For Practitioners

Helping your patients build better outcomes by reducing underlying inflammation & empowering behavior change.

You’ve done the diagnostics. You’ve prescribed immunotherapy, medications, nasal sprays, Epi-pens. And many of your patients respond. But too often you still see the frustrated face in the exam room: “I’m still reacting. I’m still congested, swollen, itchy, fatigued, irritated.”

That’s where I come in.

I am Jennifer Alexander, founder of Ascent Wellness Coaching. My own journey through severe allergies, hives, and chronic skin reactivity taught me directly that medications alone are sometimes not enough. If the body remains in a state of heightened inflammation, immune over-alert, and poor regulation, even the best clinical interventions may hit a ceiling.

At Ascent Wellness Coaching, I partner with allergists, immunologists, dermatology and primary-care teams to help patients reduce the “background noise” of inflammation, improve tolerance, and sustain the lifestyle changes that make your treatments more effective.

What this program is not

It is not a turn against Western medicine or your role as allergist/immunologist/clinical specialist. Your expertise remains central. My role is supportive.
It is not an alternative to immunotherapy, injections, medications or nasal sprays.
It is not diagnostic and no testing or labs are performed.

Instead, it’s a complementary layer - a functional medicine-informed coaching path designed to help the body calm down, clear the inflammatory background noise, regulate the immune system, and thus create a more receptive internal environment for your treatments to succeed.

If your patient is still frustrated, still reacting, still stuck despite clinical care - that’s where coaching can make a difference.

What we do

Real life impact: We explore how allergies are showing up in daily life - their impact on energy, mood, sleep, skin and overall well-being. We identify lifestyle and environmental patterns that may be fueling inflammation or keeping the body on high alert.
Education: We help the patient connect the dots between what they eat, how they live and how they feel, empowering them to make choices that calm the immune system.
Client-led behavior change: We co-create simple sustainable shifts in nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, and environment that calm reactivity.
Accountability & adherence: Coaching structures (check-ins, problem-solving, barrier removal, positive psychology) that help reinforce your clinical care.
Result: A calmer immune system, improved tolerance, fewer “breakthrough” reactions, improved quality of life, and a body more receptive for your treatments to work.

Why this matters: science + evidence

1. Inflammation & immune regulation.
Modern research recognizes that dysbiosis, barrier dysfunction, microbial/immune cross-talk and chronic low-grade inflammation are core features in immune-mediated disorders (including allergy, skin reactivity, asthma, etc.).

Zheng et al., 2020 (Cell Research) describe how disruptions in the gut microbiome-immune axis impair mucosal immune regulation, leading to a breakdown in tolerance and over-activation of inflammatory pathways.
Augustine et al., 2023 (Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology) expand on this, showing that microbial dysbiosis can stere immune responses toward allergic inflammation, increasing sensitivity to environmental and dietary triggers, while balanced microbial communities support immune tolerance and stability.

This means if the internal environment remains inflamed, your treatment of allergen immunotherapy or medication may be less effective because the immune system remains hyper-alert and less able to shift from reaction to tolerance.

2. Microbiome-immune axis & allergic outcomes.

There is strong and growing evidence that the composition and function of the microbiome impact the likelihood of allergic sensitization, severity of reactivity, and ability to build tolerance. For example:

A review (Nance et al., 2020) of the GI microbiome in IgE-mediated food allergy points to early-life dysbiosis, impaired regulatory T cell (Treg) development, and barrier compromise.
A very recent review (Huang et al., 2022) highlights how microbial-immune interactions promote and sustain immune dysfunction in allergy and asthma, even in older patients with established disease.

Accordingly, when we talk about helping the “body calm down” and supporting immune readiness, we’re aligning with this biologic foundation.

3. Coaching improves outcomes.
Structured health and wellness coaching (HWC) is backed by peer-reviewed evidence across chronic disease populations:

A systematic review and meta-analysis (Boehmer et al., 2023) found that HWC improved patient-important outcomes (quality of life, self-efficacy, depression/anxiety) in chronic illness care.
Earlier research (Kivela et al., 2014) similarly found significant improvements in physiological, behavioral and psychological conditions via health coaching in adults with chronic diseases.
Current trend reviews (Yang et al., 2020) emphasize that coaching facilitates lifestyle change, habit adoption, and long-term behavior maintenance in complex chronic conditions (which is directly relevant to allergy & immune burden).

When your clients adopt and sustain foundational shifts (nutrition, movement, sleep, environmental exposure, stress) their capacity to benefit from clinical care improves.

4. Synergy: Clinical + Foundational + Behavioral = Better Outcomes.
The real opportunity lies in the intersection: your clinic interventions (immunotherapy, allergist/immunologist expertise) + foundational biology (reducing inflammation, improving immune regulation) + behavior/habit change (coaching for sustainable lifestyle change). By combining these, we create a triad of care that drives better outcomes.

Bottom Line: When we quiet lifestyle-driven inflammatory load and strengthen adherence, your immunotherapy and medical management can go farther, faster, with fewer “why isn’t this working yet” conversations.

How we collaborate with your practice

You lead. I help your client stay on track with your plan. I position myself as the behavioral-functional bridge between your clinical interventions and the patient’s everyday biology & habits.
Parallel tracks. Patients continue immunotherapy/medications while we reduce lifestyle-driven inflammatory load.
Right-fit referrals. Especially helpful for patients with persistent symptoms despite standard care.
Flexible & remote-friendly. Designed for busy people; sessions are virtual. My process involves an initial intake (history, assessment of underlying drivers, goal setting) plus ongoing follow-up sessions (coaching, monitoring, habit-building, barrier-identification, accountability) typically over a defined program (e.g., 6 week group or 12 week 1:1) to establish durable change.

What you gain

Patients who are more engaged, more ready, more able to respond to your care.
Reduced frustration for both patient and provider: patients who used to think “why isn’t this working” now feel momentum, progress, and recognize your treatment is making a difference.
A credible partner whose work is evidence-based, complementary and aligned with your goals.
Stronger patient retention, potentially better outcomes, enhanced patient-provider satisfaction.

Next steps

If you have a patient who:

Has persistent reactions despite standard treatments
Has multiple allergies / histamine intolerance / skin reactivity / never an season without symptoms
Is frustrated with plateauing and wants to do more to get more out of their care
…then we should talk.

Refer a patient / connect

Send your referral (HIPAA Compliant):
Print this practice handout (1-page trifold) for your patients:
Contact me with any questions or if you'd like a stack of handouts and cards: ascentwellnesscoach@gmail.com +1-405-973-5082

Thank you for all you do. I look forward to partnering with you to help your patients feel better in their bodies, respond better to your treatments, and move toward lasting results.

Warm regards,
Jennifer Alexander

Functional Medicine Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Founder, Ascent Wellness Coaching

References

Augustine T, Kumar M, Al Khodor S. Microbial dysbiosis tunes the immune response towards allergic disease outcomes. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2023;64(3):431-451.
Boehmer KR, Alvarez-Villalobos, NA, Barakat, S, et al. The impact of health and wellness coaching on patient-important outcomes in chronic illness care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Patient Educ Couns. 2023;117:107975.
Huang YJ, Porsche C, Kozik AJ, Lynch SV. Microbiome-Immune Interactions in Allergy and Asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2022;10(9):2244-2251.
Kivelä K, Elo S, Kyngäs H, Kääriäinen M. The effects of health coaching on adult patients with chronic diseases: A systematic review. Patient Educ Couns. 2014;97(2):147-157.
Nance CL, Deniskin R, Diaz VC, Paul M, Anvari S, Anagnostou A. The Role of the Microbiome in Food Allergy: A Review. Children (Basel). 2020;7(6):50.
Rethorn ZD, Pettitt RW, Dykstra E, Pettitt CD. Health and wellness coaching positively impacts individuals with chronic pain and pain-related interference. PLoS One. 2020;15(8):e0236734.
Shao T, Zhao C, Li F, et al. The gut ecosystem and immune tolerance. Clin Immunol. 2023;250:109222.
Yang J, Bauer BA, Lindeen SA, et al. Current trends in health coaching for chronic conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(30):e21080.
Zheng D, Liwinski T, Elinav E. Interaction between microbiota and immunity in health and disease. Cell Res. 2020;30(6):492-506.

FAQs for providers

Does this replace my immunotherapy/medications?
Never. Your clinical work remains central. My coaching support sits alongside your therapy, enhancing readiness and responsiveness.

Do you diagnose or order labs?
No. I do not perform testing. We focus on awareness, behavior, and sustainable habit change.

How do you support busy patients and professionals?
My coaching is remote-friendly, flexible scheduling, designed for busy clients. Many of my clients have demanding schedules who need efficient, high-impact support.