Sonja Dewees, MPH
For more than 20 years, Sonja has worked and consulted in the health and wellness industry. Her expertise and focus on preventive health and therapeutic lifestyle change have helped thousands of people achieve optimal health and wellbeing.
As Manager of Disease Management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon in the early 2000s, Sonja understood the important role of lifestyle in chronic disease and created a new role for health plan nurses and diabetes educators as health coaches. Recognizing the need to equip these new health coaches with skills that went beyond traditional health education and care planning, Sonja developed a curriculum– before training programs were widely available – for coaches to be trained in Motivational Interviewing and the theory, art, and science of health behavior change. This became the foundation for chronic disease management offerings for fully insured and self-funded employers who appreciated the substantial savings to be had by keeping employees healthy and helping arrest the progression of chronic disease.
Seeing the need for evidence-based employer wellness programming that served the the entire workforce, Sonja co-founded Quality Health Solutions, in a collaborative partnership with James O. Prochaska, Ph.D., which brought to market the first scientifically validated health assessment and lifestyle management tools incorporating the transtheoretical model of health behavior change. Quality Health Solutions became nationally known for industry leading health coaching services, exceptional engagement rates, and reducing risk of the 10 most costly risk factors by 10% across its book of business.
Through her work with health plans and employers, Sonja began to envision a future in which the health coach worked with patients in the doctor’s office as part of the healthcare team. While health plans and employers both have a vested interest in the health of the population, the essence of health behavior change is deeply rooted in the trusted relationship between the patient and their doctor. As an integral part of the health care team, health coaching would have its greatest impact. With this belief and inspiration, Sonja became credentialed as a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Specialist and shortly thereafter, was invited by Spectrum Health Lifestyle Medicine to develop and embed health coaching services in the Lifestyle Medicine specialty practice, where the team continues to explore paths to sustainability and expansion of health and wellness coaching in the healthcare setting.
Sonja is passionate about creating sustainability for our healthcare system and our planet using Lifestyle as Medicine. Sonja volunteers with Northwest VEG, an organization that is dedicated to bringing awareness to the power of a plant-based lifestyle and helping support people in their transition toward making healthier, more sustainable & compassionate food choices, and serves on the planning committee for its annual Health and Nutrition Conference.
Sonja has a master’s degree in Public Health with a certificate in worksite health promotion from Loma Linda University and is a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Professional and diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Sonja lives with her husband, son, and dog in Oregon. She enjoys tennis, kayaking and cooking plant-based cuisine.
