Health and Wellness Coaching in Healthcare: How the VA is Leading the Way

“What veterans are often telling us is that what mattered most wasn’t the tools or the strategies the coach used. It was the coach’s unwavering belief in their ability to heal, grow, and make meaningful steps forward.” Sara Grimsgaard Noyes

In this episode of CoachConnect, Dr. Diego Salinas invites Sara Grimsgaard Noyes and Dr. Janet Clark; two of the most influential leaders driving the integration of health and wellness coaching in healthcare. They explore how the Veterans Health Administration became the national model for coaching in clinical settings.

Sara opens with her origin story. After years working in healthcare systems, process improvement, and patient advocacy, she discovered that traditional care lacked space for patient autonomy and voice. That realization led her to integrative health and eventually to health and wellness coaching. A discovery that she says changed not just how she worked, but how she showed up for people in every area of her life.

Dr. Clark shares a parallel journey. After nearly three decades as a physician working with chronic pain, metabolic disease, and complex medical conditions, she recognized that diagnosis-focused care was failing many of the veterans she served. Whole health, and coaching specifically, offered something medicine alone could not: a path toward recovery rooted in what matters most to each person.

Together, Diego, Sara, and Dr. Clark explore the VA’s four-stage coaching process, the concept of veteran capacity and the MAP framework (Mission, Aspiration, and Purpose), and why coaches are uniquely effective precisely because they are not clinicians. They share powerful real-world stories, including Jim; a veteran whose entire health transformation began with cleaning his kitchen. They also discuss the growing body of evidence showing that coaching improves chronic disease outcomes, tobacco cessation, mental well-being, and engagement with clinical care.

They also pull back the curtain on what it actually took to build a nationally scaled coaching workforce inside one of the world’s largest healthcare systems; from creating a formal qualification standard to developing supervision frameworks, communities of practice, and standardized documentation tools.

Sara Grimsgaard Noyes, MHMS, NBC-HWC – National Leader in Health and Wellness Coaching Integration, VA

Sara Grimsgaard Noyes holds a Master of Healthcare Management Systems and is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Her career has spanned healthcare innovation, systems redesign, process improvement, lean six sigma, change management, and patient advocacy. She holds additional certificates in change management and lean six sigma for healthcare.

Leadership at the VA

Sara serves as an Assistant Specialist at the VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, where she provides national leadership for integrating health and wellness coaching into interdisciplinary clinical teams. Under her leadership, the VA has enabled over 400,000 health and wellness coaching encounters in fiscal year 2025. She has created frameworks, education tools, and processes that improve veteran health outcomes and has spearheaded workforce development efforts to equip VA staff with coaching skills across the system.

Her Mission

Sara is a recognized leader in systems redesign, policy implementation, and healthcare innovation. She has published and presented extensively on best practices in health and wellness coaching and whole health transformation. Her work is rooted in a deeply held belief that every veteran brings tremendous capacity to the coaching process, and that the coach’s role is to help them reconnect with it.

Dr. Janet Clark – Integrative Physician & Senior Leader, VA Office of Patient Centered Care

Dr. Janet Clark is an integrative and family physician certified through the American Board of Family Medicine. With nearly three decades of clinical experience, her work has focused on chronic pain recovery, health and wellness coaching in clinical care teams, and interdisciplinary therapeutic education for chronic disease management and recovery.

Leadership at the VA

Dr. Clark serves as a senior leader for the National Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation in the Veterans Health Administration. She leads integrative health coordinating center and whole health clinical care services across the VA. Prior to this role, she served as Associate Chief of Staff, Clinical Director of Whole Health, Pain Clinical Lead, and Medical Director of the Therapeutic Lifestyle Clinic at the Iowa City VA Healthcare System. She has served veterans in the VA for 19 years.

Her Mission

Dr. Clark’s work is grounded in the belief that chronic disease and chronic symptoms are not fixed destinies, and that language, lens, and the coaching relationship can open a world of possibility for recovery. She is passionate about teaching clinicians how to integrate coaching skills into their practice and about building the clinical partnerships that allow coaches to flourish inside healthcare teams.

Dr. Diego Salinas is the host of CoachConnect.

Dr. Diego Salinas is a neuroscientist, physician, and health coach. He is passionate about helping coaches grow their impact in the health and wellness space.

As the co-founder of Vibly, he equips coaches with the tools and support to build thriving practices and create lasting change.

Blending medical expertise with coaching experience, Dr. Salinas specializes in behavior change, mental well-being, and the role of coaching in healthcare. On CoachConnect, he explores the strategies and successes of top coaches, sharing actionable insights. A strong advocate for coaching in healthcare, he speaks at industry events and works to make quality coaching more accessible.

CoachConnect with Dr. Diego Salinas is a podcast for coaches looking to grow their impact, refine their strategies, and navigate the evolving world of health and wellness coaching.

Dr. Diego Salinas has a question for coaches and coaching industry leaders: “What makes coaching a powerful force for change?” In this podcast series, he sits down with top coaching professionals to uncover their insights, strategies, and personal journeys.

Each episode of CoachConnect delivers real-world strategies, success stories, and expert perspectives on coaching, mental well-being, and business growth, helping coaches at all levels unlock their full potential.