Interested in helping people make healthy lifestyle changes? Now is the time to realize your goal of becoming a health and wellness coach.
UVM’s Accelerated Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching Program is a 6-month, noncredit, online program designed for a diverse population of students of all ages and backgrounds. We welcome students with professional degrees in health care, education, exercise science, nutrition, and beyond. Students who participate in our program will be able to couple existing knowledge with new strategies to help make them more effective in their profession. We also welcome students seeking their first-time careers in Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching.
The University of Vermont is an approved educational provider for the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching. Students who complete the Accelerated Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching Program—and meet the National Board exam eligibility requirements may sit the National exam. Upon passing the National Certification Exam, an individual can use the following credentials:
Juan Smith, NBC-HWC. (National Board Certified – Health and Wellness Coach)
Please see nbhwc.org for details about applying for the exam.
To Qualify for the National Board Certification Exam you must:
- complete an NBHWC Approved Training Program
- complete 50 health & wellness coaching sessions (click link for requirements).
- have an associate’s degree or higher or 4,000 hours work experience (any field).
The NBHWC Exam is offered three times per year at testing centers across the U.S.
For students interested in earning a University of Vermont Certificate in Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching with academic credit, please click here.
What makes UVM’s Program Integrative?
We educate Integrative Health and Wellness Coaches. Our focus on integrative practices along with the core coaching curriculum means that students will gain knowledge in several areas of health and well-being. You’ll be exposed to culinary medicine, acupressure, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and more. Integrative health involves a blend of traditional medical care, complementary care, and self-care to provide individualized whole-person treatment. We look through a different lens as integrative practitioners – everything that we do and every decision that we make impacts our health and well-being. Taking care of the whole person involves many different aspects of health, including:
- Food and nourishment
- Exercise and movement
- Stress management
- Work-life balance
- Healthy environment
- Sleep and rest
- Relationships and community
- Mind-body connection
- Self-compassion
Certification Exam for Health and Wellness Coaches
The National Board for Health & Wellness Coaches (NBHWC) introduced a certification exam for health and wellness coaches in 2017, formally recognizing the profession and the increasing demand for Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches. UVM is a NBHWC-Approved Education Provider.
Students who complete the Accelerated Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching Program, collect 50 practice health and wellness coaching sessions—and have 60 additional college credits from UVM or another institution, or 4,000 hours of professional service in a health field—will be eligible to sit for the NBHWC National Certification Exam.
Please read about the requirements for eligibility to sit for the NBHWC National Certification Exam here: https://nbhwc.org/become-a-board-certified-coach/. The NBHWC Exam is offered three times per year at testing centers across the US.
As an approved educational provider, upon completion of the above-listed coursework and passing of the National Certification Exam, an individual can use the following credentials and be listed in the UVM Integrative Health Practitioner Registry:
Juan Smith, NBC-HWC. (National Board Certified – Health and Wellness Coach)
