| Course | HW350 Principles of Health Coaching |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Mindfulness in coaching paper |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health and Wellness |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HW350 Unit 6
Ten Minutes on the Porch Before the Walk: A Unit 6 Paper on Using Mindfulness in Coaching a Client With Prediabetes and Broken Sleep
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HW350: Principles of Health Coaching
Unit 6 Mindfulness in Coaching Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The client and coaching details are composite; the studies and program cited are real.
What Mindfulness Is
Most definitions of mindfulness come down to deliberately noticing what is happening right now, inside and around you, while holding back the habit of labeling it good or bad. Kabat-Zinn (1990) developed mindfulness-based stress reduction, an eight-week group program combining meditation, body awareness and gentle movement, originally for patients with chronic pain and stress in a hospital setting. Since then, mindfulness has been adapted widely, from structured programs to brief daily practices.
For coaching, the relevant idea is awareness. Many automatic behaviors, such as reaching for a snack when bored or lying awake replaying the day, happen without noticing. Mindfulness practice trains the noticing, which creates a moment in which a different choice is possible.
What the Evidence Shows
Khoury et al. (2015) pooled trials of the eight-week program in people without a diagnosed illness and found the clearest benefit for stress, smaller but real benefits for mood and quality of life and the least for burnout, with gains lasting several months on average; the studies differed a good deal. Rose et al. (2025) reported that hospital and university employees in an integrative health and wellness coaching program showed improvements in stress, physical health and mental health over 12 weeks, with improvements in stress and physical health still present at 18 and 24 weeks, suggesting that coaching programs can address stress alongside other goals.
The evidence is strongest for structured programs. Brief practices delivered by a coach are less studied, so claims should be modest.
Where Mindfulness Fits in Coaching Scope
A health coach can introduce simple mindfulness practices, such as a few minutes of breathing awareness or a mindful pause before eating, as tools for the client's own goals. A coach should not use mindfulness to treat depression, anxiety or trauma, which belong to licensed professionals. Gloria is seeing a counselor for low mood, so I told the counselor, through the clinic's record, which practices coaching would use, to avoid overlap or conflicting advice.
The coach's version of mindfulness is a tool for noticing the afternoon snack, not a treatment for the sadness that might be behind it.
Applying Mindfulness to Gloria's Goals
Afternoon eating. Gloria snacks most between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., when her husband is out and the house is quiet. She is not ready to change what she eats, as the transtheoretical model analysis showed, but she was curious about why the afternoons feel hard. I suggested a "pause and notice" practice: before opening the pantry, she stops for three slow breaths and asks herself what she is feeling. She is free to eat the snack afterward. The aim is awareness, not restriction.
Sleep. At night her mind replays errands and worries. She chose a ten-minute guided body scan, using a free audio recording, after her evening gratitude log and before turning out the light. She also agreed to try ten minutes sitting on her porch in the morning before her walk, which she described as "the closest thing to the quiet start of my old route."
How Progress Will Be Judged
Gloria rates her sleep quality from 1 to 10 each morning on her log and notes whether she paused before afternoon snacks. After four weeks we will look at both together. Success would be better sleep ratings and more pauses, even if snack amounts are unchanged, because awareness is the step that must come before any change she later chooses.
Early Experience
After two weeks, she paused before the pantry on 8 of 14 afternoons and noticed that on most of them she was bored or lonely rather than hungry. On three of those afternoons she called her daughter instead of snacking, a choice she made herself. Her sleep ratings rose from an average of 4 to 6. She found the body scan hard at first and switched to a shorter version.
Why Brief Practices for This Client
A full eight-week program would ask Gloria for a weekly group session lasting most of an evening, plus daily home practice of up to 45 minutes. She was willing to try mindfulness but not to commit to that, and the nearest program met on a weekday evening when she babysits. Brief practices fitted inside moments she already had, the afternoon pantry visit, the porch before her walk and bedtime. They also connect to her other goals: the morning porch time leads into the walk, and the bedtime practice follows the gratitude log. If she finds the brief practices helpful and wants more, the clinic's counselor knows of a community program she could join later.
What Her Counselor Said
When I told the counselor which practices coaching would use, she welcomed the porch time and the body scan and asked that I avoid exercises focused on difficult emotions, which she was addressing in counseling. That request shaped the choice of the pause-and-notice practice, which asks only what Gloria is feeling, not why, and leaves the deeper questions to counseling.
How Mindfulness Connects to the Other Frameworks
Mindfulness fits the coaching stance used throughout. It is offered, not prescribed, which respects her autonomy. Noticing what she feels before snacking supports the exploration phase for a behavior she is not ready to change, as the stages model suggests. And each paused afternoon is a small success she records, which feeds the confidence the self-efficacy work is building. The practices are therefore not an extra topic but another way of supporting the same goals.
Risks and Responses
Some people find focusing on the body or breath uncomfortable, especially those with anxiety or trauma histories. If Gloria finds a practice distressing, she will stop it, and I will mention it to her counselor. Mindfulness can also become another task to fail at; keeping practices short and optional prevents that.
What Comes Next
If the practices keep helping, the next step is hers to choose.
Conclusion
Mindfulness offers Gloria a way to notice what drives her afternoon eating and to quiet the night-time replay that breaks her sleep. The evidence supports structured mindfulness programs for stress and wellbeing, and brief practices are a reasonable, low-risk tool within a coach's scope, provided they support her goals, stay optional and leave her low mood to her counselor.
References
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. Delacorte Press.
Khoury, B., Sharma, M., Rush, S. E., & Fournier, C. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78(6), 519-528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.03.009
Rose, G. L., Smith, A. M., Mossburg, J., & Westervelt, K. (2025). Impact of an employee health and wellness coaching program on self-reported stress, physical health, and mental health in hospital and university employees. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health, 14. https://doi.org/10.1177/27536130251363933
Reading the HW 350 Unit 6 instructions
Unit 6 usually asks students to examine mindfulness and how a health coach might use it with a client. Define mindfulness briefly, summarize evidence for its effects and explain where it fits within coaching scope. Then propose practices tied to the client's goals and say how their effect will be judged. Instructors look for modest claims, because the strongest evidence is for structured programs rather than brief practices led by coaches. Coordination with any mental health professional involved with the client is often expected. Many prompts also ask about risks, since some people find body-focused practices distressing. Explaining why brief practices were chosen over a full program, given the client's schedule and preferences, shows the plan was fitted to a real person.
How the HW 350 Unit 6 example is put together
The paper opens with Gloria's broken sleep and quiet afternoons. Mindfulness and its origin in an eight-week hospital program are explained briefly. Evidence comes from the stress reduction meta-analysis and the employee coaching study, with a caution that brief practices are less studied. A scope section, under a highlighted line about noticing the snack rather than treating the sadness behind it, explains coordination with her counselor. Practices are applied to afternoon eating and sleep, with reasons for brief rather than full-program practice. The counselor's request and the links to the other frameworks follow. A tracking plan, two weeks of early results, risks and responses finish the paper.
HW350 Unit 6 rubric: what earns full points
Mindfulness papers are graded on accurate evidence, clear scope and practical application. The definition and origins should be stated briefly and correctly. Evidence should be reported with its limits, especially the difference between structured programs and brief practices. Graders reward explicit scope statements and coordination with mental health providers. Practices should be tied to the client's goals and schedule. A tracking method and early results show the practices were tested. Risks and when to stop a practice demonstrate safe use. Links to other frameworks in the course show integration. The book, the meta-analysis and the employee study belong in APA 7.
HW350 Unit 6 help from the desk
Mindfulness papers often promise more than the evidence supports, claiming brief practices treat anxiety or depression. Another frequent weakness is prescribing a full meditation routine to a client who never asked for one. Some writers forget to coordinate with a counselor already involved, risking conflicting advice. Practices described without any way to judge their effect read as suggestions. Ignoring that some people find body-focused practices uncomfortable can cause harm, especially for clients with anxiety or trauma histories. Before writing, find the two moments in your client's day when automatic habits take over, and design a short practice for each. Describe those two moments to us, and we can shape the practices to fit them.
Get an HW350 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Send the client and the instructions with the rubric. A custom paper applies mindfulness evidence to the client's goals. It is free the first time and arrives within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HW350 Unit 6 questions, answered
Is mindfulness within a coach's scope?
Simple practices are, but therapy for mental health conditions is not.
What is MBSR?
Mindfulness-based stress reduction, an eight-week structured program.
How long should a practice be?
Even brief daily practices may help, and they are easier to keep.
Where can I find a free HW350 Unit 6 sample paper?
The complete HW350 Unit 6 mindfulness in coaching paper can be found on this page, applying brief practices to a client's afternoon snacking and broken sleep within scope.
How did mindfulness help in the HW350 Unit 6 sample?
In two weeks the client paused before snacking on 8 of 14 afternoons, noticed she was often bored or lonely and chose to call her daughter on three of them, and her sleep rating rose from 4 to 6.