Health coaching isn’t about information. It’s about helping you create the conditions that make change possible. Here’s the real reason you can’t just Google or ask AI your way through it.
You Don’t Need More Information. You Need Someone in Your Corner.
If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t need a health coach, I already know what I should be doing,” you’re right. You probably do know.
Most of us aren’t stuck because we lack information. We’re stuck because knowing isn’t the same as changing. And that gap is exactly where health coaching lives and exactly where it can’t be replaced by a search engine, a chatbot, or a stack of research articles.
The information trap
A lot of health coaches, myself included at times, fall into a trap: we think our value comes from what we know. So, we chase certifications, specialise in medical conditions, learn the science so we can better understand our clients’ challenges and share evidence-based information.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: health knowledge is important, but that’s not really the job. Coaches aren’t meant to diagnose, prescribe or provide medical advice. Our health knowledge can help us understand context, share appropriate educational resources, support clients as they explore their own options and understand ‘why’ change matters. Beyond that, more information isn’t usually the missing piece.
That’s also exactly why so many people assume AI could just replace a coach. If coaching were about information, AI would win. It’s faster, it’s free, it’s tireless, and it knows more facts than any of us ever will.
But change was never an information problem. It’s a “conditions” problem, and helping someone to create the right conditions to change is a deeply human skill.
What actually replaces a health coach
If there’s someone in your life who can:
- Listen to what you’re struggling with, without judgment
- Hold back their own advice, even when they’re dying to give it
- Brainstorm solutions “with” you instead of “for” you
- Draw on real experience navigating hard health changes, to help you see possibilities and perspectives that may be difficult to see when you’re overwhelmed
- See the best in you, consistently, even when you don’t
- Walk alongside you through every step of your health journey as you experiment, learn, adjust and build confidence
- Remind you, right when you need it, of everything you’ve already overcome
…then you don’t need a coach. You already have one.
Most people don’t have that. Not because the people in their life don’t love them, but because that combination of skills is rare, and it’s genuinely hard to sustain, especially for the people closest to us, who have their own opinions about what we “should” do.
That’s the real role of a health coach: not simply to hand you facts, but to become that steady, judgment-free presence that helps you to question negative assumptions, recognise your strengths, and change what you believe about yourself and what’s possible for you.
What that actually looks like
A client of mine was prescribed an elimination diet. Her first reaction wasn’t resistance to the idea. It was fear. She looked at the restrictions and thought, “There’s no way I can actually do this.”
We didn’t spend our time reviewing the science behind elimination diets. She didn’t need convincing that it might help. Her doctor did that. What she needed was to believe she could actually do it.
So that’s what we built, together, before she ever had to test it in real life. We explored substitutes she’d actually enjoy, not just tolerate. We identified meals she felt comfortable preparing in advance, so she wouldn’t have to improvise while hungry and overwhelmed. And then we did the harder work: walking through the two events she was most afraid of — a family birthday celebration, and Easter with her extended family.
We didn’t just talk logistics. We talked about her family’s traditions, the dishes that meant something to her, the emotional weight food carries at those gatherings, and what she’d say if her beloved grandma pushed back on her choices at the table. By the time both events actually arrived, she wasn’t white-knuckling her way through them. She had a plan she believed in, because we’d built it around “her” life, not a generic list of do’s and don’ts.
No article, no AI, no pamphlet from her doctor could have done that. Not because the information was hard to find — it wasn’t — but because what she needed wasn’t information. She needed someone to sit with her fear, believe she could do it before she believed it herself, and help her build a plan sturdy enough to survive her actual life.
That’s coaching.
The real question to ask yourself
It’s fair to be sceptical of health coaching. There are coaches out there overselling their expertise, and there’s genuinely a lot you can learn on your own with good, science-based resources.
But if you’re facing a health change and asking yourself whether you need a coach, don’t ask, “Do I know what to do?” Ask this instead:
“Do I have someone who can walk every step of this with me without judgment, without an agenda, who believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself?”
If the answer is yes, hold onto that person.
If the answer is no, that’s not a gap information can fill. That’s what a health coach is for.
Geraldine Fuenmayor is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), HCANZA member and FMCA-trained coach based in Adelaide. With experience spanning primary health, disability, community programs, adult education, government, law and financial regulation, she brings a broad understanding of the factors that influence health and wellbeing. Her work focuses on health promotion, behaviour change and practical, person-centred coaching, supporting individuals to build sustainable changes that work in their everyday lives.
