What is the Difference between a Wellness Coach and a Health Coach?
Ever look at the job titles of each of these and wonder how they differ? Don’t health coaches and wellness coach do the same things and have the same scope? There’s great variability between job titles – even if the scope is the same or has overlap with another professional title.
What is a wellness coach?
It’s in this job title that we see the most dramatic variability. Some job titles include both “Health” and “Wellness” as part of a single role or set of responsibilities. A wellness coach and health coach aren’t always considered separate jobs or responsibilities, but a wellness coach is typically someone who helps their clients develop strategies for improving all areas of personal wellness.
These areas could include physical, mental, emotional, social, environmental, occupational, intellectual, and financial well-being. In some cases, a wellness coach is a director or manager of a corporate wellness program that may oversee baseline fitness testing and the gathering of employees’ blood lipid profiles. This depends on how each individual organization looking to hire defines “wellness”.
Outside of owning and operating a business, it’s not uncommon to see wellness coaches employed at hospitals, Wellness centers, schools and universities, spas and resorts, and corporations (just to name a few!).
What is a health coach?
A health coach, in contrast, is a professional whose focus is on helping clients in these three priority areas: changing behavior, increasing activity, and developing healthy eating practices and lifestyle behaviors. A health coach bridges the gap between an individual’s current lifestyle health habits and those habits that a client hopes to change or establish.
A health coach is also not necessarily a personal fitness trainer, but it is possible for a professional to possess both licensures. In fact, I am an example of such a professional. Experience in both personal fitness training and behavior change and coaching can help widen the scope of practice and your employment opportunities because it allows you to take a multi-faceted approach when working with your clients.
The employability of health coaches is similar to that of wellness coaches. A possible future trend for health coaches and wellness coaches is an expansion of employment opportunities and revenue-generating streams.
Getting Started
The employability of health coaches is similar to that of wellness coaches. A possible future trend for health coaches and wellness coaches is an expansion of employment opportunities and revenue-generating streams.
Ready to jump start you Wellness Coaching Career? Learn more about becoming a Certified Wellness Coach and a Certified Corporate Wellness Coach. This niche market is exploding with opportunity!
Spencer Institute certification programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
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