Stress management lunch and learn
Gates Open Wellness will customize a group coaching program to your individual organizational needs. Programs include six weekly group coaching sessions during the workday or after hours, plus two one-on-one sessions per participant.

Gates Open Wellness creates group stress management coaching for businesses and organizations. In-person (Nashville area) or video/phone conference programs run six weeks, with one 90-minute session per week, and ideally five to eight participants per group.
Why group health and wellness coaching?
Group health coaching is still relatively new, but shows promise in optimizing long-term wellbeing.
According to a 2013 study printed in Global Advances in Health and Medicine, the benefits of the group setting include:
- A sense of universality as members share common struggles;
- Instillation of hope and boost to self-efficacy from seeing others make positive changes;
- A less expensive option than individual coaching; and
- Potential for shared knowledge, experience and wisdom.
How is coaching different than, say, group therapy, a small group study, or an educational seminar?
- Coaching views each individual as the expert on his or her own life. As a result, coaching sessions are more about evocative questions, reflections, visioning, goal setting and exploration of strengths and past experiences than they are about teaching, advice or “shoulds.” The well-trained coach will steer the group away from members telling each other what to do, and instead set a standard for nonjudgmental listening and drawing inspiration/motivation from the experiences of others.
What happens in a group coaching session?
A standard session will include:
- A progress review of individual goals from the previous week;
- A brief discussion topic as a jumping-off point;
- Individual coaching of a volunteer from the group;
- Time for individuals to state commitments/action steps for the following week; and
- Time for questions/comments/takeaways.
In addition, each group member will receive two one-on-one individual sessions with the coach, either by phone or video chat, at the beginning and end of the course. These sessions will provide a basis of understanding of the coaching process, as well as the opportunity to begin creating an overall wellness vision and three-month “GO Plan.”
What topics can be covered?
Gates Open Wellness will customize a program to your individual group’s needs; with stress management, for example, six modules could be chosen from the list below:
- Reducing back-burner stressors
- Improving relationships
- Creating space
- Taming technology
- Being fully present
- Curbing anger
- Fostering peace
- Developing positive habits
- Augmenting wellness through diet, exercise and rest
Each week’s session will include access to related takeaway tools such as breathing exercises, meditation techniques, etc.
Why Gates Open Wellness?
In addition to being a certified health and wellness coach with Wellcoaches, Gates Open Wellness founder Fiona Soltes has more than two decades of experience in small group dynamics, including facilitation, mentoring of other leaders, program design, retreat planning and curriculum development. In the wellness sector, she holds a bachelor’s degree in holistic nutrition and spent seven years teaching Pilates in numerous studios as a certified instructor. She has been an entrepreneur since 2008 and a professional writer since 1998, honing her interviewing, listening and communication skills all along the way. Coach Fiona is a seasoned professional at recognizing and exploring themes and patterns; asking “what if;” and pulling seemingly disparate pieces of information into a cohesive whole.
Reference: Armstrong, C., Wolever, R. Q., Manning, L., Elam, R., Moore, M., Frates, E. P., Duskey, H., Anderson, C., Curtis, R. L., Masemer, S., … Lawson, K. (2013). Group health coaching: strengths, challenges, and next steps. Global advances in health and medicine, 2(3), 95-102.
Move forward.
Group coaching for stress management can help your employees/associates/co-workers/team members thrive both inside and outside work hours. Schedule a brief, no-obligation call, and we’ll discover whether coaching might be the right path for your organization.