As a health coach, you encounter various scenarios working with clients, but where is the line drawn?
What is the “Scope of Practice”
The scope of practice refers to the process of coaching and the rules that you follow when you are doing anything related to coaching, whether it be writing a blog, coaching a group or an individual. Why is this important? Like doctors, we vow to “do no harm”, we do not want to act in any way that would harm our clients. For instance, since we are not medical doctors, we should not interpret lab results. It could lead to lawsuits to cease and desist or other legal implications. Being an approved training program with the National Board for Health & Wellness Coaches (NB-HWC), the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy teaches you how to coach within the scope of practice abiding by the NB-HWC code of conduct.
According to a study from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, lifestyle coaching is effective with clients and have shown vast health improvements in cases such as diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.
As a Health Coach, we do not diagnosis, we do not treat, we do not prescribe, we do not interpret medical results, we do not write food plans, nor we do not recommend supplements. Keeping in the scope of practice simply means we are our client’s cheerleaders, accountability partner, and educator to help collaborate and navigate through the plans of the professional.
Our founders, Dr. Sandra Scheinbaum and Elyse Wagner go in depth about what exactly Health Coaches are qualified to do, as well as answering questions from Health Coaches in the community! Watch the full video here:
“Functional Medicine Coaching: How to Be Part of the Movement That’s Transforming Healthcare”
