Become A Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach
I am currently studying with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become qualified as a Holistic Health Coach in 2020. Every week I am asked to share my thoughts around my experience with IIN, so I thought it would be beneficial to share a post for anyone considering the course and wants to learn more about the career and the Institution. It has already changed my life and kickstarted this beautiful self love journey that I find myself on now.
Have you played with the idea of becoming a health coach yourself? Then keep reading to receive:
〰 The complete IIN Curriculum Guide & Sample Class
〰 Access to the next Health Coaching Webinar to ask any burning questions
〰 Details about my exclusive special 4-figure tuition savings offer!
Quick check before we dive in: could the Institute for Integrative Nutrition be for you?
✓ I am passionate about health and wellness.
✓ I enjoy connecting with others and talking about health.
✓ I am driven and a self-starter.
✓ I want to have a fulfilling career doing what I love
✓ I am looking to leave the corporate 9 to 5 and have my own business in the wellness space
✓ I am concerned about our food supply.
✓ I believe in a holistic approach to wellness.
✓ I have had personal health struggles that I've overcome and am now inspired to help others
✓ I crave work flexibility and location freedom
If you answered HECK YEAH to one or multiple of these questions, then keep reading!
What is the Institute for Integrative Nutrition?
IIN is the world's largest nutrition and health coaching school of 30 years, with over 100,000 students and graduates in over 155 countries. IIN offers a regular 12-months and accelerated 6-months online program designed for people who are passionate about health and wellness. You could be interested in learning more about nutrition for your own personal benefits, launching a new and exciting career or adding to your existing degrees in health and fitness. Either way, IIN will empower you to transform your life and put you on the path to achieving your personal and professional goals. Learn from well-known teachers such as Deepak Chopra, Gabrielle Bernstein, Dr Oz, David Wolfe and Pete Evans, just to name a few experts that you will learn from in this course.
What is a Holistic Health Coach?
We are spending more money than ever on our health care systems and yet, according to the World Health Organisation, the top three causes of death are dietary related illnesses – heart diseases, stroke and pulmonary diseases. At the same time there’s an all time high of depression, stress, anxiety, mental illnesses and things like eating disorders are on the rise all around the world.
And so, there is a massive demand for a new kind of health professionals – in comes the Holistic Health Coach
A Health Coach is a supportive mentor who helps clients feel their best through food and lifestyle changes and personalised, one-on-one encouragement. A Health Coach may work one on one or with groups of clients to develop a plan and set of goals that incorporate any or all areas of their life; being nutrition, exercise, relationships, career, exercise and spirituality. The focus is certainly not solely on nutrition; it is about helping your client achieve balance in their lives and guiding them to a higher place of wellness. In the gym you have a PT to hold you accountable to your workouts, so why not have someone do the same in the kitchen and in your overall goal of living a healthy life?
During the studies, health coaches acquire a broad understanding of many different dietary theories and tools to mentor people who seek to improve their overall health and wellbeing. IIN has a strong focus on the idea that health isn’t just what you eat, but recognises that things like relationships, work, exercise and spirituality all play a huge part in our health. Duh, right?! Well, its a pretty revolutionary viewpoint compared to traditional nutrition and our disease-treatment-focused health care system. IIN also strongly supports the idea of bio-individuality, being that one size does not fit all. Another way I like to explain a Health Coach to someone is essentially a life coach with an emphasis on food, self care and general healthy lifestyle choices.
Preventive care is the future, and health coaching fills a void in our current healthcare paradigm. Many doctors lack the time and resources to help patients achieve their wellness goals.
Why become a Health Coach?
When studying this course, you'll receive comprehensive nutrition, coaching skills, and business development training. This Health Coach Training Program provides you with the tools to transform your passion for wellness into a career. Benefits of becoming a qualified Health Coach include:
○ Be your own boss - create your own schedule and see clients at times that work for you
○ Do work that aligns with your heart - pursue your passion and build a practice to fit with your own life goals
○ Discover your financial freedom - use your entrepreneurial skills to create an additional source of revenue
One of the great benefits of the Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching education is the incredible diversity of career options that are available to you. Graduates of this health coaching program have gone on to become acclaimed holistic health authors, partner with doctors and physicians, become registered dietitians, create their own product lines & online workshops, open healthy juiceries and restaurants, start health and wellness businesses, and (of course) offer their own private health coaching services. In other words, a health coach certificate is one of the most versatile professional paths - and the fastest growing field in healthcare - you can pursue.
What educational prerequisites do you require to commence studies with IIN?
No undergraduate degree or academic prerequisites are required. You simply need to be passionate about health and inspiring others to wellness. You will discuss your interests with an IIN representative as part of your registration.
What qualification do you receive?
Upon graduating the IIN program you will be accredited as a Qualified Health Coach. In general, IIN is pretty well known globally which is useful as you will have clients from all over the world and you have the opportunity to receive an additional certificate or degree if you wish.
The Curriculum
I really appreciate how the curriculum is structured! It's broken down into weekly modules, which allows you to consume the content in small digestible bits. I know of people who do IIN while working full-time with kids and I know of people who don’t work at all and do the course; either way it’s totally doable.
I absolutely LOVE the content we are learning. You have access to over 100 dietary theories and you are encouraged to question and analyse their approach and relevance. It is an entirely holistic approach to health. Not only will you learn a lot about food but you'll learn about anything from skin brushing, detox programs, spirituality, exercise programs, how to run a workshop or cooking class - right through to setting up and marketing your business. You're given website and business card templates, taught how to set up your office, given every single form you will need throughout the 6 month client program. Your hand is held every step of the way. Every single aspect of setting up a business and working as a health coach is covered. The unique nutrition theory takes into account your relationships, work, exercise and spirituality as well as what you eat to build optimum health within. To be honest, that has to be one of the best parts of IIN!
At IIN, the education is built upon several core principles. Food Changes Everything, Bio-Individuality, Primary Food, Relationships, Physical Activity, Career, Spirituality.
No other school offers so much support in getting you off the ground with a thriving health coaching practice or new business
The World Needs Health Coaches
The world is experiencing a healthcare crisis—we have unlimited access to health information, but we've never been sicker...
Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled in the last 50 years.
Chronic diseases are currently projected to account for almost three-quarters of all deaths worldwide, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease.
Obesity impacts 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 adults in the U.S., costing the healthcare system $147 billion each year
Why might you choose to do this course?
For all sorts of reasons. Maybe you are a Dr or Naturopath looking for exposure to a more rounded integrative or holistic approach. Perhaps you want to focus on cooking schools, classes, motivational speaking or need to better your coaching skills. Maybe you are a massage therapist looking to widen your service offering. My intention on commencing this course was to carve a career as a Health Coach.
The IIN course however, satisfies my thirst for knowledge and complements everything else I am doing beautifully. It also allows me to study & work in the field I am most passionate about while having the time & location freedom to travel, work & learn online, choose my own hours, and spend more time with loved ones.
What format does the learning take?
This course is 100% online. You learn from a range of teaching styles—videos, live group coaching calls, and written assignments—for a 360° learning experience. You download a classroom app to your iPhone, iPad or use the Learning Centre on your computer. For the 12 month program, 1 module worth of lectures& learning is delivered every Monday (or Tuesday in Australia), and for the accelerated 6 month program (the course I am doing), 2 modules a week are released. You can download and listen to these at your leisure. There are 40 weeks worth of lectures in total. At the conclusion of each week there is a little online assessment which you can take but are not assessed on.
There are handouts and presentations included with the majority of lectures. Typically you will need to put in anywhere from 3-5 hours each week, but it is entirely up to you - obviously, the more you put in, the more you get out. There is also a huge array of focus classes you can listen to at your leisure, depending on your areas of interest.
What sort of support can you expect to receive?
Loads! You will join Facebook groups and start connecting with students all over the world. You can ask questions of your peers or to your Circle Coach and receive immediate responses. There are alumni FB groups too giving you access to experienced Health Coaches all over the world. Wonderful friendships will be made in your own state or across the world. The IIN network is growing at a rate of knots. Before you know it your next-door neighbour will be studying with IIN too. I have made some really wonderful friends and connections as a result of this course, both in my town and from other countries!
But what if I’m not business-savy?
Luckily IIN supports you with setting up your own business by teaching you essential coaching and business skills. I’ve never heard of any other nutrition school offering this! In this part of the course, you will learn how to define your target audience, attract clients, market your brand, sell your awesome services and create an authentic business model.
They even provide you with a free website template, business cards and a variety of forms such as client contracts that you can use to stay organised in your business. This will save you heaps of time and research when you actually start setting up your practice and ensures that you don’t forget about small but important things like collecting client testimonials.
How much does IIN cost?
The IIN program varies in cost depending on if you pay upfront or take advantage of personalised payment plans so that you can finance the course throughout the year. Keep in mind that you can get a special ‘Olivia Harper' Ambassador discount’ of up to 30% if you sign up through me! To get the most accurate quote, email me directly find out how much you can save on tuition!