Next Wellness Coach Exam Dates Have Been Announced
Learn More About Well-being and Wellness Coach Certification
Have you considered becoming a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach? Many professional coaches are adding this prestigious certification to their credentials. Importantly, the new exam dates have been announced for this credential, which requires one to complete a National Board of Health and Wellness Coach accredited curriculum.
The next exam application windows are from December 1, 2022 - January 9, 2023 or April 17 - May 11, 2023, and you need to have completed your 75 hours of accredited curriculum to apply during those application windows. Even ICF credentialed coaches must complete the specialized health and wellness coach curriculum as it has a special focus.
There is a growing demand for these credentialed wellness coaches as a recent Washington Post feature story explained.
Here is an example from the Washington Post of a typical wellness coaching client: "Desiree Udell, an artist, screen printer and mother from Lilburn, Ga., found herself frequently ordering in meals during the pandemic. We weren't eating healthy at all. And I was stressed." So Udell, 38, hired a health coach."
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This new form of lifestyle coaching encourages positive behavior changes in areas such as nutrition, mental well-being, physical fitness, and stress management. Although dietitians, life coaches, personal and therapists provide somewhat similar services, what makes the United States' 6,000 plus certified health and wellness coaches different is how they address their well-being goals.
The Post reports, "Health coaches believe a client is already an expert in their own life and their own needs," said Leigh-Ann Webster, executive director of the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, which administers the board-certification exam along with the National Board of Medical Examiners, the same prestigious board that licenses physicians. "Often clients know what they want, but haven't found the motivation within themselves to get where they want to go. That's where health coaches can make a difference," she said.
A key wellness coaching process is based on a counseling technique called motivational interviewing. Wellness coaches have adapted this technique and the coaches ask nonjudgmental, open-ended questions that provide opportunities for clients to explore their motivation for change and strategies to change their behavior that are self-directed and sustainable.
Another coaching client, Christopher Werler, 50, a marketing consultant from Monterey, California found a way to motivate himself to exercise through wellness coaching. "My coach probed me with questions that focused on my strengths." This strengths-based approach is central to the coaching techniques taught at the College of Executive Coaching, one of the NBHWC accredited certification programs. Theresa Nutt, from the University of Minnesota reported, "The biggest focus today in health coaching is stress management, self-care and resilience training. Health coaches are working with clients to develop skills that foster resilience, so they can live optimally under suboptimal conditions."
If you want to add this specialized health and wellness coach certification to your toolkit now is a good time to investigate a specialized, accredited, wellbeing and wellness coach training program to qualify you to apply for the credential.
