Lighting the Way on the Post Concussion Journey - a Health Coaching Approach

Navigating the many options and avenues available to support your post-concussion journey can feel overwhelming. This is especially true when your brain is struggling to function with even the familiar demands of everyday life. Advice abounds, and there is no shortage of information available online. However, finding your own path through it all is not easy.

Following my own concussion in 2023, I experienced first-hand how lonely and difficult it can be to identify and pursue different avenues of support, whilst avoiding endless rabbit holes and infuriating dead ends. What I felt I needed was someone who had been there and done it - someone who understood the different options available and could support me in finding my own way forward. I wanted confidence that I hadn't missed something important or was inadvertently hindering my progress. I needed an informed ally.

That experience led me to train as a certified health coach.

Post-concussion progress is different for everyone, and there is not necessarily a single "right" way. The role of a health coach is to help someone identify and understand the information that is most relevant to them, without becoming overwhelmed, so that they can make informed decisions about their next steps.

A health coach never tells someone what to do or how to do it. We do not diagnose, treat, prescribe or advise. Health coaching combines whole-person health education with a gentle enabling approach - holding space for people to decide their own way forward. The coaching aspect is about helping someone develop and implement a plan that supports their goals.

My health coaching training provided me with a framework for supporting people through the principles of whole-person health, including nutrition and lifestyle approaches such as exercise, sleep and stress management. I also share a range of practical, evidence-based strategies that people can choose to apply in their day-to-day lives, through delivering 1:1 coaching and the ‘Post Concussion Wellbeing Course’ online.

As a health coach, my role is to help people understand, for example, the potential benefits of exercise for both brain and body health. I can support them in exploring ways to gradually increase activity within their own comfort levels and symptom limitations, using forms of movement that feel manageable and sustainable. Ultimately, each individual decides what feels right for them and what they wish to put into practice. Recovery is rarely about one single intervention - more often, it is a combination of small changes and consistent actions that, over time, may contribute to meaningful progress.

As part of my approach, I help people understand the range of clinical support options that may be available to them, such as vestibular physiotherapy or neuro occupational therapy. I can also help them identify practitioners with post-concussion expertise who may be appropriate for their particular needs. Many people find that a combination of approaches helps them move forward. Unfortunately, there is often no single solution. Health coaching exists alongside these clinical interventions and is not a replacement for them. I am not clinically trained and always refer clients to appropriate healthcare professionals where relevant, in line with my UKIHCA scope of practice.

I also signpost to a range of research-backed, neuroscience-based tools and resources that may help to support nervous system regulation, stress reduction and chronic pain management. From my own experience, I have found these approaches invaluable in helping me better understand and manage my own nervous system and debilitating headaches.

Whilst I may share aspects of my own lived experience, the client is always the focus and remains firmly in the driving seat of their own recovery journey. Several clients have told me that this sense of agency and direction has been hugely important to them, alongside working with someone who validates their experience and genuinely understands the challenges they face.

For me, that combination of understanding, agency and support is where health coaching can make a meaningful difference.

I believe a health coaching approach can help light the path for people on their post-concussion journey - enabling them to develop an informed strategy that supports whole-person health, whilst creating their own day-to-day plan with greater clarity, confidence and direction.

The post-concussion journey can be incredibly difficult, but you do not have to struggle on in the dark, and you do not have to do it alone.