Coach Certification Stories – Lisa Rickers Helps People Reclaim Their Health

Lisa Rickers is based in Oxfordshire in the UK. She has been a nurse in the NHS for 20+ years working in the speciality of obesity, metabolic health, and long-term conditions. She has been developing her coaching skills and expertise within behaviour change and completed an MSc in health psychology around 10 years ago.

What made you apply to the Hintsa coach certification programme? 

“As a life-long learner I wanted to extend and develop my skills so that they were recognised as a professional coach, but I was also looking for a programme which offered a holistic approach.

I’m a big fan of F1 racing and got to hear about Hintsa coaches and was intrigued to learn more. When I looked at the Circle of Better Life, I knew that this would complement my nursing and psychology background. I loved the approach of improving wellbeing to improve performance, the values at Hintsa really spoke to me and I knew that this was the right fit for me.”

You graduated from the programme recently. How have you utilised the learnings from the programme?  Was there anything that surprising you in the certification programme? 

“Yes, I graduated in December 2022 and since then I have been busy implementing my new skills and knowledge supporting people to live well and reclaim their health. I am a co-founder in a health company and have used my coaching skills to support people living with long-COVID and those who have had bariatric surgery to improve their metabolic health. 

As a healthcare professional, I really enjoyed that the programme was evidence based and I have had the opportunity to further develop my knowledge, particularly around biomechanics and physical activity. As a visual learner and to help process all the information in the course I developed a digital mind map which really helped me to visualise how each part of the Circle of Better Life integrated and interacted with one another. I loved that central to this model is the Core, and it was something that I feel is often missing in healthcare delivery. This is something that I have brought into my practice and is so relevant to people who are facing health challenges or learning to live with their illness. In using the tools provided and developed by Hintsa, I have witnessed so many light bulb transformations, watching and supporting this process is a real privilege.  

Another area which is transforming my approach is the understanding behind rest and recovery and how important this is to health and wellbeing from a personal perspective of working environments and culture, and the impact this has on our performance to recovering from illness. Our circadian rhythm is central to our health and dysregulation is associated with many illnesses, however, this is not something that we are routinely focus on within health care.  

I have used the Hintsa methodology to create a new business, to support people, particularly women, to make the transition into entrepreneurship and innovation. Women still don’t have the same opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship despite often being more successful.  The Hintsa framework is very relevant to help empower and support women to succeed in this field.  

I went into the programme with a clear understanding of how I wanted to use the educational content but the course forces you to self-reflect and so I was also surprised by my own personal growth in the process.  There were definitely some lightbulb moments despite that I am very reflective and self-aware. I especially enjoyed the sessions when we explored the content with the Hintsa mentors and the peer-to-peer learning. Vicarious learning can be especially powerful. Knowing that the content had been produced by experts in their fields was reassuring and the level of content provided was equivalent to a master’s level of education.”

How is this programme impacting your coaching in practice? 

“I am a lot more confident in my abilities as a coach and I love that I continue to learn after the programme has been completed.  Continual Professional Development is not new to me but the on-going support to develop and grow as a coach within the Hintsa framework was very welcome. I have quite a niche area where I am using the framework which complements my areas of expertise, but it is good to know that I can approach and network with other coaches who may have more expertise outside of these areas. Hintsa has built a community which supports you after the course has finished.”

Would you recommend this programme – and to whom? 

“I would absolutely recommend this programme and have done so to many of my healthcare colleagues. I think if we had an army of Hintsa coaches within the NHS it would make such a difference. As a nurse, I might not seem the typical Hintsa coach, but this really does complement the holistic care that nurses deliver. As nurses we work at the point of care and by expanding our skills to include professional coaching we can create impactful moments of care which improves and transforms health and wellbeing.”

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Do you want to learn the skills to coach at the highest level of business and sports?  Read more about Hintsa’s Coach Certification programme and apply now!