What is a Health and Wellness Coach?
Discover how to nourish, heal, and thrive in all aspects of your life Health and Wellness Coaches (or simply Health Coaches) are wellness experts and mentors who help others feel their best through personalized diet and lifestyle changes. Health Coaches work with clients to help them discover the best wellness routines that work for them and empower them to meet their unique health goals
Everything you need to know about health and wellness coaching.
What does a Health and Wellness Coach do?
Health Coaches take an integrative and holistic approach to health, looking beyond food to consider other areas of life that need nourishment, like career, physical activity, and relationships—what IIN refers to as primary foods. Health Coaches empower clients to better their health by providing a safe space to explore all aspects of their well-being, applying the primary food method and other unique IIN core concepts for a deeper understanding of health.
What makes a Health and Wellness Coach unique?
Health Coaches view coaching as a lifestyle—they learn to coach themselves, and then tap into this experience to guide clients to become experts on their own well-being. Health Coaches work with clients for many reasons, such as a desire to lose weight, boost energy, prioritize self-care, or create healthier relationships. Health Coaches are employed in doctor’s offices, gyms, wellness centers, and digital wellness platforms.
What sets IIN Health and Wellness Coaches apart?
Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches earn the world’s most comprehensive holistic health and health coaching education, and a certificate that is globally respected and recognized by employers. They use coaching and nutrition expertise to transform their life and career to live a life they love, such as pursuing board-certification with the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), applying their certificate for higher education or membership with our educational partners, or building a successful wellness business.
The World Needs Health Coaches
Nearly 30% of the world’s population are overweight or obese.
Doctors receive little nutrition training in four years of medical school.
Seventy percent of deaths around the world each year are caused by chronic conditions.
Research has found that health coaching helps patients improve health outcomes and manage chronic conditions.
A study found that health coaching is effective in reducing healthcare costs, and “patients aided by Health Coaches saved $412 [USD] per patient per month.
Laura Heath
You’d likely benefit from the help of a health coach, whose job it is to give patients the knowledge, skills, tools and confidence they need to participate fully in their own care and well-being... Monetary savings aside, the value to patients is immeasurable.
You want to make a living doing work you love
Enjoy a fulfilling career where you can follow your passion for holistic health and nutrition, and make a real difference in people’s lives. If your family and friends always come to you for health guidance, you’re probably already health coaching in some capacity!
You want to enjoy unparalleled career flexibility
Build your own health coaching practice to fit your needs - part-time, full-time, online, in-person… it’s up to you. Health Coaches are increasingly shifting their practices to go completely digital to create the best work-life balance for themselves, their families, and their clients.
You want to earn a generous income
You can start facilitating coaching sessions with paying clients halfway through the Health Coach Training Program, giving you the opportunity to earn while you learn, and charge an hourly rate that makes sense for you and your clients
You want to find a variety of employment options
Institute for Integrative Nutrition graduates have gone on to work in doctor’s offices, wellness centers, gyms, spas, yoga studios, schools, private practices, natural food stores and more. They also start their own wellness businesses, write books, create healthy lifestyle products, open restaurants, and even teach.
What are the responsibilities of a Health Coach?
A Health Coach’s responsibilities vary depending on whether you pursue a full-time coaching practice; support another health practitioner, such as a doctor, dietitian, or nutritionist; or start a business such as a healthy meal delivery service or wellness center.
Those who become Health Coaches are passionate about health and often already work in the wellness field, adding value to their credentials, such as certified personal trainers and yoga instructors (though this experience is not required to become a Health Coach!).
A Health Coach’s role is not to prescribe, diagnose, nor treat any specific condition—they support clients to implement changes recommended by their healthcare team, providing encouragement, accountability, and motivation to create healthier habits.
How to become a Health Coach
With more health coaching schools and programs available today than ever before, it’s important to find a training program that fits your educational, professional, and personal goals. Look for schools that are credibly licensed and recognized, as well as provide post-graduation support, from earning continuing and higher education to board certification.
IIN has been leading the industry for the past 30 years with our online Health Coach Training Program, the most comprehensive education that you can take in six or 12 months, in English or Spanish.
Benefits of Being a Health Coach
Be your own boss
Create your own schedule and ultimate work-life balance.
Do work that aligns with your heart
Pursue your passion and build a wellness business that aligns with your life goals.
Discover your financial freedom
Use your entrepreneurial skills to create a lucrative career and an additional source of revenue.
Become a Health Coach with a Mission-Driven School
The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) is the longest-standing online health coaching and nutrition school with the largest global presence in health coaching.
- Founded 30 years ago, IIN has become the leader in the Health Coach industry, with over 155,000 students and graduates in 175 countries. Back in 1992, holistic health wasn't a mainstream concept, and since then, IIN's pioneering mission to spread the ripple effect of health and happiness around the globe has taken root to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
We believe that food changes everything.
- Teaching the deep values of holistic wellness and nutrition, we’re building a bottom-up movement to reverse the global health crisis, reduce chronic disease, increase health equity, and empower people to take control of their well-being. We know that in addition to healthy food, we must nourish ourselves through primary foods, the areas of life that affect our health as much as the food on your plate, such as feeling fulfilled in your career and joy in your relationships.
It's not just a school, it's a movement.
- You are your first client, taking what you learn during your personal health transformation to support others on their own journeys—that’s the ripple effect in action. Our vision is to spread positive change in the world by training people to lead more balanced, healthful lives.
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Health Coach Training Guide
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