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The vision for the Institute of Coaching’s Center for Coaching in Healthcare is to help define national standards for health and wellness coaches and pursue a comprehensive coaching research agenda for lifestyle-driven diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and hypertension.
The fledgling alliance for national coaching standards and coaching research includes the Institute of Coaching and Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, both at Harvard Medical School, and other academic leaders in coaching.
There are four organizations that focus on training professional coaches in healthcare: Wellcoaches Corporation, Duke Integrative Health, University of Minnesota, and RealBalance. Wellcoaches trains around 1,000 coaches per year (4,000 to date in 32 countries).
We’re also working on important publications – two new papers are about to be submitted to journals –
• a literature review of coaching research in healthcare
• a study of coaching in a Medicaid population with depression and co-morbid medical conditions
Most health and wellness coaches aim to ultimately build an independent practice, supported by consumer demand and medical reimbursement (initially will likely start with Medicare as part of healthcare reform).
Around 10% are independent and successful now, and most have part-time or full-time jobs in health-related fields.
We’ll keep the Coaching Commons community updated as the Center for Coaching in Healthcare gains awareness and support.
There is 1 Response so far...
The burgeoning wellness coaching industry is fascinating. It will be interesting to see where wellness coaches will fit into our national health care system. The biggest question in my mind is how to make wellness coaching a profession that is financially sustainable for its participants. After all, health begins with the individual; if someone isn’t motivated on their own to lead a healthy lifestyle, what kind of incentives will lead them to hiring a wellness coach?
Will private insurers warm to the idea of reimbursing coaches? Will Medicare? If they do, how quickly will they come around and what will the rates of reimbursement look like? Will corporations provide incentives to their employees to hire a coach, and what will those incentives look like? Will coaches be able to form their own practices, or have to look elsewhere (i.e. health care providers or EAP providers) to make a living? All are great questions, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things shake out.
By the way, I have to say that I’m pleased that the University of Minnesota is one of the four organizations helping to train professional coaches in healthcare…I’m a proud Minnesota alumni. Go Gophers!
With respect,
Greg Howard
LiveAnew (www.myliveanew.com/coaches)