Mesa College offers health and wellness coaching certificate
July 15, 2022 |
In Fall of 2022, San Diego Mesa College will offer California's first ever community college-based Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate Program with approval by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. The National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coaching exam is the gold standard certification in health and wellness coaching and is offered by the Board of Medical Examiners.
“We are very excited to offer the first Board-approved community college based program in California,” stated Dr. Isabel O’Connor, Vice President of Instruction at Mesa College. “Students who complete this certificate will be able to develop motivational skills and understand behavioral theories that will help their clients manage stress, nutrition, and other activities.”
The Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate Program at Mesa prepares students to help others improve their health through interventions related to clients’ stress, nutrition, physical activity, and other health behaviors. As a program offered at a local community college, this program will reduce access and equity gaps related to health and wellness coaching credentialing programs. Many current programs are offered by four-year or private institutions, making them unaffordable for many who wish to enter the field. At $46 a unit, this 19-unit program will save California community college students thousands of dollars on quality health and wellness coaching-related training. This program is open and beneficial to both new students, and students looking to return to college and further their education.
The NBHWC is currently partnering with the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. (NCHEC) on a project to collect data to support application to the American Medical Association (AMA) for approval of health and wellness coaching services for Category I CPT Codes. This would allow health and wellness coaching to become an insurance-reimbursable expense, potentially increasing the need for educated and certified health and wellness coaches in the medical sector. For more on this partnership, see here.
To learn more about the program, visit the Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate Program online or contact Kelsey Graham at kgraham@sdccd.edu.
