If you are interested in helping people stay healthy in a holistic way that addresses not just their physical well-being but other aspects as well, you may want to consider a career in health and wellness. With a career in this area, you can work with people one-on-one or help develop programmes that can be used with various populations. You might also go into a more traditional healthcare career.
Getting your degree
The type of degree you would get will vary based on what exactly you want to do. If you are hoping to pursue a more traditional career as a psychologist or physician, you might start with an undergraduate degree in psychology for the former and something in the biological sciences for the latter. However, you might be more interested in something like public health, where you would work on educating populations and similar projects. These types of careers require formal education, and the high cost of a college degree can make it seem out of reach. However, there are several ways to get funding to cover these costs, including scholarships. You can go online to search and apply for scholarships you’re eligible for, and this could cover some or even all your costs in some cases.
Coaching, teaching, and training
There are other types of careers in this area that do not necessarily require a college degree, including becoming a wellness coach, teaching a skill like yoga, or becoming a personal trainer. At the same time, college courses can provide you with a lot of useful information. It’s helpful to have some formal education in anatomy if you are teaching yoga or in nutrition if you are going to be a personal trainer. However, there are also certifications you can get in these areas. There are established yoga teacher training programs and organizations that certify personal trainers. Ultimately, the kind of education that you seek for this type of work will depend on your goals and your resources.
A social media presence may be necessary for a personal trainer or wellness coach in a way that isn’t necessary for a physician or more traditional healthcare worker, but in any profession, you may want to become an advocate for a lifestyle of health and wellness. If you’re a nurse, a doctor or have a similar career, consider whether you want to take on a more public role as an educator. This might involve writing articles and even books as well as engaging in social media.
It’s also important that you make sure that you aren’t violating any professional standards or any rules set by your employer. As an entrepreneur, you will be in a different situation, and your social media can be critical to your success. However, this is not as simple as creating a few accounts and seeing what happens. Think carefully ahead of time about what boundaries you will set on how frequently you will engage and how much personal information if any, you are willing to share.
Continuing education
Many careers in this sector have continuing education requirements, but if you are in one that does not, that’s no reason to avoid pursuing additional education. Knowledge and understanding of the body, health, wellness, nutrition, exercise, disease, and other topics are always changing, and it’s imperative that you stay on top of the relevant information for your profession so that you can offer the best possible information and advice.
Avoiding burnout
Perhaps ironically, careers in health and wellness can come with a high risk of burnout. This may be because, in a career in health care, you are working long and stressful hours. It might be because as an entrepreneur, you are dealing with long hours and financial stress. In any of these situations, it’s important to take your own advice and seek a work-life balance as well as identification techniques for stress relief. If you work in a sector like personal training, you need to make sure that you aren’t engaging in overtraining yourself. Remember that you can’t deliver the necessary services to your patients or clients if you are struggling and take time off or seek help with your workload if necessary.
Robert Haynes, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
