Agnes George: Transforming Lives from Midwifery to Health Coaching
With over 35 years of experience in nursing, midwifery, and neonatology, Agnes George has witnessed firsthand the impact of chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes on individuals and families. Driven by a deep passion for preventive care and holistic wellness, she made the bold decision to transition into health coaching—empowering people to reclaim their vitality and well-being. In this exclusive interview, Agnes shares her inspiring journey, the challenges she has overcome, and how she’s on a mission to transform the lives of 5 million people worldwide.
Agnes, your journey from teaching to Nursing, Midwifery now Health Coaching is truly inspiring. What motivated you to make these career transitions?
With my extensive over thirty – five years clinical experience in Nursing, Midwifery, and Neonatology, type 2 diabetes expert, I have seen the devastation that this condition have caused, to friends, colleagues, clients have been cared for, and babies born prematurely to gestational diabetes, feeling the need to move challenge, growth, I have been wanting to pursue my lifelong passion, working in a field that is more aligned with my values, giving me a change of pace in life for a better work life balance, practising what is close to my heart.. Health coaching is something that I am very passionate about and is willing to commit to and would ensure that my future journey as a health and well-ness coaching future career direction and choices can meet the underlying need of my clients and could be the best fit for me and my skill set; doing something that I love will make a big difference in my overall satisfaction with life.
Turning my lifelong passion into a career is certainly possible, which can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. I am doing something better aligned with my values, such as improving people’s health, well-being by educating people on type 2 diabetes prevention. Making a career change can allow one to pursue passions and do something that brings them fulfilment.
Making a difference is the motivating factor for considering my career transition, offering a more challenging and exciting opportunity, doing something I am passionate about, and helping people.
Your Coaching Program: Reclaim your Vital Energy and Happiness in 90 Days, is tailored for professional women. Can you walk us through what makes this program unique?
My coaching program is unique because I possess the clinical skills and knowledge, and > 35 years of experience as a type 2 diabetes transformational health coaching expert, gives me the edge to identify and implement my program, that’s one great way to set myself apart from the rest. My personality is one of a kind, delivering the service and results my clients are looking for.
No one person has the exact experience, knowledge, strong communication skills, and the ability to connect with a diverse group of people.
My prior experience > 35 years of service in Nursing and Midwifery, neonatology management, and certified coach has provided me with unique certified coaching skills that can apply in my role in my coaching program: “Reclaim your Vital Energy and Happiness in 90 days which is tailored for busy professional women.
As an ambassador for women’s health, what are the most common challenges you see women face, particularly in Midwifery?
As an ambassador for women’s health: What does the term midwife mean? The word derives from Middle English mid, “with”, and wif, “woman”, and thus originally meant “with-woman”, that is, a woman who is with another woman and assist her in giving birth, The term “male midwife” is common parlance when referring to males who work as midwives. My contribution to the health and well-being with women and babies in the short, medium and long term, the ability to work in partnership with women to prevent complications and to recognise and respond to them in a timely way, the importance of your input right across the continuum from pregnancy, through labour and birth, to postnatal care and early weeks of the baby’s life are all evidenced.
Today the challenges midwives face day-to-day are enormous, with the high volume of clients, poor working conditions, and the lack of necessary time and budget, all of which can lead to decreased health, worker motivation and increased stress levels. An International study published in 2022 reported that midwives reported that having to deal with high levels of burnout, insufficient work resources and low satisfaction, despite their own belief that the work they do is very meaningful..
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also emphasised that midwives are essential for the provision of quality of care, in all settings, but a lack of investment in quality midwifery education, despite the evidence of impact. A significant factor contributing to the pressure of midwives is a shortage in the midwifery workforce. Newly qualified midwives often enter the profession only to find themselves overwhelmed by the demands and insufficient mentorship from more experienced midwives. This can lead to high turnover rates and a cycle of understaffing and further strains the system. Additionally, the lack of professional development opportunities and supportive supervision undermines midwives’ ability to grow in their roles and improve maternal health care. Midwives act as an advocate for women’s rights, and needs within the health care system, ensuring that women’s preferences and concerns are heard, respected during maternity care, labour and postnatal. Midwives require more support of the responsibilities that demonstrate the pivotal role midwives play in upholding the essential health systems that new mothers rely upon for their safety and the safety of their child. Despite this overwhelming importance, however, midwifery practice is often undermined by various practical barriers caused by under-resourcing, which impacts the ability to provide safe, high quality midwifery care.
These challenges not only affect midwives’ mental and physical health but also prevent consistently safe midwifery care, potentially compromising maternal and child health outcomes. Addressing these issues requires comprehensive human resource management intervention, a commitment from healthcare system leaders to empower and support midwives, especially those who are newly qualified or working in the community settings, feel valued, supported and equipped to provide the best possible care.
You set a bold goal to empower 5 million people worldwide. What strategies are you using to reach this milestone?
It is essential that when building relationships where people feel comfortable to discuss their feelings and what they want, also being respectful and non- judgement of peoples’ culture; ensuring supporting and encouraging their involvement in decision making is essential to a successful outcome, focusing on the strengths and abilities, also involve active listening, being able to understand needs, preferences, and values. Empowerment enables individuals to take control of their lives, make informed choices and actively participate in society, leading to improved well-being and independence. Education enhancement provides accessible information to boost health literacy and confidence, while fostering support networks by sharing experiences. Overcoming barriers, one must recognise and address cultural differences, communication challenges, and resource limitations through training, technology and advocacy, ensuring that health and social care professionals effectively support individuals in their empowerment journey. Empowerment is an important aspect of health. It involves enabling the individuals to have control over their lives, make informed choices and participate fully in society; it plays an essential role in their journey, ensuring that empowerment is at the heart of all interactions, by doing so, it helps foster a more inclusive and supportive environment for everyone.
How do you personally maintain your health and vitality while balancing such a demanding career?
Having a demanding career takes up much of one’s time, but one must learn to set one’s boundaries, remembering that health is one’s wealth. Therefore, taking care of oneself is imperative for sustaining good health. Maintaining good nutrition, embracing regular exercise, incorporating stretching into one’s daily routine, focusing on major muscle groups, activities like yoga and tai chi are excellent for improving flexibility, incorporating strength training, squats, lunges and pushups.
Make physical activity part of the daily routine, combining social interaction with physical activity making exercise more enjoyable and sustainable, have formed a walking group and participate in group fitness classes, helps having a buddy keeps me on track,, have learnt that social activities not only keeps me motivated, but also enhance my overall well-being. It is important to listen to your body and recognise your limits, by taking breaks, and scheduling when needed. Staying active, listening to your body, and incorporating activities you enjoy in your routine. Stay hydrated and eat well is imperative, taking adequate fluids to keep hydrated, and most of all, have adequate, healthy, nourishing meals daily .proper nutrition are essential components of an active lifestyle; ensuring drinking enough water throughout the day and eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and wholegrains. Proper nutrition fuels your body and helps you recover from physical activity.
Setting realistic, achievable goals keeps me motivated and gives me a sense of accomplishment.
Your coaching program: Reclaim your vital energy and happiness in 90 days, is designed for busy professional women. What are the key pillars of this program, and how does it help women regain control of their health?
The coaching program focuses on improving your overall health and energy whilst creating sustainable habits. As a transformation health coach, having seen first-hand how the most high-achieving women can be overwhelmed by endless commitments between managing demanding careers, juggling family responsibilities, and maintaining an active life, it’s easy to see that it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day. However, conventional advice urges us to optimise our productivity. Still, the proper solution isn’t cramming more tasks into our day, it’s about reclaiming time by doing less, but better. Often end up more overwhelmed, exhausted, and have less time to focus on what truly matters. The irony is that the quest for efficiency can lead to a life that feels increasingly mechanical and devoid of personal fulfillment, instead of looking for ways to cram schedules, the real breakthrough comes from a radical shift in perspective. This is not about being less productive; it’s about being more intentional, preserving your energy, and protecting your well-being.
Reclaiming your feminine power requires reclamation of our time, our energy, and our life for what we want it to be. It requires self love, self respect, self-reverence that will fuel the kind of committed self-care that can support us on this journey. Self-care is what keeps us clean enough to have the awareness and energy needed to fuel the discipline and passion to live in alignment with our truth . Self-care is managing your time, honouring yourself first. Western culture tends to move very quickly. Worth is tied to production, efficiency, and getting as much work accomplished as we possibly can. Think super mom business woman, as women we get praised for stretching ourselves thin and pushing ourselves beyond our limits.
Reclaiming your vital energy and happiness, reclaiming our boundaries by choosing ourselves. Our journey can become emotional or mental, that we lose ourselves, we lose our roots, and we lose our way. On the journey of reclamation, we often end up running around like a chicken when its head is cut off, unaware that we don’t have a clear path. Time is infinite, it doesn’t stop, it doesn’t end. We have simply placed ideology around the clock, ultimately it just keeps going, you get to decide and prioritize what you want, what your deepest priorities, values, and morals are ,also what’s most important to you on a soul level.
Recognizing where our personal boundaries and truth are, not honoured by the outside forces in our lives, is part of reclaiming our divine feminine energy. The reclamation of self is taking one’s seat in one’s feminine power and choosing where one makes time; and where one spends one’s energy.
It’s honouring your needs, knowing your boundaries, and making the needed adaptations to take care of oneself and give or be of service in the ways that one would like
As a global health ambassador and advocate for women’s wellness. What are the biggest barriers women face?
Balancing motherhood and work commitments are the biggest challenges faced by women with children. The number of women entering the medical and healthcare workplace globally has increased in the past several decades. Although there has been an increase in the number of women, female workers continue to face many workplace challenges.
It is claimed that the importance of diversity in the workplace should facilitate all staff being able to balance their careers with their family life. regardless of gender. Female healthcare workers globally continue to face many challenges in the workplace, such as family duties, poor human resources policies and gender inequalities that hinder their personal growth.
Work-life family balance has been highlighted as a significant barrier to career advancement in many countries, and it was reported that the perception of work interfering with family life negatively related to work commitment and job satisfaction. With some women, their commitment to their job was impaired, with job satisfaction affected by work interfering with family life.
Some women face challenges related to poor work environments, which include unequal pay,, unsatisfactory working conditions, limited opportunities for career advancement, work related stress and unfavourable policies that promote patriarchy; these are the examples despite having equal academic qualifications and experience, detailed by female nurses, who have reported dealing with unfriendly workplaces that present few opportunities to advance their careers, as well as experiencing work-life family balance challenges that hinder their career progress and affect their lifestyle causing stress and excessive tiredness.
