A bit aBOUT ME

 

~I believe every person can grow, learn, transform and succeed and most importantly flourish~

 

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Hi, I’m Sandra O’Reilly Duncan​

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As a certified Health and Wellness Coach, my passion centers

around working with people and helping them flourish so they

can live their healthiest life. I completed a Master’s in Health

Psychology and I have a certificate in Intensive Tobacco

Cessation Counselling. I am also a Certified Tobacco Educator.

I have been working in the field of Health Promotion and

behaviour change over the past fifteen plus years.

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Over the last fifteen years, it has been my privilege to coach and

work with people on their personal goals and pursuits as they

strived to live a healthier life. A few of the focus areas I‘ve worked on with clients included: stress management, relaxation, adopting a physically active lifestyle, quitting smoking, and work-life balance.

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For nine of those latter years, I worked in smoking cessation for our local Government. I designed, delivered, and evaluated cessation programs and workshops for adults. As a health and wellness coach, I also worked one-on-one with clients striving to live a smoke-free life. I learned a great deal from my clients, who really were the experts in their situation.

Throughout the years, I started seeing a pattern with success rates for some of our clients. The clients who were willing to roll up their sleeves and do the deep dive into their health and wellness, explore their relationship with smoking, practice new skills and strategies along with designing healthy habits were seeing excellent results. 

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Smoking cessation was their long-term focus; embracing a holistic approach to health and well-being ultimately enhanced success rates. When they allowed themselves to discover their values and priorities and work to close the gap between where they were and where they wanted to be, they had tremendous long-term success. The most rewarding changes I saw were when folks embraced an active lifestyle; they naturally gained momentum along with increased motivation and self-efficacy during the quit process. The underlining reason people came to our office was for smoking cessation. However, once they started designing a wellness plan, they unravelled other areas of their life that could either support their quitting efforts or needed to be explored before they began to quit. This holistic and broader approach allowed me to meet these clients where they were at and guide them through a quitting process tailored for them. Ultimately, they wanted to create a healthy life full of energy, positive coping skills, stress management strategies, relaxation techniques and more. Their focus was on living their best healthy life smoke-free.

 

Over the years, working with hundreds of clients and keeping abreast of the latest research and practices in behaviour change, I have discovered what is essential and necessary to succeed in adopting a healthier lifestyle. In this coaching program, ‘Navigating Healthy Change - your journey to a smoke-free life,’ I have implemented evidenced-based techniques and strategies to guide you through the change process. I utilize best practice guidelines for smoking cessation and employ a cognitive behavioural coaching approach and other evidence-based coaching methods.

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​My years of experience in the field of smoking cessation has led to a few additional conclusions: 

Many programs or courses fall short in delivery because they miss one or more of the critical elements that need to be included in a smoking cessation program to generate high-level success for clients.

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There is a big difference between trying to quit smoking versus making a healthy lifestyle change that positively impacts and supports living smoke-free. 

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