03/02/2022
I am so thankful to be spotlighted by the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching. Thank you!
Today we'd like to spotlight Freddi Brown, NBC-HWC. Freddi is a part of our Microcertification Task Force and has been a part of the team that supports our NDPP project with the CDC.
We asked Freddi what she enjoys most about being a health & wellness coach.
"My vision is helping my community become better advocates for themselves. I witnessed my family and people within my community make undesirable decisions about their health. Even though we have access to a wide range of healthy foods and activities as Americans, people in my community suffer from common, preventable diseases like the ones my grandmother had. In fact, African Americans are 50% more likely to have a stroke than white adults, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. This isnโt because weโre defective, but instead, itโs due to medical racism, bias, and pervasive health inequities. Many in my community lack resources, education, or live in food deserts without access to high quality, nutritious options.
The worst part? Everyone around me had accepted this as inevitable, having witnessed their older relatives and friends having similar afflictions throughout their lives.
I realized this was because of peopleโs lack of knowledge about proper health practices and not knowing how to make behavioral changes, not an unwillingness to make good choices. Many in my community simply had limited access to information about improving their wellness through healthy lifestyle choices. This destiny did not sit well with me. I needed to do something about it.
My maternal grandmother inspired me to become a health & wellness coach. She had lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Her health conditions led to three strokes, and she lost her life on New Yearโs Day in 1992 after the final one.
I began educating myself about good nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and personal health practices to improve and prolong my life. My foggy brain, prediabetic diagnosis, and anxiety began dissipating. Soon, my family and friends became curious about health and wellness after witnessing my own transformation.
This became my passion, and I knew I had to alter my career path to practice Health & Wellness Coaching full time. I graduated from Georgetown Universityโs Health & Wellness Coaching Program, became NBHWC credentialed and have my own coaching practice, Figure It Out With Freddi.
I most enjoy when people start to advocate for themselves in different areas of their lives. They just need to realize they have the answers within themselves. Coaching is not about advising but co-creating. I hold space to help them realize they're capable of transforming their lives.
For example, one client wanted to lose 20 pounds. We realized she had an emotional attachment to baking and felt cluttered in all areas of her life. She was living in the home she grew up in with her grandmother. Through coaching, we began decluttering her home, mourning the loss of her grandmother, and discovering other ways to honor her memory. Today, sheโs living life out loud: healthy, at her goal weight, and a shining example of her grandmotherโs legacy.
This vision has led me to expand my roles for broader influence, too. I am the Associate Director in my alma mater coaching program at Georgetown. Along with another Georgetown HWC graduate, we co-created a Cultural Competency workshop, knowing that what already exists wouldnโt work within our community. For example, just meditating or giving up gluten wasnโt going to cut it. We want this education to reach across cultures, race and class so coaches can better understand what biases exist and who weโre working with. Lifestyle diseases donโt have to be a generational curse."
