The Health Coaching Profession is Growing Too Fast to Be Left Unguarded | with Deanna Fournier

with Deanna Fournier

Health coaching is growing fast — wearables are tracking everything, AI is entering the wellness space, and more people than ever are looking for support beyond the clinic. But who's making sure any of it actually works? Deanna Fournier and the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching are. In this conversation, Deanna unpacks why a rigorous credentialing body isn't bureaucracy — it's protection. Protection for clients navigating a market that's moving faster than its standards. She makes the case for why health coaching belongs inside healthcare systems, not alongside them, and why the explosion of digital health tools only makes the human, credentialed coach more essential — not less. What you'll take away: Why a governing body for health coaching isn't red tape — it's the thing that makes the profession trustworthy How wearables and AI are creating more data but not more wellbeing — and where coaches fill that gap The access problem: why health coaching is still a luxury for most, and what needs to change Why health coaching belongs integrated inside healthcare, not as an optional add-on What it takes to credential a coach for the complexity of real human health Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Deanna Fournier on LinkedIn Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

Who’s Responsible? 4 Billion People Need Coaching and Tech Companies Got There First | with Lewin Keller

with Lewin Keller

There are 120,000 certified coaches on the planet. There are 4 billion people who could use one. And right now, it's tech companies — not coaches — who are deciding what coaching means for all of them. Lewin, founder of CoachBot.ai, joins Rebecca Rutschmann for one of the most honest conversations in this series. A former Google engineer turned coach turned AI builder, he pulls no punches on the responsibility gap in AI coaching, the design mistakes organisations make, and why coaches who are sitting on the sidelines are running out of time. This is the wake-up call the profession needs — delivered with passion, data, and zero filter. What you'll take away: Why responsibility is the pink elephant nobody in AI coaching wants to talk about How a "police officer" moderating agent keeps AI coaches from going off the rails Lewin's personal journey letting go of purely non-directive coaching — and what he learned The real numbers behind the coaching access gap and why AI is the only answer at scale What organisations are fundamentally getting wrong when they implement AI coaching Why you have two to three years to build your AI literacy before you're left behind Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Lewin Keller on LinkedIn Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

Why Optimism Is the Most Important Skill for Coaches Right Now | with Dr. Woody Woodward

with Dr. Woody Woodward

Woody Woodward has coached senior executives, built a Master's degree at NYU, co-authored The Digital Coaching Revolution, co-created the NYU Coaching & Technology Summit in 2022 and is now Chief Coaching Officer at BetterUp, leading the world's largest coaching network of 4,000 coaches across 70 countries. In this conversation, Woody shares what four million coaching sessions and the world's largest coaching dataset actually tell us about what great coaching looks like and introduces us to BetterUp's newly developed GUIDE framework, built from the ground up from client data. We also talk about why 51% of employees want a blend of human and AI coaching, why those who engage with AI tools are 30% more likely to also engage with their human coach, and why optimism is one of the seven most critical mindsets for an AI-ready coach. This is a wide-ranging, warm conversation about the future of the profession, the responsibility that comes with coaching someone through hard decisions, and what it means to humanise the experience of work. What you'll take away: BetterUp's GUIDE framework — and why it was built from the client side, not the coach side The data on how people blend human and AI coaching 7 mindsets every AI-ready coach needs (and why optimism tops the list) What enterprise buyers are actually asking for right now Where the coaching profession needs to raise its standards  Why coaches are the best-positioned professionals to help humans adapt to an uncertain world Links and resources mentioned in this episode: BetterUp Dr. Woody Woodward on LinkedIn Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/  

The Uncomfortable Truth from a Researcher: AI Has Raised the Bar for Coaching | with Prof. Dr. Nicky Terblanche

with Prof. Dr. Nicky Terblanche

Nicky Terblanche is the world's leading researcher in AI coaching. He recently received the Anthony Grant Award for Research Excellence at the IOC Conference in Boston, named after the researcher who inspired him to care about evidence in the first place. A full-circle moment worth celebrating, A former software engineer turned coach turned academic, he started thinking about the possibilities before anyone was paying attention. Nicky has spent the last seven years at Stellenbosch University building the evidence base for what AI coaching actually is, what it can do, and what it definitely can't. In this conversation, we dig into his most surprising recent findings — including why a CBT-based AI chatbot outperformed both GROW and solution-focused approaches, why people actually prefer a slightly more directive AI coach (and what that means for the field), and why the bond you form with an AI chatbot matters far less than you'd think. We also talk about the "Wild West" of AI coaching, the uncanny valley of digital avatars, the extraordinary potential of AI coaching in Africa and the Global South — and what coaches really need to stop worrying about. What you'll take away: What the latest research actually shows about AI coaching effectiveness Why methodology matters more than the chatbot The surprising finding about CBT vs. GROW in AI coaching What personality type moderates your preference for directive vs. non-directive AI coaching Why Nicky believes AI coaching could transform access in developing countries What coaches need to do NOW to future-proof their practice Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Nicky Terblanche LinkedIn A design framework to create Artificial Intelligence Coaches Research Article: Comparing GROW, solution-focused and CBT coaching chatbots      Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

How AI is Changing the Leaders We Coach | with Pam Krulitz

with Pam Krulitz

The coaching conversation has been obsessing over one question: how is AI changing coaching? Pam Krulitz thinks we're asking the wrong one. The more important question — the one nobody's talking about loudly enough — is how AI is changing the leaders we coach. Because the people sitting across from us now aren't the same leaders they were three years ago. They're navigating constant change, managing teams alongside AI agents, and making decisions at a pace that's never existed before. And if we're still bringing them the same coaching we always have, we're already behind. Pam founded Optify in 2018 with a simple but radical idea: coaching should reach people earlier in their careers, not just at the top. Eight years, one pandemic, and one AI revolution later, she's watching a shift that reminds her of something she's seen before — the move from Waterfall to Agile in software development. That wasn't a process tweak. It was a fundamental rethinking of how you build things. She thinks AI is doing exactly the same to leadership development — and most of the industry hasn't caught up yet. Rebecca and Pam dig into what coaches actually need to bring to clients now, how to turn AI tools into real learning opportunities rather than just getting stuff done, and what it means to help a leader who's no longer just leading people. In this episode: Why "how is AI changing coaching?" is the wrong question Leading agents, not just people — what that means for who we coach Learning in the flow of work as the new coaching frontier What coaches need to bring to clients that AI simply cannot Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Optify.io Pam Krulitz LinkedIn Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

How Responsible AI looks like in Mental Health Coaching | with Shelby Garay

with Shelby Garay

As Program Director of the Headspace Training Institute — training the next generation of mental health coaches — Shelby sits at one of the most critical intersections in coaching today: where AI meets mental health, and where getting it wrong has real consequences. This conversation is about what getting it right actually looks like. At Headspace, that means clinical safety guardrails with human oversight, a 30-minute limit on AI companion conversations to prevent overuse and prompt degradation, and an empathetic AI companion called Ebb that meets people where they are — every single day, not just in crisis. Because that's the shift Shelby keeps coming back to: mental health care can't only happen when things fall apart. It needs to be daily. Like going to the gym. Rebecca and Shelby also dig into how Headspace is training coaches to have the AI conversation with their clients — not avoid it — and why the coaching industry needs to stop asking "AI or human?" and start asking how AI can amplify what only humans can do. And in a moment that lands quietly but hard: Shelby shares why she's teaching her students to embrace failure — and why that might be the most human skill of all. In this episode: Why Headspace put a 30-minute limit on its AI companion — and why that's revolutionary How to build clinical guardrails that actually hold Training coaches to talk to clients about AI — not around it The danger of general-purpose chatbots being used for mental health Embracing failure as the foundation of mental health and coaching Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Headspace Training Institute Headspace Ebb - Headspace's Empathetic AI Companion Headspace Coaching Shelby Garay LinkedIn Shelby Garay Coaching & Consulting Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

Human. AI. And Something Neither Can Do Alone | with Jonathan Kirschner

with Jonathan Kirschner

What if the most powerful coaching relationship in the future involves three parties — a human coach, an AI, and the space between them that neither could create alone? Jonathan Kirschner has been thinking about this longer than most. He built AIIR (Assessment, Insight, Implementation, Reinforcement) in 2009 to bring behavioral science and structure to what Harvard Business Review called "the Wild West of executive coaching." Now, nearly two decades in, he's at the frontier again — this time asking how AI and human coaching can combine into something genuinely greater than either. His answer: Aeron, AIIR's AI digital coach assistant. Meridian, their AI-powered assessment debriefer. And a firm belief that 1+1=3 — but only if you're intentional about it. Because there's a trap. Coaches who delegate cognitive work to AI and pocket only the time savings? Jonathan's hypothesis is blunt: we'll get dumber. The edge isn't in the tools. It's in what you grow into when the tools take the heavy lifting. Rebecca, your host, and Jonathan also dig into agentic AI as the real breakthrough for sustaining behavioral change, the uncanny valley of AI persona design (and why naming your AI is harder than it sounds), and why the number one challenge for leaders right now isn't strategy — it's finding clarity when the ground won't stop moving.   He closes with a grounding practice that requires zero technology and zero budget. Just breath. In this episode: The 1+1=3 case for human-AI coaching collaboration Why efficiency without depth is a slow kind of atrophy Agentic AI and the future of long-term behavior change Leading through constant uncertainty — and staying grounded The uncanny valley, AI personas, and the politics of naming Links and resources mentioned in this episode: aiirconsulting.com aiiranalytics.com Find out more: https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/

Come Stand With Us at The Edge

Coaching is changing. AI is here. And nobody has all the answers yet. The Edge of Human & AI is the podcast for coaches, leaders, and thinkers who want to go deeper than the hype — into the real questions about what it means to be human in an age of intelligent machines. Bold conversations. Uncomfortable edges. No easy answers. Welcome to the Edge. https://vivalacoaching.com/vivapodcast/