NAT 550 Principles and Professional Practice of Health and Wellness Coaching prepares students for professional practice as board-eligible health and wellness coaches.
This 15-week graduate course prepares students to practice as competent, ethical, client-centered health and wellness coaches and to sit for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) board examination. Organized into five modules, the course integrates didactic instruction with applied coaching practice each week, so students build knowledge and observable coaching skill on parallel tracks. Students develop competency in coaching structure and process, evidence-based behavior-change theory, core communication and motivational interviewing skills, foundational health and wellness content, and the ethics, scope-of-practice, and professional standards required for safe and effective practice. Applied learning progresses from foundational coach presence and rapport through full faculty-observed coaching sessions, culminating in a formal Practical Skills Assessment (PSA) scored using the NBHWC competency rubric.
NAT 550 is approved by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) and meets the education requirements for eligibility to sit the NBHWC exam and achieve the NBC-HWC coach designation. In this course, students complete a minimum of 75 instructional hours, three faculty-observed practice coaching sessions with structured feedback, and a Practical Skills Assessment.
To be eligible to sit the NBHWC coaching credential exam, candidates must:
Analyze the scope, ethical obligations, and appropriate referral pathways of a board-certified health and wellness coach relative to adjacent healthcare, mental-health, and behavioral-health professions, using established coaching scope-of-practice and code-of-ethics standards as decision criteria.
Apply Motivational Interviewing, the Transtheoretical Model, Self-Determination Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, growth mindset, positive psychology, and appreciative inquiry in observed coaching interactions to engage clients, focus on client-selected agendas, evoke change talk, and support autonomous action planning.
Analyze client presentations across the dimensions of whole-person wellness, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, stress, mind-body connection, chronic-condition risk, and social and structural determinants of health to distinguish modifiable behavioral factors within the coaching scope from clinical red flags that require referral.
Evaluate complex ethical dilemmas involving confidentiality, conflicts of interest, dual relationships, cultural humility, HIPAA-aligned information handling, and the responsible use of digital and generative artificial-intelligence tools, and defend professional decisions with direct citation to established coaching codes of ethics and professional practice.
Create culturally responsive, health-literacy-adapted coaching plans, including vision statements, long-term goals, SMART behavioral goals, self-tracking systems, and referral and support networks that account for the client’s individual context and the social and structural determinants of health shaping that context.
Evaluate personal coaching performance against an established coaching competency rubric across three Practice Coaching Sessions and a Performance Assessment, and create a personal continuing-development plan integrating reflective practice, mentorship, supervision, and wellbeing monitoring.
Required Course Pack:
Coaching Practical Lab Kit – This experiential learning kit includes the following supplies:
5 ml Lavender EO Organic Lavandula angustifolia
5 ml Sweet Orange EO Organic Citrus sinensis
1 oz Red Rose Buds/Petals Organic Rosa centifolia
1 oz German Chamomile Flowers Organic Matricaria recutita
3pk Nasal Inhalers w/ wicks
Press-N-Brew tea bags
Required Textbooks:
View the required textbooks for this class, including ISBN, edition, and retail price, by visiting our Required Textbooks page.
Total Course Price:
View the total course price, including tuition, fees, course materials, and shipping, online here.
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