Explore a Career as a Health and Wellness Coach

Your job can play a significant role in defining who you are, and feeling satisfied in your career contributes to your overall well-being. The Institute for Integrative Nutrition even designates career as one of the major pillars of primary food, which is anything that feeds you off the plate; other categories of primary food include fitness, relationships, and spirituality. To be genuinely happy and healthy, you must be satisfied in all these areas of your life.

Since we spend most of each week at work, career deserves specific attention. If you aren’t happy in your job, it’s important to figure out why that is – and what changes you can make to increase your satisfaction and fulfillment.

Job satisfaction is intricately tied to job performance. If employees are happy and healthy, they’re more likely to be productive. But just as everyone’s needs are different, the definition of job satisfaction varies from person to person. “Good” jobs can meet any of the following criteria:

• Clear employer communication
• Development opportunities
• Equitable pay and benefits
• Healthy working conditions
• Job security
• Positive company values (if working for a company)
• Work-life balance

Reasons to Consider a Career as a Health Coach

In a 2022 survey, one in five employees reported being likely to find a new job within the next year. Workers cited no opportunities for advancement, lack of flexibility, and low pay as reasons they’re looking to leave their current positions. A health coaching career can address all these pain points: Be your own boss, set your own hours, take on the clients you choose, and set your session rate to earn what you desire and deserve.

The field of health coaching is expanding rapidly, with a recent report from the Global Wellness Institute concluding that health and wellness coaching is one of the top 10 trends in global wellness for 2022. Health Coaches mentor clients on how to build healthy habits and integrate changes into their lives, including how to take recommendations from health professionals and make them a reality. As an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, you’ll earn an education in many aspects of holistic health and wellness and develop the skills to help clients achieve their wellness goals.

Health Coach and IIN graduate Jaz Graham transitioned from a career in the fashion industry to working as a Health Coach back in 2009. When encouraging others who are thinking about becoming coaches, she acknowledges: “We can be our worst critics, and negative self-talk can be paralyzing when it’s time to embark on a new endeavor.”

But if you’re among the 40% of people thinking about switching jobs, she suggests you “review [your] career goals and start the forward momentum of envisioning, manifesting, and creating the career that you desire.”

Four Health Careers to Explore

Where you work as a Health Coach will depend on several factors, including what jobs are available around you and your previous industry experience.

Online or Telehealth Services

With virtual appointments becoming more common, conventional healthcare is quickly shifting from in-person doctor visits and long appointment wait times to rapid and responsive integrative health care at the touch of a button.

As a Health Coach working virtually, you’d have the flexibility to work the hours that align with your personal schedule. If you decide to collaborate with medical professionals, such as a doctor in a primary care office, you’d be a member of your client’s care team, making sure they reach their health goals in a holistic way and complementing traditional medical practices.

Corporate Wellness Programs

Traditionally, health benefits provided by employers covered things like gym memberships, smoking-cessation services, and stress counseling. Now employers are taking employee wellness far more seriously. Some businesses have begun hiring full-time Health Coaches to lead their in-house corporate wellness programs as well as bringing in freelance coaches as consultants. Working for corporate wellness programs is ideal for coaches who are looking to have the support of a larger organization behind them but still want to work with people on an individual level.

One-On-One Health Coaching

Do you thrive on the idea of being your own boss? As a Health Coach, you’d run your own business, and the only limit to how much you could earn is your drive. One-on-one coaching practices can operate virtually or in person, and you can specialize your coaching services based on your wellness niche. As a Health Coach, you’d be empowering clients to take their health into their own hands.

Health and Wellness Product Development

Have you ever dreamed of creating your own product – food, body-care, lifestyle, or other type – to be sold for the benefit of people around the country or even the world? As a Health Coach, you can utilize your knowledge and insights to fuel your creativity, gather the necessary resources and relationships, and develop both your product and the story behind it. If you love food and want to have a hand in providing healthier food products for your community, you could launch a healthy product line, like Purely Elizabeth founder Elizabeth Stein did.

Get Started with a Free Sample Class

Finding a career that feeds your soul can be the difference between going through the motions and being an active participant in your own life. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in health and wellness that allows for schedule flexibility, a generous income, and the ability to help others realize their full potential, IIN’s Health Coach Training Program may be the perfect fit. Try a free Sample Class today to explore what health coaching is all about.