Last year, I spent the bulk of it working on my Precision Nutrition Level 2 certification and graduated in November. It was an awesome course, very well run and organized. I got a lot out of it and it was worth every penny and the time I put into it. I highly recommend it and their Level 1.
All that study in nutrition left me wanting more and I leapt at the opportunity to sign up for Chris Kresser’s Health Coach Course, which is a coaching course with an emphasis on functional medicine. I just finished up the pre-practicum, which is 6 months of a deep(er) dive into elements of functional medicine as well as an intensive look at several coaching methods.
I was attracted to this course as it was more and more clear to me that the world’s chronic disease problem was created not only by nutritional issues, but also other environmental issues. While many can be mitigated a great deal through nutrition alone, there are also other elements that could be manipulated to improve a person’s chance for recovery without the use of powerful chemicals (aka “medicine”). As a coach and not clinician, I could not diagnose nor treat conditions, but through the pre-practicum I could at least gain a deeper understanding of these conditions and what drives them, so that as a coach I could support patients of clinicians and those suffering from chronic disease conditions.
Now I’m into the practicum phase of the course where we now will need to coach real live clients and coach a minimum number of sessions in order to complete the certifications. I’ve got a handful of client volunteers whom I’ll be coaching to complete my sessions requirement.
It’s both a scary and fulfilling moment; I’ll be coaching in a discipline where I have done some work but will be just starting out. I’ll be honing my craft in habit development which forms the basis for nearly all success in health coaching. I’ll be working with a more diverse set of clients than just those who are interested in, say, improving their swimming. Their issues will be more complex and cover a broader range than just one area like swimming freestyle or kettlebells. Once again I am out of the comfort zone – where I like to put myself! – and loving it!
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