My Optimal Health Club Leverages the Power of Coaching Combined with Self-Management for Chronic Illness or Disability

KESWICK, ON, CANADA, December 15, 2010 (Press-News.org) Trish Robichaud is a woman with a disability but she is NOT a disabled woman. In fact, she so passionately believes in empowerment for people living with chronic illness or disability that she's recently launched the MOH-Club, short for My Optimal Health Club. It's a virtual health club created for people who are sick and tired of the "being" side of sickness and motivated to try the "doing" side of optimal health.

The primary benefit of membership in the club is life coaching. Ms Robichaud will be empowering her members to effectively self-manage their health through the process of coaching. She is no stranger to illness and disability, Robichaud has been providing support counseling and coaching support to people with multiple sclerosis and other types of disabilities since shortly after her MS diagnosis back in 1993.

Self-management is a term used to describe the decisions and actions an individual takes to cope with or improve their health and can be a powerful tool for reasserting personal control. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) developed at Stanford School of Medicine recognizes the need for people with chronic illness to deal with common issues such as pain management, stress and coping skills on a daily basis. The program was developed as a result of Stanford's clinical trial that brought people living with chronic illness together with a facilitator (who also had chronic illness) to coach them through developing strategies for effectively living with and dealing with chronic illness in their daily lives.

Chronic illness is proving to be one of the most pressing public health issues of the 21st century. Life with chronic illness presents challenges that can be met but effective long-term management does not happen in the clinic, doctor's office, hospital or the ICU.

Effective management is ultimately self-management. It's less about information and education and more about intervention and empowerment. Chronic illness self-management equals taking action to create some sense of order where chaos is the norm. And though most people with a chronic illness may never be free of their condition altogether, through effective self-management and coaching, they can definitely learn ways to manage it well and find their own personal level of optimal health.

For further information about Trish Robichaud and the MOH-Club, visit http://www.MyOptimalHealthClub.org.