Being a Holistic Health Practitioner is one of the hottest career opportunities out there. But what do they do? Even more important…what are the options available?
Holistic Health Practitioners and Coaches (one and the same) is a relatively new profession, but it is growing fast. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an expansion of health educators by 13% nationally by 2029, which is higher than average growth.
The reason for the massive increase in this industry?
Because it is essential and vital work – Holistic Health Practitioners are the future of healthcare.
The prevalence and cost of chronic disease in the United States is growing across all age groups, and other developed countries are not that far behind.
Chronic disease is essentially any disease that has persisted for over twelve months and requires ongoing medical attention or limits daily activities. These diseases include heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report 6 in 10 adults in the US have a chronic disease. There are 4 in 10 adults in the US that have two or more! That is staggering, and you should be shocked by those figures. With those numbers, you know these people. They are all around you.
The critical lifestyle risk factors the CDC has identified for chronic disease are smoking, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and excessive alcohol intake. All areas that are inextricably linked to poor health outcomes but are within an individuals control.
In fact, the EPIC study showed that if people adhered to four simple behaviors – not smoking, regular exercise, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight that 93% of diabetes, 81% of heart attacks, 50% of strokes and 36% of all cancers could be prevented. Just reread those numbers and let them sink in.
This means that Holistic Health Practitioners have a crucial role to play. There is a growing body of evidence showing that evidence-based holistic health coaching is an important component of the suite of interventions available to be used in the global war against chronic and preventable diseases.
The pragmatic medical literature has also been actively exploring the need for Holistic Health Practitioners to give patients and the community additional support to achieving wellbeing across the lifespan.
What is a Holistic Health Practitioner?
You understand the role of personal training coaches and fitness coaches. They keep you on point with your fitness goals or improve your fitness levels to perform at your best during competition.
A Health and Wellness Coach focuses on coaching and eliciting behavior change for primarily diet and eating habits or some other aspect of wellbeing such as stress management.
A Holistic Health Coach or Practitioner is a trained professional who is an expert in health, nutrition, exercise, and human behavior and motivation. They are passionate about healthy living in every area of life and help others transition using an integrative method.
Integrative means approaching health through the lens of investigating many areas of a client’s life that could be contributing to poor health – such as food, movement, stress management, connection and purpose.
They achieve this by creating a safe space for clients to explore all areas of their wellbeing to understand and identify the client’s issues and goals from a holistic perspective. They develop a simple action plan to change behaviors so the client can achieve their goals and support them to the finish line.
Holistic Health Practitioners are not doctors, and they can’t diagnose clients with specific conditions. They have their own specific and essential role to play in wellness.
What Do They Do?
The Holistic Health Practitioner addresses health concerns of the individual in the context of their whole life, not just focusing on one aspect. They act as a mentor and support system to the client looking to take their wellbeing to the next level.
This approach to health explores and heals the root of the problem, which is usually a lifestyle issue, rather than treating singular symptoms.
Practitioners help the client to explore their health and wellbeing through the lens of nutrition, relationships, physical fitness and emotional health. This allows them to tailor specific recommendations based on the individual’s needs.
Making significant changes to improve your health and wellbeing is difficult for the average person. Individuals struggle to make lasting changes even when the need for change is obvious and initial intentions and motivation is strong.
The Holistic Health Practitioner draws on the skills of educating, coaching, empowering behavior change, fostering personal responsibility and support and encouragement to help people achieve their goals. Instead of abandoning them to work it out on their own.
The sphere of speciality is almost unlimited for the Holistic Health Practitioner. You get to decide, and it works best when you incorporate what you are most passionate about.
How Might A Holistic Health Practitioner Work with a Client?
Imagine working with an individual who has breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy and feels overwhelmed and toxic.
As a Holistic Health Practitioner, you would be helping the client, in conjunction with other health professionals, to support their whole health.
Ideally, you would be facilitating the client to identify the challenges and obstacles they are experiencing to obtaining their best health. Using dietary practices to support them through their chemotherapy and implementing meditation and relaxation practices to help them deal with the constant stress they are bombarded with. Maybe instituting regular instant messaging to check-in, gauge the level of support they need, and supply appropriate nutritional support products such as juices. The scope is endless.
Suppose a client is struggling with an issue outside the range of practice for a Holistic Health Practitioner. In that case, they refer to other credentialed professionals for extra support.
Who Becomes a Holistic Health Practitioner?
Holistic Health Practitioners and Coaches are the people who are flexible and have a breadth of wellness knowledge to fulfil many different roles, depending on their specialities and area of health focus.
The people who become Holistic Health Practitioners are passionate about health and wellness. They categorically love to help people and find it incredibly rewarding to see positive transformations in others’ lives.
Holistic Health Coaches are usually in the wellness field already, looking to add value to their experience. However, no specific knowledge or experience is required to become a Holistic Health Practitioner – just passion and purpose for achieving optimal wellbeing.
What types of Career Path Does A Holistic Health Practitioner Have?
Many different Holistic Health Practitioners see clients one-on-one, such as in a private client practise or primary care physician practice. But that isn’t the only career path that you can pursue. Other areas to branch out in would be:
- Leading niche retreats by yourself.
- Partnering with other health practitioners to supply a genuinely holistic experience within a combined retreat or program.
- Produce a passive income by using your expertise to create educational information products that help people along their wellness journey.
- Provide face-to-face or online group coaching.
- Be booked for speaking engagements to talk about your speciality niche.
- Open your own wellness-focused business, such as a juice bar.
- Partner with other businesses such as juice bars, nutritionists, yoga studios and fitness clubs.
Pathways to Becoming a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner
To become a certified Holistic Health Practitioner, the first step is to find a certified or accredited training program such as the Juice Guru Certification Program. It’s the only authorized and approved online Juice Therapist training system using the Juice Guru Method®.
The Juice Guru Certification Program is accredited by the Complementary Medical Association (CMA) and recognized nationally as a college of Natural Juice Therapy.
Additionally, this program is accredited by the widely recognized third-party organization The American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP).
This way, you are safe and assured you are getting the relevant and necessary training and instruction required to work with clients.
When you graduate, you will be eligible to apply to be a board-certified Holistic Health Practitioner through the AADP.
You will not only be able to work with individuals as a Holistic Health Practitioner, but a Certified Juice Therapist. This means you have specialized training to further stand out in the wellness space and achieve extraordinary success.
This course is designed by Steve Prussack, the Creator of The Juice Guru Certification Program and the Juice Guru Method®. Steve has three decades of experience as a leader in the Holistic Health Practitioner field.
You’ll learn directly from doctors and other specialist coaches in the health and wellness business niche. These experts use juicing in their wellness practices or integrating juicing into their medical programs.
This comprehensive program is loaded with the latest science on juicing and habit formation. We also include training on how to market your message to expand your reach and influence, helping others achieve their success.
And we have designed our completely online curriculum for busy people like you. So you can become accredited and start earning in as little as 5-weeks.
We’ll give you the strategies, mindset and credentials to stand out, make a difference and profit using the Juice Guru Method®.
Our graduates are from all over the world, and they have created successful coaching businesses, juice bars, juicing retreats, online health programs and more.
Our mission is to create the most effective and sought-after practitioners, coaches and certified professionals by focusing on juicing.
And now it is your turn.
For more information, contact us either by phone US (800) 637-1680 or Email to get in touch with our admissions team and ask any questions you want.
Or, begin your transformational journey today by completing a short application here and one of our admission reps will be in touch within 48 hours to guide you through the process.
Works Cited
Bennett, H. D., Coleman, E. A., Parry, C., Bodenheimer, T., & Chen, E. H. (n.d.). Health coaching for patients with chronic illness. Family practice management, 11(2), 24-29. Retrieved 2021
Ford, E. S., Bergmann, M. M., Kroger, J., Schienkiewitz, A., Weikert, C., & Boeing, H. (2009). Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169(15), 1335-1362. Retrieved 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.237
Gordon, N. F., Salmon, R. D., Wright, B. S., Faircloth, G. C., Reid, K. S., & Gordon, T. L. (2016). Clinical Effectiveness of Lifestyle Health Coaching: Case Study of an Evidence-Based Program. (166, Ed.) American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 11(2), 153. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827615592351
Kivela, K., Elo, S., Kyngas, H., & Kaariainen, M. (2014). The effects of health coaching on adult patients with chronic diseases: A systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling, 97(2), 147-157. Retrieved 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.07.026.
