How to become a holistic health coach

Have you ever been in a mental funk? Something just feels off maybe? Perhaps you know you’ll snap out of it or that it’s not anything “serious”. In those cases, many of us would benefit from having the resource to just talk to someone. There’s the same concept with a health funk. Maybe you struggle with your overall health or weight loss even.

That’s exactly what holistic health coaches do. They aren’t health professionals or a designated medical professional. They can however be life coaches that simply offer you encouragement in a challenging world. Their contribution to your overall health has the ability to make a phenomenal difference in your life.

There are only about 121,000 health coaches in the United States. When compared to other professions, like electricians or plumbers, there is a significant difference in numbers. For example, the US employs approximately 650,580 electricians and 469,900 plumbers.

The world needs more health coaching programs led by a certified health coach. If you’ve ever wondered how to become a health coach, this guide is for you. We will share with you options for health coaches and just what you need to do to get a health coaching certification and more.

What is a Holistic Health Coach?

The concept of holistic really has to do with considering how all of the parts of your body work together for a common good. When you take a holistic approach, you’re looking at your lifestyle, diet, exercise, work, relationships, and more. It’s the whole picture as opposed to a more narrow focus.

Holistic health coaching does this with a focus on your physical health. A health coach will take the time to mentor you with a wellness mindset. There will be activities and exercises, as well as discussion attuned to helping you succeed.

When you stop focusing on just one area or just one ailment, you can overcome obstacles that perhaps you didn’t know were there. As a health coach, you learn to root out and identify these areas. No matter what someone is struggling with, you can help them overcome.

You will find that holistic medicine is nothing new. If you’ve ever been to the chiropractor, you’ve experienced it. There are several categories to holistic health.

How Do Holistic Health Coaches Differ from Doctors?

A doctor falls into the category of medical professionals. They have been through extensive education in order to be certified to treat your health accordingly. Doctors can choose their orientation or focus so they could focus on family health, female health, surgery, and so on.

Doctors are examined and tested and spend years getting their education to be certified as a doctor. They can prescribe medicine and diagnose a specific issues. A doctor is trained to treat your symptoms as they occur. Their solutions are certainly valid but they are only treating a symptom rather than approaching health with a holistic view. To be fair, some doctors wholeheartedly embrace holistic care as well.

A health or wellness coach does not have that ability. Most holistic health coaches will provide you with experienced intervention and advice or instruction. The difference is they cannot specifically diagnose you with any type of health ailments.

A wellness coach can still focus on a specific area, such as the following areas.

• Physical
• Nutrition
• Spiritual
• Relational
• Sexual
• Emotional

You can see health coaches for things like stress management, weight loss, or other challenges as well.

Where Do Holistic Health Coaches Work?

A holistic health coach could work from their home if they chose too. They could be part of a health coaching practice or be employed in a facility. Take a massage therapist for example. They could be considered holistic health coaches.

You might find a certified health coach at any of the following locations.

• Schools
• Doctor’s offices
• Corporate offices
• Spas
• Rehabilitation centers
• Community Centers

A holistic health coach could work closely with other health professionals or work on their own instead.

What is the Job Outlook for Holistic Health Coaches?

A health coach will typically charge their patients per appointment. It’s much like a doctor’s appointment or a spa appointment. You pay a specific price for a specific treatment or an hour long session.

This is not always the case but it is the most common scenario for how health coaches are paid. The really neat thing to see is this industry has become increasingly welcoming to health coaches and makes a significant effort to use them more and more.

We have begun to see the benefit of using health coaches in many ways, which means there are plenty of opportunities for them. When you look at the demographics on Zippia, you see a major shortage. There are also largely more women than men in the industry so this presents another opportunity as well. An average health coach salary is close to $50,000 per year.

How Can I Become a Certified Holistic Health Coach?

There are several ways to become a holistic health coach. You can use health coaching programs to become certified. There are several options for a health coach certification program and this is something you should consider. Some courses are even available online.

Here are some tips that might help you become a holistic health coach.

Do Your Research

In the cyber security industry, there are no regulated education requirements. While an undergraduate or Before you become a holistic health coach, take the time to do some research. Think about where you want to focus and even where you want to end up. What are your goals? Do you want to be in health food stores, do you want your own health coaching practice, maybe you want to be a part of nutrition coaching or wellness programs.

Once you determine the basic details, you can start looking for program focuses in that area. This will help you find the best route to become a health coach in the way that you want to be. Find a certification course or work with educational institutions as you move toward the wellness world in this capacity.

Get Certified

Once you figure out the what and the where, it’s time to get certified. Most certification programs have a course that you will work through to become a health coach. With some certification programs you can move at your own pace to complete the program.

Be sure to check out what the course requires, the cost of the course, and the program length. Determine if there are specialized courses towards the field of holistic coaching that you want to focus on.

You can also look for certification programs that are national board certified health certification approved. Health coach certification programs are designed to prepare you for wellness coaching so that you can lead others.

Volunteer for Practice Sessions

While you are getting your holistic health certification, you can start volunteering and entering training programs. You can also do this directly after receiving your health coach certification.

Wellness coaches can just jump right in but it might be more advantageous to gain some experience first. Many holistic health coaches with their own business will start with family members. You can also build your coaching business by working with classmates, friends, or potential customers on a volunteer basis.

It’s a great place to start.

Build Up Your Business Plan

Now is the time that you choose how you want to or plan to use your training. You can work in a wellness center, work with massage therapists in a spa setting, coordinate with physical therapy or personal trainers, and more.

You need to determine whether you are going to work independently or as part of a structure or even a corporate setting.

Now, how do you plan to market your skills and get paying clients in your business? Be mindful that it takes time to build your business. You likely won’t have a full schedule right away but stick with it and gather supporting clients for your business.

How will you communicate? Plan to create a communication or marketing strategy to share your skills and even just share information. These are some useful marketing locations.

• Website
• Blogging
• Social Media
• Newsletter
• Mail advertisements
• Community events

These are great tools for getting yourself seen and heard. On top of that, you need to be very careful to share your services provided so people know just what you do and what resources are open to them.

Networking is the name of the game to success. Get involved!

How Much Do Holistic Health Coaches Earn?

Some of the top earners in the health coach industry make six-figure salaries. It’s not uncommon to make over $70,000 a year once you get established. The average market salary for holistic health coaching is close to $50,000 per year.incredibly valuable for the safety and security of computer systems, programs, and software.

How much you make might depend on where you are located as well as other factors.

Ways for a Holistic Health Coach to Earn Additional Income

You can offer individuals private lessons in coaching. This is almost like a counseling lesson but you work with the individual as their health coach. you can teach them how to work towards their health goals. You can work on lifestyle habits and encourage an exercise routine. This is what you do in private coaching. Take note that a health coaching certification does not make you a counselor. It makes you a mentor or a coach, as the name implies.

Another great way to build your income with health coaching is to offer group sessions and courses. You can have paid membership and sessions to work with people in a group setting. Your health coaching might bring together a group of people fighting a chronic disease or perhaps just prepare lessons on integrative nutrition. Sessions need to be something special outside of what you hand the public.

Blogging is another great resource for a wellness coach. When you become a holistic coach, you have a lot of information to share. A blog is a great way to share tidbits and tips. You should then share those to social media and let your voice be heard. This is just a tidbit of information that will leave readers wanting to engage deeper for your paid services.

Benefits of a Career in Holistic Health Coaching

When you become a holistic health coach, you take on the responsibility of teaching others. Have you ever had a heart or mentality for simply helping people through their struggles? We see every day the high level of anxiety and depression. In fact, anxiety disorder affect more than 40 million people in the United States alone.

You see similar staggering statistics with health struggles. The US has an adult obesity rate of more than 40%. For many of us, it’s not because we aren’t making an effort but rather because other things are going on with our minds and bodies. That’s where a health coach comes in.

You have the opportunity as a holistic health coach to look at the big picture. To work through these struggles and give an individual hope where maybe they felt hopeless until now.

This is just one of the examples of the benefits of becoming a health coach.

Here are some additional benefits that are experienced by most health and wellness coaches.

• Flexibility: You have the ability to create your own schedule. Even if you work at a corporate office, you get to be in control. You also have the flexibility to determine how you want to help people and what your approach will be.
• Fast Entry into the Workforce: it’s all hands on deck. When you finish your health coach institute studies and get certified, you get right to work. Your health and wellness skills will be used immediately and you don’t have to wait to start helping people and earning.
• Ability to Make an Impact on Your Clients: we mentioned above that a health and wellness professional provides people with hope. That’s what you do for a living every day. You help people and you very well could be changing many people’s lives for the better.
• Affordable Training Opportunities: As a health and wellness coach, you will always have the opportunity to learn more and seek training. The really cool thing is that there is affordable training and continuing education out there. Continue to grow your knowledge and your skills for the people you are helping.

There is some small satisfaction to simply working with someone on healthy habits and changing their mindset. You see the hard work pay off and you see them feel that hope we mentioned.

Conclusion

If you’ve ever thought about holistic health coaching as a career, now is the time. There are many opportunities out there. Most of the opportunities afford you the choice of determining just what you want to do as a coach. Whether you choose to maintain employee wellness programs, teach in wellness centers, or serve independently as a coach, you have choices.

The first step is to make a decision. Then choose your health coach institute and get certified by the national board. From there, your opportunities are endless. What are you waiting for? Your career as a holistic health coach awaits!

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