Health coaching can be understood as a set of skills and competencies that can be applied to support clients in leading healthier lives by promoting active lifestyles, improving diets, managing chronic health conditions, and reducing risky behaviours. Health coaching is currently not a regulated health profession and definitions may vary based on practice settings.
For more information:
- Key Highlights and Summary of Working Group Session
- Diabetes and Obesity Health Coaching Fact Sheets
What You Can Do With Your Health Coach Certificate
Our health coaching certificate program will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to provide health coaching services, so that you can:
- Expand or modify your current role as a regulated health care professional, allied health professional or non-regulated health professional working in an organization that provides care. In these cases, you do not necessarily have to identify as a health coach in your job title.
- Formalize your role as a health coach within an organization that provides care.
- Start your private health coaching practice (Note: we offer optional courses on the business and legal topics around health coaching to help you transition into self-employment as a health coach.)
Health Coaching as a Social Intervention
- Beyond supporting individual or population health goals, health coaching has to potential to help reduce social determinants of health as an intervention for specific populations who face barriers to traditional healthcare access.
- Health coaching can also be used as a holistic intervention across interconnected sectors with overlapping goals. For example, the health coach institute works with our partners on projects at the intersection of health and education, or at the intersection of health and indigenous affairs.
As health coaching is not currently a regulated professional, health coaching interventions may potentially be easier to implement and scale up. However, the consistency and quality of health coach training and services are more difficult to control.
The Health Coach Institute is the leading health coaching education provider based out of an academic institution in Canada. Using evidence-based approaches and best practice, the Health Coach Institute aims to set the standard for a new health coaching profession.
Are you interested in exploring the use of health coaching services at your organization to meet health or social goals? Find out how we can help you provide your staff with health coach training or connect you with health coaches by contacting us at hlln@yorku.ca.
Health Coaching Employment and Market Trends
The existing healthcare system has not been able to meet the emerging healthcare needs of the population. This has contributed to escalating rates of complex and chronic issues. Health coaching is a growing profession and an increasingly important skill set in the private, public, and non-profit sector.
Health coaching is used to manage client population needs including:
- Improved nutrition and exercise
- Disease-related prevention or management
- Weight loss
- Smoking cessation
- Stress management
Health coaching salaries average around $31 per hour up to $84 per hour or $168,000 per year depending on your qualifications and the sector you work in.
In the private sector, health coaches work in private clinics, health and fitness centres, and insurance companies and others. Qualifications required may vary. Examples of organizations hiring health coaches include, but are not limited, to:
- HealthCare 365
- MedCan – Corporate and Executive Health Clinic
- Greenshield Canada
- Manulife
- McKesson Health
- Health and Fitness Studios
- Shoppers Drug Mart
In the public and non-profit sector, health coaches work within family health teams and local health integration networks, community care centres, hospitals, specialty clinics, health associations, and others. Qualifications required may vary. Examples of organizations hiring health coaches include, but are not limited, to:
- Ontario Telemedicine Network
- Manitoulin Central Family Health Team
- Saint Elizabeth Health Care
- Southlake Regional Health Centre
- Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
- Ottawa Regional Cancer Society
- Diabetes Canada
- Canadian Mental Health Association
- Ontario School Boards
Background of Health Coaches
Health coaches are currently an unregulated healthcare profession. People who perform health coaching come from a variety of backgrounds, and may use health coaching tools and interventions as needed in their current practice or as the primary method of providing their services. People who perform health coaching services can come from
- Nursing
- Medicine
- Social work
- Psychology
- Kinesiology/ Exercise science
- Dietetics and nutrition
- Health promotion and management
- Occupational health and safety, Occupational therapy
- Physiology, Physiotherapy
- Sport & fitness management
- Counselling, education, law enforcement, and others
