Health Coaching is not just a niche- it’s a super niche.  There are many possible careers in wellness coaching, such as weigh management, smoking cessation, and nutritional coaching.  But among all these careers in wellness coaching, there is one factor that if dealt with properly, could be the lynch pin that solves all these barriers to health.   The most common risk factor I find in health coaching is that people are driven to fulfill their need for certainty in their life.

The Need for Certainty and Health Coaching

Is this really an issue for careers in wellness coaching?  With all the uncertainty in the economy, environment, and government; who can blame people for looking for a little more certainty?  The problem is that most people use vehicles such as smoking, eating, drinking or drugs (prescription and non-prescription) to gain some control over their life.  We know if we drink that beverage, eat that cake, or smoke that cigarette we will feel a certain way.  How do you feel after eating a huge Thanksgiving meal?  Bloated and stuffed, but also sleepy, and content?  The consequences of these behaviors eventually become severe enough to seek health coaching or other forms of intervention.

That is why there is such a demand for good coaches looking for careers in wellness coaching.  Rather than focusing on accountability, we need to focus on health coaching technologies to get to the source of the problem.  There are several quick steps to help you get to the root of the problem.

Health Coaching Tips to Help You Get to the Root of the Problem – The Need for Certainty

Health Coaching Tips for Coaches Who Want Careers in Wellness Coaching:

1. Understand that everything we do is motivated by our desire to fulfill a need.
2. Help your clients identify how their needs are being fulfilled by their current behavior, and what needs they feel might get met at a lower level by changing their behavior
3. Help your client see the pain their behavior is costing them in terms of the past, present, and future.  How might things become worse if they fail to make changes now?
4. Help your clients find a way to get their needs met at a higher level by changing their behavior.  Get them to see that getting their finances in order will give them more certainty about their financial future than going out for drinks after work.  Or address the uncertainty a person feels when going to a social gathering instead of focusing on the food.

If You’re Looking For Careers In Wellness Coaching Don’t Under Estimate the Need for Certainty

Among the careers in wellness coaching, you will find that the need for certainty drives a great deal of human behavior.  And one of the benefits of health coaching is that you can help people not just change their behavior, but also get their needs met at an even higher level.

Colette Seymann

JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach