How I Became a Health Coach as a Nurse

Whether you are a nurse currently and interested in doing health coaching or just curious about my experience with having a background in nursing and now doing something that seems totally different, I thought I'd share what it's been like to work as a health coach as a nurse.This post is a little different from things I've talked about here, but I've had some questions about how I became a health coach as a nurse, whether I miss working as a nurse in the traditional sense, and whether I still use what I learned in nursing school in my work today. So I thought I'd take a post to talk about all of these things!I graduated from nursing school in 2015 and right away started working in the traditional sense at a hospital. I was in my dream field, working in Labor & Delivery and High-Risk Pregnancy at a hospital down the street from where I lived in Columbia, South Carolina. Like most new grads, I started working nights and would show up at the hospital at 7 pm and work until my shift was done at 7 am. I loved the thrill that came with being apart of bringing babies into the world. I loved caring for the mamas. Funny story, when I was on my maternity rotation in nursing school I got to witness my first birth and I cried. I was that little nursing student in the corner just getting emotional right alongside the father in the room. But still to this day, birth amazes me.I worked and grew in my skills with labor and delivery for the next year and got to transfer to day shift after just a couple of months on nights (which if you're a nurse you know how rare that is). Towards the end of that year, also, is when Paul and I got engaged. I came home from one of my shifts around 7:30 or so and pulled into the little house I was renting at the time to see him out in my backyard making dinner on the grill. That was the night he proposed.This is a long story, so for this post I'll keep it short, but we ended up getting married 3 weeks later and then a month after that moved from South Carolina to New York for him to go to grad school. Yes, lots of changes all happened at the same time. But that's been our story even now.I didn't want to start back on nights with us having just been married...I knew that we'd never see each other if I did that. So I found a job as a pediatric nurse in an outpatient office and worked there for the next four years.I enjoyed the work and the people I worked with, but around this time is when everything changed with my relationship with food. I discovered intuitive eating and, at this point, I was already at a much better place with food and body image but learning about intuitive eating was what really confirmed all that I'd been experiencing on my own in my own healing journey. I knew I wanted to help other women find the freedom I'd found through intuitive eating.And around this time, also, was when online businesses really started to grow. So I learned all that I could, both about intuitive eating and starting an online business. All while working full time... this was my passion project, my nights and weekends. And the nice thing was that Paul was in school and studying a lot so we would often go to coffee shops for him to study and me to learn all I could about business.I learned that you could get certified to teach and counsel on intuitive eating, so that was the first thing I did. I worked with a couple of clients at that time and started to learn my coaching style. Then, I knew I wanted to get some education and a certification as a health coach, so I googled "nurse health coach". I think it's becoming more of a thing for nurses to be health coaches, which makes me so excited, but at the time I couldn't find a whole lot. I felt like I was the only one. But as I was researching and looking at programs, I found a program specifically for nurses who wanted to be health coaches, the National Institute of Whole Health.I quickly enrolled...it felt so right! The program was around 12 months to complete. It included 24 core courses, case studies, and a final paper. If you want to learn more, you can check out the program I did here.I continued to grow my business, work with more clients 1:1, and develop my skills as a coach, all while also working at the pediatric office. Only just this year, after I had my son, did I stop working in the traditional sense to focus on raising our boy and continue to grow my business. 

COMMON QUESTIONS I GET ABOUT BEING A NURSE HEALTH COACH

 Do I miss being a nurse (in the traditional sense)?I've gotten this question a lot this past year. And my answer is actually...no. I love my work as a coach. I love the freedom and flexibility it gives me to be able to stay home with my little one and work during nap times and evenings. I'm working towards eventually this not being the case but for now it works for us. And it makes the times I get to "escape" and go do work at a coffee shop that much more enjoyable! I definitely have recognized that I need to make an effort to go have my "me" time out of the house now that I'm not getting out and going to an office every day. But this has been what I've been working towards since the beginning. Do I need to get certified as a health coach?My thoughts are, as a nurse, we get a lot of training in patient education, motivational interviewing, and advocacy. These are all things I use on a regular basis subconsciously and consciously with my clients. For me, choosing to get certified was really good for my confidence and I do feel like I gained some knowledge and skill through going through the program I did. I would say you don't NEED a certification. But it may add to your confidence, skill level, and expertise. A lot of the struggles I had in the beginning were feelings of imposter syndrome. I felt like I wasn't qualified (even though you definitely are) and alone as a nurse in this field. But thankfully I'm hearing of a lot more nurses doing this work! How did I learn business and start to grow my business? As you could probably guess, I received zero education on business in nursing school. I learned all that I know now through googling, reading business books, paid and free courses, working with a coach, being apart of business membership sites, listening to podcasts, and trial and error. I can't recommend enough just being a sponge and learning as much as you can. But I would also say there's a lot that books and podcasts can't teach you that just takes getting in the work. I'd say the top things I recommend investing in if you are wanting to grow as a coach is courses, a membership community, and a coach. Business is a lot about mindset and some about skill and knowledge. I've found that courses worked great for learning a method for a specific thing (like learning Pinterest and Instagram marketing). A membership community is great for not feeling so alone in this work. And a coach was paramount for breaking through some of the tough mindset traps that inevitably creep in with business. How did I get certified as an intuitive eating counselor and do I recommend it?Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch have a certification program that trains coaches and other healthcare providers how to implement intuitive eating in their practice. I can't recommend the program enough if you are wanting to specialize in the intuitive eating approach. It involves trainings and supervision by Evelyn, herself. How should I start working with people?This is completely up to you and your goals, but I'd probably recommend starting with 1:1 clients. I started out with 1:1 clients working with me for 6 months and I found this really important to be able to not only grow in my coaching ability but also to learn more about how to serve my clients and audience. Only this year, 4 years into it, did I start to add on more ways that I can serve people through individual coaching sessions with virtual support as well as through my membership site.  The biggest piece of advice I could give you is to take ownership of your business and your dreams. There is so much noise, so many opportunities to get sucked into comparison, and that can make growing a business really hard. Find just a handful of people who you want to mentor or teach you and then be a student from them. So I'd love to hear! Have you thought about becoming a health coach, yourself? I love talking about this work. We need more amazing women like you here in this space so if it's on your heart, go for it! And feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!