Certain, but uncertified

You have a better understanding of the many contributing factors to poor health and disease than the average person—probably more than the average coach. In fact, you may have experienced chronic disease yourself or watched someone you love struggle with it. And if you’ve seen up close how a Functional Medicine approach can reverse chronic disease and transform lives, you know how important it is—and feel called to help.

I’ve long said that coaches play a critical role in the (r)evolution of healthcare and that the collaboration among licensed clinicians (doctors, nurses, physician assistants) and non-licensed practitioners (nutritionists, coaches) is going to be central to the future of medicine.

But that doesn’t mean a coach needs to know medicine or any other highly specialized medical skills. The true priority of a coach is to empower people to discover their own goals, solutions, and strategies, not to give advice or tips, diagnose, or “teach.”

What you’d like is to have a clearer idea of what coaching is or should be as a profession. Although you know quite a bit about Functional Medicine and perhaps even the ADAPT framework, you also see a lot of coaches out there, certified and not, with whom you do not identify. And while you are familiar with the issues driving chronic disease, you can’t help but feel that there are some holes in your own knowledge that keep you from offering better support and advice.

What you need is a framework for becoming a more effective and powerful coach, so that you can communicate and motivate another person to create lasting change. Plus, you could use a path to success and solid business model so you can make coaching sustainable for you as a career.