November/December 2024 Issue
Ask the Expert: Certified Health Coaches
By Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND
Today’s Dietitian
Vol. 26 No. 9 P. 7
Understanding and Collaborating With This Key Role on the Care Team
Q: I have been seeing more health coaches promote services. Can you explain what a certified health coach does and the benefits of an RD becoming or working with a health coach?
A: Certified health coaches differ from RDs in their standards of education, certifications, and scope of practice. Certified health coaches are prohibited from diagnosing and treating nutritional issues. However, some RDs are certified as health coaches or work alongside RDs in practice. Below you will find information defining a certified health coach, the difference between an RD and a certified health coach, and how RDs can utilize a health coach in practice.
What’s a Certified Health Coach?
“RDs and health coaches differ in their education, certification, and scope of practice,” explains Kathryn Piper, RDN, LD, NBC-HWC, owner of The Age-Defying Dietitian. Certified health coaches have diverse educational backgrounds, and a college degree isn’t required. In addition, coaching certification programs vary in length and rigor, and certified health coaches focus on minute details to help with behavior changes that an RD may recommend to the client. They also focus on overall wellness. This means that they provide general nutrition advice and lifestyle recommendations. According to an article published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “Health coaching consists of providing advice to clients in order to help them learn to develop more healthful behaviors on their own.”1
According to the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC), which merged with The International Sports Sciences Association, this certificate consists of three months of online training and is led by experienced instructors and the interactive program provides a cohort-based learning experience.2 The program helps develop essential communication skills, learn effective goal setting and action-planning techniques, and explore healthful lifestyle practices and behavior change strategies. The client-centered coaching provides hands-on practice sessions with personalized feedback in live coaching labs from faculty.
In addition, according to the NBHWC code of ethics, a certified coach must accurately identify their coaching qualifications, expertise, experience, training, certifications, and NBHWC credentials.3
In addition, they must “Disclose to all clients the exact nature of the coach’s role within the company or organization and the limitations and expectations thereof.”3
A Health Coach vs an RD
RDs must complete a bachelor’s degree in nutrition or a related field and as of January 1, 2024, they also need a master’s degree to be eligible to take the credentialing exam. RDs can diagnose and/or treat a medical condition and provide MNT, while certified health coaches cannot diagnose or treat nutritional issues.
MNT is a systematic process that consists of performing nutrition diagnosis, therapy, and counseling services for the purpose of disease management, while health coaching is advice.1 Health coaches rely on the diagnoses of physicians and/or RDs and then use their expert knowledge to advise patients about the best way to manage their health issues. In addition, health coaches don’t prescribe a specific course of action but make suggestions and provide information and motivation. It’s up to the patient to decide whether they choose to adhere to the coach’s advice. Dietetics professionals can pursue a career in health coaching or bring on a health coach but should be familiar with the differences.
Piper has worked in a telephonic health coach role for about two years and her employer offered a health coach exam training program as part of their initiative to certify all their coaching staff. As an RD, Piper took the health coach exam and is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, explaining, “My education and training as an RD aligned well with the role of a health coach. The certification added another layer of coaching strategies that helped marry the RD and coaching role together.”
RD and Health Coaches Collaboration
The role of a certified health coach and RD go hand-in-hand. By working together, RDs and health coaches can enhance overall patient care and experience. Several recommendations on how RDs can collaborate with certified health coaches include the following:
• becoming familiar with certified health coaches and their scope of practice;
• building a network of certified health coaches with reputable credentials and experience; and
• communicating with the client’s coaches to discuss progress, challenges, and any changes in recommendations or goals.
According to Piper, “The RD can rely on the health coach to help their client meet their goals, while the health coach can refer to the RD for specialized nutrition education.” Piper feels that as a previous outpatient diabetes education dietitian, it would have been helpful to have a health coach work with the client after initial RD education sessions. “Collaboration between RDs and health coaches enhances care by combining clinical expertise with behavior change support.”
— Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, FAND, is founder of Toby Amidor Nutrition (tobyamidornutrition.com) and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She’s written 11 cookbooks, including Health Shots: 50 Simple Tonics to Help Improve Immunity, Ease Anxiety, Boost Energy, and More. She’s also an award-winning media dietitian, spokesperson, and nutrition expert for FoodNetwork.com, and a contributor to U.S. News and other national outlets.
References
1. Lipscomb R. Health coaching: a new opportunity for dietetics professionals. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;106(6):801-803.
2. Health Coach Institute website. https://www.healthcoachinstitute.com. Accessed August 29, 2024.
3. National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching code of ethics. National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching website. https://nbhwc.org/code-of-ethics/. Updated February 1, 2017.