Brain Health Coaching

I help people change health behaviours, so they can live a brain healthy lifestyle.

Living an unhealthy lifestyle affects your brain. Poor sleep, inadequate diet, physical inactivity, sensory impairment, smoking & alcohol, stress, depression, loneliness – each affects your brain health.

Living a brain healthy lifestyle ensures you are less likely to have a brain condition as you age, or if you do, you are more likely to manage or improve your symptoms. Many illnesses that affect the brain are preventable by making lifestyle changes.

As a health behaviour change specialist, I help you to make positive changes that have significant impacts.

How is your brain health?

Take a few moments to check in with yourself.

Has a health professional advised that you are at risk of a stroke, dementia or another neurological condition?
Have you had a stroke or brain injury, have a neurological condition such as Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis or dementia?
Are you worried that you might suffer from a condition that affects your brain in the future?
Are you overweight?
Do you sit a lot, or find it hard to be physically active?
Are you tired and have low energy?
Are you overwhelmed, stressed or down?
Do you smoke or drink too much alcohol, or drink too often?
Do you tend to go for convenience or processed foods?
Do you feel lonely?
Do you struggle to get a good night sleep?
Does thinking feel hard work, are you forgetful or find planning and organising difficult?
Do you want to improve your health?
Are you ready to change?

If you answered YES to just one of the above, health coaching May help you to:.

Be in control of your health
Feel more confident
Have better work/home/life balance
Experience calm
Have more energy
Lose weight
Sleep better
Move your body
Eat well

Communicate & connect with others
Tune in to your feelings and needs
Think, focus and remember better
Be more efficient and productive
Enjoy time with family and friends
Have purpose to your day & your life
Feel positive about yourself
Feel positive about ageing
Improve your brain health.

What does health coaching involve?

I provide personalised evidenced based 1:1 health coaching to help you improve your brain health.

We work together to identify what areas of your lifestyle need changing and we start with small steps. You will not only learn how to make lifestyle changes that work, you will learn about lifestyle behaviours that impact the brain.

Coaching is either at your home, clinic based or over video. It doesn’t matter where you live, what matters is that you are motivated, committed and ready to make changes.

Evidence indicates that coaching works best if you have at least 6 sessions, and ideally allow for 12 weeks to allow for real change to occur.

Below is a format of an ideal coaching programme however a programme can be designed to suit you needs, timeframes and budget.

Discover and Dream - Initial session

We start with discovering what is important to you and what health priorities you wish to focus on. This is your chance to dream about what health and wellbeing will look like for you.

The Discover and Dream step includes:

completing a health and wellbeing questionnaire
sharing any relevant medical reports
prioritising areas of health behaviour to focus on
creating a health and wellbeing vision
setting short term goals including outcome measures
learning about how lifestyle impacts brain health

Design and Do - Ideally 4+ sessions

Next you design how you will reach your vision of wellbeing and start the doing part by putting plans into action. You continue to learn about brain health and start to see the benefits of the changes you are making.

The Design and Do steps include:

review of progress
weekly goal setting
learning more about lifestyle and brain health
identifying your strengths and values
working through barriers or limitations
understanding what motivates you
support, advice and care from me
increasing skill in behaviour change
referral to other health professionals if needed

Health and wellbeing topics to enhance your learning include :

Health, lifestyle and disease
Restorative sleep
Being physically active
Eating for nourishment
Connecting with others
Being calm
Nature and health
Breathing and relaxation
Feelings and needs
Finding purpose
Mindset and positivity
Exploring values
Self-compassion
Efficiency and organisation
Cognition and communication
Motivation and change

Celebrate - Final session

Then it’s time to celebrate the progress and changes you have made. We check in with your overall vision and see how far you’ve come. We review the outcome measures taken at the beginning to objectively document change and you reflect on what you have learnt. You will feel confident that you can continue to make changes on your own.

What is included in your health coaching programme

A welcome pack with useful information and activities to get you going before we start our sessions

A Health & Wellbeing questionnaire

A personalised Wellbeing Vision to keep you on track

Coaching conversations with me at a time that suits you (sessions are 45-60mins)

Education sheets based on scientific evidence on a variety of heath and wellbeing related topics

Weekly personalised goal sheets with learning outcomes from coaching session

Resources and tools for personal learning and growth depending on your needs and interests

Ability to email me when you have questions with replies within 24 hours

Referral to a network of health professionals for their expert advice if needed

Summary report and liaison with your GP or specialist if you choose

Your brain healthy lifestyle!

What are others saying about
working with me?

I found the coaching sessions to be really beneficial. Susan helped me define some simple goals, set in place a plan to achieve them and helped me track my progress. Having someone convert my stream of consciousness into simple well-structured goals was so helpful and I really appreciated Susan's positivity and encouragement along the way. My health and recovery from my cancer treatment has definitely improved.

Rob - Recovering from cancer, father of two

When I signed up for Health Coaching I wasn’t sure what I was signing up for or what I would get out of it, but I had nothing to loose and everything to gain. Having spent 12 weeks working with Susan I cannot speak more highly of her. She is a fabulous listener and able to summarise exactly what I was trying to say. She has a way of drawing information out so you can see more clearly what it is that you need. Not only was Susan very motivational she gave me the tools to motivate myself. The goals we set were effective and measurable. She changed the way I look at things and gave me the confidence to move forward. I would highly recommend working with Susan.

Deidre - early stage Parkinson's Disease, lover of gardening

Coaching helped me to set short term goals in each area of my lifestyle and to remain focussed on achieving them throughout the week. 12 weeks is ideal as any less would not have achieved a helpful outcome. It really helped with accountability. I have made sustained improvements in diet, exercise goals and incidental weight loss. People have even noticed that I have lost weight and that I seem happier, and I also have fewer headaches. Coaching with Susan was really enjoyable. She was very easy to talk to, approachable, reflective, friendly and non judgemental. I felt at ease and able to talk about anything. The coaching experience was helpful in identifying areas of my life that I have struggled to prioritise, as well as allowing me to think of ways and ideas to change to a more positive and healthy way of living. The strategies are sustainable and have been key in improving my health. I would have no hesitation to recommend Susan

Candice - busy doctor, family history of dementia

I have really enjoyed working with Susan for the past 3 months. She was great at putting positive spins on everything that I was doubting in myself and helped me see that even small success was a success. One of the biggest outcomes for me was identifying things that I needed to work on that I didn’t realise were such a big deal for me, but actually were when I stopped to think about it. It has been fantastic to talk through a lot of the things holding me back from achieving the goals I have and making plans and actually start working on them! After coaching with Susan I have more awareness of what I want in life and my health and wellness to look like, and the things that I will focus on to change. Thank you Susan

Erin - business owner, enjoys walking her dog

Susan is very friendly, professional and empathetic. I felt I could trust her right from the start. Her experience working with people came across early on. I really enjoyed creating my wellness vision as thinking like this about the future wasn’t something I had thought about before. I can now see how small steps can help me make changes to my health and wellness. I really enjoy my sessions with Susan, especially the positive focus, and I can already see the benefits that her coaching is having on me.

Vicky - artist, sufferer of depression

Why is Susan a specialist in health behaviour change?

I have 20+yrs experience helping people who are affected by brain injury and disease.
I am passionate about preventative health and making a difference to peoples lives.
I am a certified health and wellbeing coach with Wellcoaches, and completed a certificate in Lifestyle Medicine for Coaches through Wellcoaches and ACLM.
I have an Honours Degree and am working towards a Masters in Health Science endorsed in Health Behaviour Change.
I am a professional member of the Health Coaches Australia and New Zealand Association (HCANZA) and the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM.
I have completed training in brain health and applied neuroscience with Dr Sarah McKay, Neuroscientist.
I am compassionate and kind, genuine and non-judgemental. I create relationships based on trust and authenticity.
I am continually learning and growing so I can be the best coach I can be.

NZ $1680

3 month Health Coaching Programme
12 sessions over 12-18 weeks

NZ $870

6 week Health Coaching programme
6 sessions over 6-12 week

NZ $150

Individual health coaching sessions
45-60min session

Written reports and clinic based sessions may incur additional fees. Be in touch to find out about travel costs. Telehealth available for health coaching. Prices inclusive of GST.

"If you don't take care of your body, where will you live"

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Be in touch.

I invite you to be in touch. Find out more about brain health coaching with me, and if we might be a good fit to work together.