I’m always supportive of using lived experience as a valuable resource in the care continuum, and any medic who ignores or dismisses a person because they are bringing in their experiences, and research related to this, is actually not doing anyone any good at all.
Lived experience in health is a large area that is currently not accounted for in the current heath systems, however please be clear that I am not promoting your coaching approach or business individually because I know nothing about your coaching business 🙂
Please I ask that what I say here does not get interpreted or used in part or in whole as promotional or recommendation material anywhere (internet, brochure, electronic communications, etc), in any format (verbal, written, electronically, etc).
Also, just to kindly clarify, my IBD isn’t caused by lifestyle factors; I have an underlying immune disease confirmed to be the cause, and by treating immune disease (as mentioned in my previous comment), while facilitating healing of bowel tissues using dietary modifications, after 12 months I went into IBD remission (not cured - I still have what I call mini flares). In my case, unfortunately nothing regarding the immune disease or the IBD was/is preventable, and prior to the symptoms becoming apparent, my diet and lifestyle was 100% healthy (no unhealthy habits or consumption of alcohol/smoking/added sugar/carbonated flavoured drinks/all food make at home from produce/no added chemicals or preservatives, etc..I used to be a fitness model so I very much took my health and wellbeing seriously). The immune disorder I have is genetic, so there is little impact that diet and lifestyle has on that, and it depends on what that is doing as to how bad the colitis is (then I use food as medicine to treat the symptoms of IBD, along with adjusting immune medication).
The peer to peer/patient to patient guidance/system navigation and support I provide is free of charge - I do not take payment for this because often the people whom I speak with have already depleted their resources trying to get medical care and still pretty much at square one, sadly. So I don’t charge them anything 🙂
..this is not to say that what I do has no monetary value; arguably, it does. However, I choose to maintain the peer to peer dynamic in all aspects of the relationship, including financially (if I took money, it changes the connection to an economic disparity thus giving me a power advantage - something I don’t think is appropriate in a peer relationship with someone at any disadvantage to me when I’m peer guiding).
This is definitely where none of my qualifications are useful - only my experience living with navigating the health systems and insight into the indicators that can inform a person about deciding on who to see as their medic. As well as informing them of their rights under the relevant health policies in this country and in their state (minimum set standards of care, information access rights, recourse and complaints rights, etc).
I guess that’s a bit different to coaching?
I also support people going through crisis (no charge) to help them cope and not take any drastic actions in the moment (volunteering for a charitable organisation), which I think is also different than coaching, I’m guessing.
There is a huge gap between traditional delivery methods of care in medicine and person to person support within the medical system, and I think lived experience can bridge that gap. In terms of a qualification for this, then an education structure would have to be established, tested, certified, and delivered (that would take decades here because firstly finding the right people to develop it - with the right qualifications - would be extremely difficult..what came first: the chicken, or the egg?). So I think in that context, a qualification is kind of a moot point; much better to use personal skills of what someone has experienced going through the systems and relaying that ‘heads-up’ info to the new patients/people/carers/family members entering into the medical industrial complex (used as a term to describe the industry and its complexity; not as a collective noun).
I just want to kindly clarify the context of my former post, which was from the perspective that lived experience is under utilised and under valued in traditional healthcare delivery methods, and that to go down the path of qualification in this area doesn’t really achieve much, or would carry much weight, because each persons experience is unique, and the knowledge is personal (specific to them, in the way they interpreted their own life and experience), so then relaying that lived experience to someone to help them will vary greatly between people giving help and the person they are helping, to enable establishment of a connection (standardised learnings for which a person can get a qualification does not fit this methodology of engagement, and standardised delivery - saying the same thing to different people - doesn’t work when supporting truly individualised approaches and care, which are essential because each person that received peer to peer support has different circumstances…financial situation/culture/family circumstances/faith/mobility & travel limitations/emotional resilience/cognitive function, etc which must be considered to enable provision of the best possible support).
I lost a teaching job because I was adding in these aspects into my classes when teaching anatomy (I mean, why else would students be learning anatomy besides to be working with people who are unwell therefore vulnerable? They needed to know how to approach a person as an individual with unique circumstances and needs), but out of all the teachers in that tertiary institution, my pass rate was 95% (comparison pass rate was 55% with other teachers), so my students knew their stuff before they left the room (pass rate is how many students pass your class when they sit their final independent exams - teachers were not aware of the exam content or questions, so our job was to teach everything and then let the student perform during the tests).
I do think lived experience is very much overdue in the current complexity of the system, however reading your message I am thinking that there may well indeed be a variety of methods to do this 🙂