We recently connected with Vera Ross and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Vera , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I clearly remember, after I finished grad school and started working as a clinical health coach with real patients for the first time, explaining to my stepdad my feelings of nervousness- my sense that everyone around me would realize my inadequacy and I would be exposed as a fraud…the classic “imposter syndrome” anxiety. My stepdad, who is a Vietnam helicopter pilot-turned-commercial airline captain, related to me the story of his first commercial flight as a first officer: he explained that, before takeoff he turned back to look at the hundreds of passengers seated behind him and thought silently to himself, “don’t these people know that it’s just me up here flying the plane??” Hearing that story from a parent who I have always thought of as the hallmark of confidence that he, too, had experienced the feeling of imposter syndrome really normalized that for me. I have come to understand that most competent professionals possess some degree of imposter syndrome, but that it is mostly a symptom of realizing that you are never truly going to achieve perfection at your job, and that striving for constant improvement in your craft is actually a strength- not a weakness.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
As a clinical health coach, I work with patients and clients to optimize their health. I specialize in healthy weight loss and weight management, and I utilize cognitive behavioral therapeutic techniques to address the daily actions and behaviors that have the most impact on health outcomes (such as nutrition and physical activity). With all the buzz around these new “weight loss drugs,” there is an increased awareness around the underlying behaviors that actually contribute to weight gain (for example. the rise in sedentary lifestyles and the chronic consumption of hyper-processed foods), while at the same time there is still a lack of actionable information about which foods and physical activities people “should” be doing. Much of my work centers around re-educating clients away from the diet-culture mindset, and guiding people towards systems that fit their unique needs. In my practice, I work one-on-one with clients to address their specific lifestyle habits, schedules, restrictions and preferences to tailor behavior change plans to each individual. It is my goal that each client walks away with information and habits that they can maintain on their own.
My BA in psychology and MA in public health promotion uniquely qualify me to provide this style of counseling to clients who are seriously interested in making lifelong changes.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three areas of knowledge that have had the greatest impact on my journey both professionally and personally have been formal education, physical education, and emotional development. Firstly, having a background in the areas of knowledge related to my field of practice- psychology and public health- have had the most impact from a professional standpoint. Having that formal training qualifies me to work with a greater number of people, which is always my pursuit: to be able to help as many people as a I can, in any way that I can, with my short time on this planet. My educational background also trained me to deeply research medical and scientific data sources, which is more important than ever in our current client of health misinformation and information overload. It is a critical part of my job to be able to cut through the “noise” of incomplete information so that I can provide my clients with the science-backed techniques that will lead to real beneficial health changes.
My physical education came first in the form of competitive athletics, specifically running cross country in the fall and track in the spring throughout high school and college. I was fortunate to have competed as an NCAA scholar athlete during my undergraduate career, and through that process I learned the discipline of daily ritual. The sport of running is uniquely instrumental in the lesson of diligent, consistent effort: if you run, every day, and keep going a bit further and/or faster each day, you will improve and you will learn a lot about yourself in the process. That is a lesson I remind myself of daily with my current fitness habit. And while I don’t run every day currently, the habit of development through physical work is still something I practice daily.
The area of emotional intelligence is one that continues to grow and develop for me. I consider emotional intelligence a crucial job requirement in my field- anyone who works closely with others would agree. The more life experience I gain, the more empathy I have and the better I am at walking in my clients’ shoes. I recognize that my lived experience is not the same as my clients’, and that their attitudes and beliefs need to be respected and upheld throughout the coaching relationship. No two people are the same, and my approach to behavior change therapy starts from that perspective.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always seeking to expand my professional network and am interested in collaborating with physicians in the San Diego area who work with weight loss patients. More specifically, all prescribing NPs and medical doctors who are currently treating patients with the new GLP-1 agonist drugs and need a qualified behavior change specialist to work with your patients around the underlying behavior changes needed to make weight loss permanent. All of the scientific literature on this new class of drug strongly recommends prescribing the drug in conjunction with lifestyle modification coaching to improve patient outcomes. You can connect with me using the contact information in this article if you are. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how our collaboration will improve your patient outcomes!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.coachveraross.com/
- Instagram: coach_vera
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-ross/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coach-vera-ross-san-diego
Image Credits
Brittney Smith
