• A doctor tells a patient to lose weight, eat right and get more exercise to improve overall health, reduce health risk factors, and improve existing symptoms.

• The patient leaves the doctor’s office with no specific next steps to follow, wondering how on earth to actually master the know-how to do this while balancing work, family and community commitments.

• Over the next few days, the patient flips through diet books at Barnes & Noble, buys a few low-calorie entrees…and before long, even those tiny steps have evaporated and it’s business as usual.

Sure, part of the problem can be a lack of readiness to change.  But the complexity of making many simultaneous lifestyle changes simply overwhelms many consumers. When their initial efforts falter, it confirms their secret fear that they simply can’t do this. They don’t know where to turn for comprehensive assistance that pulls all the pieces together.

Many of us engage in wishful thinking.

It’s easy to say that lots of information is available in books, on the Internet, and elsewhere.

We expect consumers to distinguish junk advice from sensible guidance and then convert this half-understood information into a detailed and personalized plan for change based on their specific needs, temperament, family and work situation, existing health conditions, etc.

Honestly, that's just pie in the sky.  Ain't gonna happen!

A Chinese menu's not the answer either.

Even wellness centers that offer a laundry list of services: in-house acupuncture, physical medicine and rehab, chiropractic services, physical therapy, dietetic counseling, and personal training are missing a bigger opportunity. 

Why?  Because they still force the consumer to decide which services they need to solve their problems.  As a result, many people overlook services that could help them simply due to lack of familiarity.  Or they choose the right services - at the wrong time.  For example, they may hire a personal trainer when nutritional counseling would be the best place for them to start.

We need therapeutic lifestyle change professionals.

What people need and want is someone qualified to help them pull all the pieces together.  Yet none of the widely recognized health and wellness professions see that as their primary role:

• Dietitians primarily focus on nutrition and healthful eating.
• Physical therapists address immediate musculoskeletal problems.
• Physicians diagnose and treat illness and disease once they develop.
• Personal trainers help people in good health improve their physical fitness.
• Health psychologists identify and overcome psychological barriers that affect health and wellness. 
• Clinical exercise specialists and kinesiotherapists focus on physical activity.
• Health promotion professionals are mostly found in public health organizations.

What's missing from this list?  The therapeutic lifestyle change professional - someone who combines the best of consumer health and wellness and traditional healthcare. 

The specialist partners with the client to integrate:

• Medical recommendations of the client’s healthcare team
• Recommendations for general wellness (physical activity, healthful eating, sufficient sleep, stress management, etc.)
• Evidence-based health psychology strategies for making lasting lifestyle changes.

The outcome: a collaborative and prioritized approach to lifestyle change.

It's not directive ("What you need to do is...") and it's not a mindless daily nag ("Did you take a walk today?").

How can wellness businesses seize this opportunity?

Some wellness coaches fill this role admirably.  Unfortunately, well-qualified wellness coaches who work with consumers are hard to find - almost impossible for those unlucky people who already have significant health concerns.  The strongest coaches are usually found through workplace programs - yet even those coaches often take a very tactical and task-oriented approach, not the integrated and prioritized approach that we'd like to see.