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12 Aug

How to Become a Health and Wellness Coach Online

The year 2020 has digitized most aspects of our lives. Services such as health and wellness coaching are no exception. So, if you’re a health and wellness business owner or a healthy lifestyle enthusiast who feels compelled to share their hacks online, then this article is your guide to joining the digital momentum.

 


Table Of Contents


 

What does a wellness coach do?

 

a woman meditating in front of the ocean on the beach sand

 

The first move toward becoming a wellness coach is defining your areas of responsibility. The mission of a health and wellness coach is pretty straightforward: providing support and guidance to people to manage to lead a healthy lifestyle sustainably. 
 

As the name suggests, a health and wellness coach blends two different prerequisites for healthy living. Besides providing people with the necessary insights about physical activities and healthy eating habits, a wellness coach also considers their well-being. 
 

As per the National Consortium for Credentialing Health & Wellness Coach, “coaches support clients in mobilizing internal strengths and external resources and developing self-management strategies for making sustainable, healthy lifestyle, behavior changes.” 
 

To achieve that, the health goals for every client or group (in the case of joint sessions) need to be designed individually based on the client’s wishes, needs, capacity, and treatment prescribed by their health care providers. 
 

Only this way, a coach can map out the proper health and wellness plan that will keep people committed and motivated to stay engaged. 
 

Taken together, a health and wellness coach should bring the following competencies:

  • Knowledge about fitness, healthy nutrition, and wellness
  • Empathy and particular attention to clients
  • The ability to motivate
  • Professionality


Wellness coaching vs. consulting vs. advising 

 

a person walking at the beach inside a maze created with rocks

 

The next step toward becoming an online wellness coach requires understanding the difference between health and wellness coaching vs. consulting vs. advising, especially if you’re planning on getting certified. You don’t want to risk getting the wrong certification because you mixed up the terminology, right?
 

Wellness Coach

 

So, let’s start with coaching. People sometimes confuse this word with “bossing around,” which couldn’t be further from the truth. The job of a wellness coach is to help people discover their key to success. You coach them to figure out what’s best for them. It’s like in math class. Remember that your teacher never gave you the answer, only the rules, and formula needed to find the correct answer? 
 

Wellness Consultant

 

A consultant, on the other hand, will do the exact opposite. He’ll identify the client’s problems, design a plan based on these issues and tell you how to proceed to solve them. 
 

Wellness Advisor

 

Finally, a health and wellness adviser is somewhere in between the two mentioned professions. For example, while a wellness coach would take you to the gym and wait to realize that you need to start working out, the wellness advisor would take you there and provide advice on what to do.
 

Steps to get a wellness coach certificate online

 

people doing yoga at the beach

 

Technically, you don’t need to be certified to become a wellness coach. But there are many things in life that you’re not required to do, but people still expect it anyways. That’s why it’s safe to assume that most people who hire health coaches want to see a proper certification. It’s their prerogative, don’t you agree? 
 

At this point, it’s essential to weigh your options. 

  1. First, be fully aware of what clients expect from you: proper health and wellness education, consulting services, efficient coaching techniques, or maybe something else. 
  2. Besides ensuring that the training program of your choice includes specific skill areas you’d like to develop or hone, it’s equally important to ensure that the program comes with accreditation from an independent organization.


If you don’t know where to start, here are three options that will give you the gist of what opportunities you have:

  • Institute for Integrative Nutrition is an excellent option for those who are looking for a holistic program.
  • Emory University is best suited for the academically inclined, seeking National Board Certified Health title and Wellness Coach. Has a nice ring to it, no?
  • Health Coach Institute will provide a training program designed to help you establish your own business. 

 

Why wellness specialists choose inKin

 

the landing page of inKin

 

Pursuing the desire to become a wellness coach online means following current health trends: wellness apps. They give people more control over their health and make sure that they keep up with their lifestyle changes.
 

Why do wellness coaches rely on wellness apps?

 

Wellness specialists encourage clients to use a fitness and wellness app because it allows them to be more actively involved in their activities and achieve long-lasting results. In addition, having access to their exercise results allows you to notice the ups and down in your clients’ performance and engage on a targeted and more personal level. 
 

Say, for example, your client skips one of your sessions, and you simultaneously observe a decline in their achievements. You can directly contact them, ask what caused the gap, and add a personal touch to your coaching.

 

What are the benefits of using inKin?

 

inKin’s corporate wellness platform allows users to decide which health metrics they want to track (distance, calories, sleeping time, etc.) and which device they want to connect the app. So whether your client has a smartwatch or a smartphone, it doesn’t make a difference with inKin—it works with both!
 

As the platform administrator, you have full access to the performance data of every client who has joined the platform.
 

You can set goals, compare the data for different periods to check the overall efficiency of your clients, keep the motivation going through the chat options, add individual or group fitness challenges, and set rewards if need be.
 

This will take a load of work off you and render your health and wellness coaching fun by, for example, challenging your client to walk from Paris to New York within six months. Think you’re up for the challenge? Then go ahead and prove it. 
 

To become a health and wellness coach online, you have to mind a few steps. This article covered some fundamental aspects of offering your services virtually, providing you with a springboard to get things rolling. 

 


Additional Reading


 

 

Photo Credit: Unsplash

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