Interested in Wellness Coaching?
If you’d like to help people achieve better health and lifestyle behaviors, becoming a wellness coach may be the right fit for you! Whether you’re a personal trainer looking to expand your knowledge or an allied professional just getting started out in the industry, wellness coaching can be an incredibly rewarding practice.
Understand Your Role as a Wellness Coach
Wellness coaches wear many hats, but simply said, a coach functions to empower their client and elicit behavior change. True wellness coaching sets a foundation for LASTING behavior change, moving a client toward a healthier lifestyle rather than a quick fix. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are two necessary contributors to lasting health-related behavioral change. It can be said that a coaching relationship is a collaboration between two experts – the coach being the expert in regard to health, fitness, and/or nutrition, and the client being the expert on themselves.
Wellness coaching tactics, to include motivational interviewing skills, have been found effective in fostering both components. Motivational interviewing involves entering the coaching relationship as equals, with the coach eliciting the goals, barriers, challenges, and solutions from the client. Throughout this process, the individual identifies personal reasons to improve health related behaviors, increasing the likelihood of lasting behavioral change. Additionally, determining what type of changes should and can be made enhance self-efficacy surrounding the behaviors; self-efficacy has been identified as an essential predecessor of lasting change.
Coaching is about partnership, relationships, and self-discovery; it is not a prescription for change given by an expert. Coaches focus on a client’s innate strengths and wholeness, rather than fixing their problems. This is an integral part of developing self-efficacy as well. The coach should work to aid the client in discovering their own solutions, and encourage them to focus on grow and progress, rather than dwell on problems or issues.
Steps to Becoming a Wellness Coach
Passion and Purpose
Becoming a wellness coach starts with the desire to help people. Holding empathy and respect for all people is of highest necessity in order to develop the trust needed for a successful coaching relationship.
Choosing a Credential
Having discovered the PASSION needed, the next step is to prepare for, and earn, a wellness coaching credential that will equip you with the diverse skill set needed to successfully coach. To be eligible for NETA’s Wellness Coaching Specialty Certification, candidates must hold (1) current NCCA-accredited health or fitness certification, or (2) bachelor’s degree or higher in a health or fitness-related field, or (3) credential/license as an allied health professional. This requirement ensures NETA’s Wellness Coaches have the knowledge and experience needed to work with individuals of diverse backgrounds, goals, and needs.
Developing your Skills
Becoming a wellness coach is far more than passing an exam – it requires practice and development of skills to include:
- communication and interpersonal relationship skills
- behavior change technique
- motivational strategies
As professionals dedicated to helping others, we often want to step in and provide the solution to our client’s problems. However, lasting behavior change hinges on the ability to empower clients to discover their own solutions and to elicit the strength they have within. Becoming proficient in these areas will take time; consider each client an opportunity for you to grow as you engage and collaborate with them and learn from their unique background, needs, and strengths.
Why Choosing the Right Certification Program Matters
As mentioned, being an effective wellness coach requires a diverse base of knowledge and skill sets. NETA’s wellness coaching specialty certification lays the foundation for professionals to develop said requirements, to better help their clients achieve lasting behavior change, and to set themselves apart as a leader in the industry. NETA understands that just as each wellness coaching client has unique needs, so does each learner! NETA provides multi-modal learning options and one-on-one assistance with NETA’s education team to ensure that all wellness coaching candidates are set up for success. And, with over 45 years as a stronghold in the industry, backing your certification with NETA’s brand communicates your dedication and desire to provide high-quality services to your clientele.
Wellness Coach Specialty Certification
