Healthcare
Once you’ve determined coaching might benefit you, the next crucial step is finding the right coach. Here’s guidance from experienced healthcare coaches:
1. Start with a Discovery Call
“When choosing a coach, you always want to have a discovery call,” advises Gillian Faith. “You want to have an introductory call that helps look at why you’re looking for coaching. Does this coach have the right capability for you and for your situation?”
This initial conversation serves multiple purposes:
- Establishing whether there’s rapport and trust
- Understanding the coach’s approach and expertise
- Getting a taste of the coaching experience
- Clarifying expectations and processes
Most coaches offer these sessions at no cost, making them a risk-free way to explore the potential fit.
2. Look for a Coach with Healthcare Background
“We’ve also heard people saying that they’ve worked with a coach, but the coach didn’t have a healthcare background, so they didn’t really understand the issues and the situations at a deeper level,” Gillian notes.
While any skilled coach can provide value, those with healthcare experience bring additional understanding of:
- The unique pressures and culture of healthcare environments
- Regulatory and compliance considerations
- The emotional weight of clinical work
- The complex dynamics of healthcare teams
- The practical realities of shift work and irregular schedules
As Klaus Grim, an emergency medicine physician assistant and coach, points out: “That’s the great thing of all of us being from that healthcare background… many of us work or have worked night shifts. Some of us work morning day shifts. So our team is here to accommodate the schedules of any shift worker.”
3. Assess Personal Chemistry and Trust
Dr. Emlet emphasizes the importance of chemistry and feeling seen: “Sometimes there’s things you tell your coach, you don’t tell anybody else, not even your spouse or your partner. And so it’s really important to make sure that relationship is something that you can believe in.”
This intangible connection can’t be forced or manufactured—it either exists or it doesn’t. Trust your instincts about whether you feel comfortable being vulnerable with this person.
4. Ensure Their Approach Resonates with You
While most coaches share common methodologies, their individual styles and emphases can differ significantly. During your discovery call, pay attention to:
- How they listen and respond to you
- Whether they focus more on structured goal-setting or open exploration
- The types of questions they ask
- How they explain their coaching process
As Amy Bubser explains about her approach: “I like to explain it as that initially we come up with the overarching goals, like the big picture, where they want to go… But things change and priorities change and something else can come up in a session that seems like it’s unrelated, but yet it is all connected.”
5. Check Their Qualifications and Training
While the coaching industry isn’t uniformly regulated, reputable coaches typically have formal training and certification. Ask about:
- Their coaching certification (such as ICF, IPEC, or other recognized programs)
- Additional relevant training or specializations
- Their approach to continued professional development
- How long they’ve been coaching
6. Consider Practical Logistics
Finally, practical considerations matter when you’re trying to find a coach in healthcare:
- Do they offer sessions at times that work with your schedule?
- Are they familiar with your specialty or healthcare setting?
- Do they offer virtual sessions if you prefer?
- Are their fees within your budget?
- Do they offer different package options to meet your needs?
Many coaches, like those at Transforming Healthcare Coaching, specifically accommodate healthcare schedules: “We offer different time zones… we are operating in different time zones,” Gillian notes.
What to Expect from the Coaching Process
Once you find a coach in healthcare who seems right for you, it helps to understand what the typical coaching process entails:
The First Session: Unloading and Exploration
“The first session really is an opportunity to take an unloading and just express all the different ways and concerns that the client comes to us,” explains Dr. Emlet. This initial conversation allows you to share your situation fully and helps the coach understand your context and goals.
Assessment and Reflection
Many coaches incorporate assessments to deepen self-awareness. At Transforming Healthcare Coaching, they use the Energy Leadership Index (ELI): “During the Energy Leadership Assessment and then the debriefing as the second session of our coaching package, the client then begins to have a greater depth and understanding of all the different ways they’re showing up in life,” Dr. Emlet explains.
Other coaches might use different tools like values assessments or strengths finders to build self-knowledge.
Setting Direction While Remaining Flexible
“We come up with the overarching goals, like the big picture, where they want to go. And that can change, but generally we have that idea. And then each session may have very unique and different specific goals,” Amy shares.
This balance between overall direction and session-by-session focus allows coaching to address both long-term aspirations and immediate priorities.
Client-Led Sessions with Coach Guidance
“We usually ask what would you like to focus on today,” explains Grizelda about the typical session start. This client-driven approach ensures the time addresses what’s most important to you in the moment.
Gillian agrees: “The client’s always in the driver’s seat. Sometimes some people want to just offload stress and situations that have happened. Other times they want to be very goal-oriented and actually get help with attaining their goals.”
Ongoing Support and Accountability
Between sessions, most coaches provide some form of accountability and reflection structure to help you implement insights and make progress toward your goals.
Making It Work with Your Schedule
One of the biggest concerns for healthcare professionals is finding time for coaching amidst demanding schedules. Here are some strategies that have worked for others:
- Strategic scheduling: “I’m going to try to see everyone who needs to be discharged first and then I’m going to make an appointment,” Grizelda shares as an example from one physician client.
- Off-day sessions: Some prefer to schedule coaching “when they’re going to be home or on an off day,” says Grizelda.
- Flexible coach hours: Many coaches who specialize in healthcare understand the unique scheduling needs. “I also offer some evening or weekend hours for somebody that wants to have a coaching session during those times,” notes Gillian.
- Virtual options: Most coaches now offer virtual sessions, eliminating commute time and allowing you to connect from wherever is most convenient.
Taking the First Step to Find a Coach in Healthcare
If reading this has sparked your interest in coaching, here’s how to move forward:
- Reflect on your current challenges and goals – What specifically would you like to address through coaching?
- Research coaches with healthcare backgrounds – Look for those who understand your specific context
- Schedule discovery calls with 2-3 coaches – This allows you to compare approaches and find the best personal fit
- Trust your intuition – The relationship is as important as the credentials
- Start with a clear but open mind – Have goals but remain open to unexpected insights and directions
Remember that the discovery call is commitment-free and designed to help both you and the coach determine if working together makes sense. As Klaus Grim emphasizes, “It’s a no commitment call. So go ahead and book that discovery call.”
The right coach can help you navigate challenges, optimize your performance, and rediscover joy in your work—making the time invested in finding the right match well worth the effort.
For healthcare professionals interested in exploring coaching with professionals who understand healthcare, book a free discovery call with one of our coaches who understand the unique pressures of healthcare—because they’ve lived it too. No obligation, just support from someone who’s been in your shoes.
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