Choosing a Health Coach Certification Online Program
Workplace Health & Safety defines health coaching as “the use of evidence-based based skillful conversation, clinical strategies, and interventions to actively and safely engage patients/families/clients in health behavior change.”
Simply, a health coach helps clients determine what obstacles and issues keep them from attaining their health and wellness goals. They work with the client and their healthcare professionals to achieve a holistic balance between their medical care and lifestyle so they can be healthy and successful no matter their ultimate goals.
What Is a Health Coach?
Modern healthcare is focused on treating acute illness and emergency injuries. Managing chronic conditions isn’t its strong point because it is ill-equipped to cope with prevention. Modern medicine can control symptoms, but lifestyle changes are needed to address the cause of the underlying condition.
That’s where a health coach steps in. You can work with both the client and their healthcare provider to make a real change in their lives so that they can manage their condition. Health coaches are trained in nutrition, fitness, and functional medicine. They understand behavioral psychology and cognitive therapy, so they can help their clients determine what negative behaviors are causing them to be unhealthy and change their behaviors into more healthful ones.
Health coaches may work for businesses and corporations interested in maintaining their employees’ overall health and wellness, or they may have private client rosters and work from home or with a fitness center. The only requirement for a health coach is the desire to help others improve their well-being.
What To Look For In a Health Coach Certification Online
The government does not regulate the health coaching profession. As a result, any school or organization can start a course and claim to offer “health coach certification.”
Before spending money to obtain such a license, you should look at what the school offers you. You should also consider whether you prefer video or text-based learning, if you need support from your professors regularly, and more.
1. Faculty Expertise
The expertise of faculty members is extremely important when comparing institutions.
The instructors and professors should have stellar qualifications.
They should be healthcare coaches and professionals. Look them up online and see if they have credentials in other fields, such as nutrition or psychology, and if they have blogs or online publications.
The professors and assistants should give their attention to students during office hours.
Their office hours or text hours should be posted, along with the time it may take to get a response. If they have different time zones, students should know when to expect a response. A day or two is reasonable, but a week or more is not.
The number of faculty.
This can be overlooked in an online school, but the professor/student ratio is very important. If a school has only two or three professors, they may be too busy teaching courses or creating new content and may outsource your assignments for grading to someone outside the school.
2. Self-paced Courses
Self-pacing and self-scheduling are conveniences many people look for in online courses. Video courses should be complete modules.
Course deadlines should ensure you cannot sign up for a class or a degree track and never finish it. Even online courses should have required test dates and assignment deadlines.
Be alert for schools that only give you course material a week or two in advance or as each assignment is due. This may mean that the instructors are only a little ahead of the students in the required reading.
3. Prestigious University
There are several ways to determine the prestige of an institution.
Look at the school’s Google reviews and LinkedIn pages.
See what former students say about it. If the school is mentioned in other reviews or publications, make a note of whether those reviews are positive or negative.
Check the school’s accreditation.
If the school is not accredited, determine why and whether that will affect your education plans. Not all schools are or must be accredited. Find out if any of the courses will transfer to accredited universities or if you will need to retake similar courses if you transfer. The admissions department should be able to give you this information.
The school should have excellent testimonials and reviews.
The school should not be ashamed to display them on its website and social media pages. If they have negative reviews, you should be able to find them.
4. Access to Other Natural Medicine Education Programs
The school should offer you other options besides a health coach certification. You may decide to advance beyond the health coach certification or add certifications to your resume. Inquire about ancillary courses.
If the school offers advanced degrees, find out if you can continue with your certification program into the degree track. Inquire about possibilities for bachelor’s or master’s degrees and whether your courses will transfer to other colleges or universities.
Determine how much help you will get after graduation. Most good schools provide career assistance for their graduates. You should look for a school with a robust and wide-ranging program for job placement and career assistance locally and even globally.
Get a Health Coach Certification Online From Quantum University
If you have been considering a career change or just want a new angle in your current job, Quantum University may be the place for you. We offer a Health Coach certification with our Exponential Health Coach program.
This online course is a 515-hour self-directed course that gives students a thorough grounding in health coaching and stress management, as well as client relations, professional ethics, and communication skills.
Quantum University is located in Hawaii, but thanks to online learning, students worldwide can benefit from our classes and instruction. We have students and alumni in Korea, Great Britain, and Brazil, and our family is growing daily.
If you are interested in our Exponential Health Coach program or any other programs offered by Quantum University, request more information from our Admissions Advisors. We look forward to hearing from you!
