A newsletter made just for coaches like you...a space designed to elevate your skills, strengthen your confidence, and keep you connected to the evidence-based heart of our profession. Whether you’re just beginning your coaching journey or advancing toward the NBHWC credential and beyond, this newsletter will deliver the tools, insights, and support you need to grow with purpose.
Each month, you’ll find practical skill-building tips, research-based guidance, cohort announcements, NBHWC-exam study support, and resources you can use immediately in your coaching sessions.
Our mission is simple: to help you master your craft, stay inspired, and feel empowered as a leader in the field of professional health and wellness coaching.
Let’s grow, learn, and lead...together.
Skill Builder of the Month: Elicit-Provide-Elicit
Picture this: A client asks you a direct question, or is about to make a decision based on something that isn't true, and you know something that would be helpful to consider.
Coach training spends so much energy on not telling that many coaches freeze. Some hold back information the client actually needs. Others drop the coach role entirely and start teaching. Neither one serves the client.
Elicit–Provide–Elicit (EPE), from Motivational Interviewing, is the third option. It's a way to share information that leaves the client in charge of attaching meaning and thus, taking action. This style of questioning and sharing of knowledge is also known as Ask-Offer-Ask.
Elicit. Ask two things: permission, and what they already know.
- "Would it be helpful if I shared a bit of what's known about sleep and cravings?"
- "What have you already heard about that?"
- "What do you already understand about what your doctor has shared?"
This step allows us to see what the client already knows, but also where some gaps or misinformation may lie.
Provide. Offer the information briefly and neutrally, in small pieces. One or two sentences. Frame this as information rather than instruction: "Research tends to show…", "Some people find…", "A few things clients often try are…" A menu of options keeps the choice with the client.
Elicit. Check for understanding of the information that was shared.
- "What do you make of that?"
- "How does that fit with what you've noticed?"
- "What, if anything, feels relevant for you?"
This step turns the information you've provided into the client's own reasoning.
Where it can go wrong:
- The quiz or interrogation. "Do you know how many servings of vegetables you're supposed to eat?" isn't eliciting. It's a test. Ask what they know, not whether they know the right answer.
- The data or information dump. Don't spend an inappropriate amount of time giving complex information. Give a piece, then check in.
- Moving too quickly to action. Going straight from information to "So what are you going to do?" This creates urgency and pressure. Ask what they think first.
Scope of Practice: EPE is also one of the best tools a coach has for staying in their lane. It lets you share general, evidence-based information, and point clients to credible sources or their care team, without prescribing. If what you're about to "provide" is a meal plan, a fitness regimen, a supplement recommendation, or medical advice, that's your cue to refer to the correct practitioner.
In Practice: Catch yourself the next time you're about to explain something. Before you do, ask one question: "What do you already know about that?" Notice how often the client knows more than you expected, and how often what they need isn't the information you were about to give.
For a deeper dive, consider purchasing Motivational Interviewing (4th Edition) by Miller and Rollnick (link to purchase).
Coaching Asset: The Quick Reset
Most clients don’t derail because of one bad choice. They derail because of what they decide that choice means. Failure. Shame. "I did it again."
A slip is a pastry at the morning meeting, a skipped walk at lunch, or a long dinner out with the girls that ran later and "richer" than planned (i.e. chips and queso, a beefy burrito, and margaritas).
It turns into a full fall when the narrative shifts to an inner dialogue, such as: "Well, I already blew it. I’ll start again Monday." From there, Monday becomes the 1st of the month, the 1st becomes January, and January becomes “when I turn 40.” We've all heard this story before.
The reset can happen so much faster when we plan for the slip.
- Breakfast went sideways? Lunch is the reset.
- Dinner out ran long? Tomorrow morning is the reset.
- Missed the workout? The ten-minute walk tonight still counts.
There’s no need to make up for it, compensate, or “earn it back.” The client simply returns to the plan at the very next opportunity.
Coach Strategies for a Quick Reset:
- Normalize the slip before it happens. Early in the coaching relationship, acknowledge that there will be off days. A client who expects bumps treats them as part of the road, not proof they can’t drive.
- Separate the event from the identity. “I had a heavy lunch” is information. “I have no willpower” is an emotional verdict. Reflect the first and gently question the second.
- Ask about the next choice, not the last one. “What’s the next meal or moment where you’d like to get back on track?” keeps the conversation moving forward instead of ruminating on what went wrong.
- Make the reset small. The best restart is easy enough to do even when the client feels discouraged: a glass of water, a vegetable at dinner, five minutes outside.
- Help them write a reset rule in advance. “After an off meal, my next meal is a normal one.” A decision made ahead of time is much easier to follow in the moment.
Watch the language, including your own. “Bad breakfast,” “cheated,” and “blew it” all turn food into a moral scorecard, and that feeds the all-or-nothing spiral. You don’t need to correct clients every time, but you can reflect back neutral language: “So breakfast didn’t go the way you planned.”
Spring 2027 Coaching Cohort
Start the new year off right! Join us for our first cohort of 2027.
Enroll Now: www.expertcoachcenter.org/store
Pricing Tiers: www.expertcoachcenter.org/pricing-tiers
Scholarship Opportunity: www.expertcoachcenter.org/scholarships
NBHWC Exam Study Hub
Testing in the fall of 2026? Check out our study resources here.
Continuing Education for NBC-HWCs
Are your CE credits due December 30th? We've got you covered!
Course Spotlight:
Enhance Your Relationships: (11 NBHWC CECs)
Upon completion of this self-paced course, learners will understand relationships in a deeper way that is absolutely crucial so that you can show up your best. Each module is focused on a theme. Module 1: Understanding and enhancing our relationships with ourselves. Module 2: Understanding our relationships with significant others. Module 3: Understanding our relationships with our clients. And lastly, Module 4: Understanding our relationships with our businesses/careers.
CEA-000087-1 (11 CECs) Click Here to enroll.
Check our the courses at www.expertcoachcenter.org/cec
Career Hub: Job Application Language Toolkit
Expert Coach Center is creating a toolkit for graduates and coaches from other programs to utilize in their job search. It will include templates and language for certified coaches to utilize in resumes, cover letters, and outreach letters to organizations who could benefit from coaching services, but are unsure of what coaching services provide.
So far, we have the following topics:
- The landscape of the coaching profession
- How to properly represent your credentials
- How to list your expertise and skill set on a resume
- How to translate specific coaching skills into employer language
- Cover letter building blocks
- Creating a LinkedIn bio
- Interview preparation
- How to handle objections
We would love input from our readers on what information would be most useful. Suggest other ideas for this toolkit using this link: Click Here
We plan to release this toolkit with our November newsletter, so stay tuned!
Business Building Support
Expert Coach Center is collaborating with Coach Business Training to offer 5 individual courses, including options to bundle! All approved by the NBHWC for continuing education credits.
Check out our NBHWC-approved business-building courses here.
Join Us:
Fall Office Hours: Wednesdays 1-2pm cst beginning September 2, 2026
Join ECC staff to bounce ideas, ask questions, and build community.
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87621683470
(No office hours the week of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.)
We love to hear from our readers!
Click Here to offer suggestions for content you would like to see in this monthly newsletter from Expert Coach Center!
Until next time, happy coaching!
~Holly Miller, Owner of Expert Coach Center
