The seemingly never-ending string of snowstorms that occurred this past winter led to the cancellation of dozens of health and wellness classes offered at Harvard Vanguard. From Prenatal Yoga to Strong Women Stay Young, Breastfeeding to Caring for your Newborn – calls were made and classes were rescheduled, sometimes over and over again. Cruel irony delayed the Learning to Meditate class for an entire month, leaving those who wanted to reduce the stress caused by ice dams, roof shoveling and sore backs with no choice but to wait.
Without knowing we would top historic snowfall in Boston, Harvard Vanguard just happened to offer its first ever telephonic class, Group Health Coaching Experience for Women in Midlife. This course, designed for women 45 to 59 years of age who were interested in making lifestyle changes to improve their health, met by phone for six sessions. Little did we know when we planned this course how convenient it would turn out to be! Participants didn’t have to worry about weather reports, digging out their cars or slippery roads because they participated in the class from the comfort of their own homes.
Each week, the participants were sent a message through MyHealth, our secure web-based patient portal, to help prepare them for the upcoming discussion. The women shared ideas on healthy eating, stress management and meditation, and brainstormed how to fit mini-meditations and exercise into their already-busy lives. They learned how to set small, specific, measurable, “do-able” goals and how to follow through on them. The women felt that the accountability to the group was instrumental in helping them reach their goals. One participant identified “defining realistic and reasonable goals” as the most beneficial part of the course for her. She went on to say that it was helpful to “…evaluate them [the goals] the following week and to redefine them as needed.”
Pam Wolfsan, Certified Health Coach and group facilitator, said she “…loved it when the women laughed – seeing themselves in each other’s comments. We created a private, safe place to look at our behaviors and to cultivate responses to difficult situations.”
When asked what aspects of the course could use improvement, one woman shared, “None, it was well organized from start to finish. While I wasn’t sure how the phone format would work, there were no issues. And we never had to cancel due to all the snowstorms.”
With the long winter behind us, is there still a place for telephonic classes at Harvard Vanguard? Absolutely! Soon enough we’ll be complaining that it’s too hot to go outside, but telephonic classes would allow you to get healthy from the comfort of your air-conditioned home.
The next session of Group Health Coaching Experience for Women in Midlife, starts on May 5th. To view all classes offered by Harvard Vanguard, click here.