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How To Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
Coaching is an influential approach to treating individuals with eating disorders. Coaches provide the solution to clients to cope with it. They have the ability to assist clients from where they are to where they want to be. Eating disorders include unhealthy eating behavior.
A person may eat a lot or eat too little in this situation. Sometimes they are worried about their body shape or weight.
People suffer from eating disorders at any age, but teenagers are at high risk. Eating Disorder Coaches help you to treat and recover from an eating disorder.
This blog post aims to spread awareness of how to become an eating disorder coach, symptoms, and treatment of eating disorders. You will also get the answer to many other questions by reading this article. These questions include the benefits of becoming an eating disorder coach, required qualifications and skills, and many more! So let’s dive into our topic.
In Brief : How To Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
- Find Your Specialty – Choose a specialization field within eating disorders to focus on and help individuals in need.
- Use Your Personal Journey And Experience – Leverage personal experiences and recovery from eating disorders, even without healthcare qualifications, to assist others going through similar struggles.
- Certification – While not mandatory, pursuing certifications and courses can enhance knowledge about eating disorders and their treatment for aspiring coaches.
What Are The Benefits Of Becoming An Eating Disorder Coach?
- Eating Disorder Coaches Provide Support And Guidance To Those Suffering From Eating Disorders – Eating disorder coaches effectively understand and address individuals’ eating problems, offering crucial support, guidance, and kindness to make mealtimes stress-free, aiding clients during challenging moments.
- They Can Help You Develop A Healthy Relationship With Food And Your Body – Coaches empower individuals to cultivate a healthy mental and physical state by providing guidance on proper nutrition, fostering meaningful relationships with food, and promoting overall well-being.
- Coaches Can Also Helps You Set Goals And Work Through Any Challenge You Face – Eating disorder coaches inspire and assist individuals in setting and achieving realistic goals, playing a pivotal role in restoring healthy body weight, enhancing positivity, and reducing negative behaviors associated with eating disorders.
What Skills Are Required To Be Successful As An Eating Disorder Coach?
- Mental Health – Proper nutrition is essential for maintaining a healthy, stress-free mental state, and addressing chemical dependencies through meals contributes to overall well-being.
- Treatment Plans – Specialists create comprehensive treatment plans that include crucial patient information, treatment requirements, costs, precautions, and potential side effects, ensuring a holistic approach to healthcare.
- Community Organizations – Non-profit organizations dedicated to helping individuals with eating disorders establish vital connections with police, hospitals, and various institutions, fostering a supportive community for those affected.
- Community Resources – Essential services provided by community resources, such as housing and population assistance, contribute to the daily struggles of individuals with eating disorders, creating a supportive social network for effective treatment.
- Group Therapy – Group psychotherapy offers mutual support and encouragement for individuals with eating disorders, facilitating healing through shared experiences and cooperative treatment.
What Are The Certifications To Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
- Precision Nutrition Level 1 – A four-and-a-half-month program providing essential knowledge on nutrition’s impact, enabling individuals to make healthy food choices, and culminating in a PN Coach Level 1 certificate.
- Institute For Integrative Nutrition – Offering foundational health coaching skills, this course covers nutrition science, coaching methods, and various topics through tutorials and lectures.
- Duke Integrative Medicine – A university-based program addressing negative thinking, requiring a bachelor’s degree, and providing face-to-face and video sessions leading to certification.
- Dr. Sears Wellness Institute – Geared for non-professionals, this entry-level program emphasizes healthy habits and four cornerstones—attitude, lifestyles, exercise, and nutrition—offering online learning and a valuable coaching certificate.
What Are The Eating Disorder Coaching Methods?
- In-Person Eating Disorder Coaching – Traditional coaching adaptable to the patient’s needs, offering privacy, insight into subtle cues, and the flexibility to change environments.
- Virtual Eating Disorder Coaching – Convenient online coaching with flexibility in attire and timing, affordability, and the option to access recorded sessions.
What is an Eating Disorder?
It is a behavioral disorder due to acute and continuous disturbance in eating behavior. Eating disorders are associated with unwanted thoughts and emotions that are often repetitive. It significantly harms the physical health and functioning of the body.
Different Types of Eating Disorders
Here we mention the most common list of eating disorders.
- Bulimia
- Binge-eating disorder
- Anorexia nervosa
1. Bulimia
It is an abnormal and intense desire for food. Another name for bulimia is hyperoxia, a severe eating disorder found in women. In this condition, you lose control of how much you eat.
2. Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
It is associated with eating more food until you feel uncomfortably full.
3. Anorexia nervosa
It is the condition linked when you try to eat too little food to reduce weight. It may be related to when you do too much exercising or doing both.
Besides the types mentioned above, some people may suffer from Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED). It is also one kind of eating disorder.
Eating Disorder Symptoms
If any person has an unhealthy relationship with food, they may suffer from an eating disorder. Here we discuss the symptoms of an eating disorder:
- Worried about weight and body shape
- Eating less food
- Changes in mood swings such as anger, depression, etc
- Doing a lot of exercising
- Have a very tough schedule about eating food
Some physical symptoms also include:
- Feeling tired and cold
- Feeling pain in arms and another part of the body
- Feeling faint
- Digestion problems
- Slow breathing rate
- Muscle weakness
- The immune system doesn’t function properly
- Pale yellow skin
- Low blood pressure
- Your weight does not match according to your age, height, and many more!
Warning signs of Eating Disorder:
- Considerable weight loss
- Eating a large amount of food very fast
- After eating a lot, going to the bathroom
- Eating very slowly
Eating Disorder Treatment
Recovery from an eating disorder is possible, but it takes time. Do remember that the recovery process is different for everyone. If you are going to an eating disorder specialist, they are responsible for your treatment or care. It severely affects the mind and body, so appropriate treatment is compulsory.
- Different eating disorders have different treatments, but the most common and best treatment of eating disorders is talking therapy. Keep a record of your regular health check if an eating disorder disturbs your physical health. In case of bulimia or binge-eating disorder may be treated with group therapy. Some names of therapy that can assist in coping with eating disorder problems are mentioned below.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Family-Based treatment
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
This therapy usually involves 20 sessions across 20 weeks. During this period, you talk to therapists who help you explore emotions and thoughts. They also ask about your feelings about body shape and weight. They planned a regular healthy diet for you and motivated you to stick to it.
2. Dialectical Behavior Therapy
It is one type of CBT. This therapy aims to change negative thoughts and bring positivity to life. The main formula of this therapy is acceptance and change. DBT is divided into four main parts.
- Individual therapy
- If there is any crisis between sessions, then phone coaching
- Group skills training
- Healthcare providers consult about patient’s recovery and care
3. Family-based Treatment
Another name of FBT is the Maudsley method that is used to treat eating disorders. The trained professionals do this treatment. Family-based treatment is the first-line approach to recover young adults and children suffering from eating disorders. It involves three phases.
- Full parental control
- A slow return of control to the adolescent
- Set up healthy independence
What is Eating Disorder Coaching
Eating disorder coaching is a secret weapon that assists you in recovery. It helps you to overcome mental illness. Coaches serve various services for you so that you get better as soon as possible. It is growing very fast due to the different skills of coaches to assist people through the different sessions. These sessions may be conducted through phone, videos, or live meetings.
Focus on the Recovery process
They focus on the goals of your recovery process. During the treatment, you may talk about your past with the coach in order to be aware of what you want to change. In this way, they can quickly identify the specific goals and then help you to reach these goals by developing different strategies.
Focus on Strengths
They help you find your strengths. It is the foremost important thing you can do for your treatment. They lead you to develop the sense of likes, dislikes, and purpose of your future. So, strength is the healthiest thing for a change!
Focus on Support
Many eating disorder coaches support you when you lose all your good hopes. They assist with urges and encouragement. In a nutshell, eating coaching services provide critical support for those who suffer from these abnormal eating habits.
In conclusive words, we say that eating disorder coaching is a field in the world of psychology. They help to manage lives that are suffering from eating disorders.
What Does An Eating Disorder Coach Do?
Eating disorder coaches resolve the issue related to unhealthy eating and body image. Maybe a question arises in your mind: why do you choose coaching?
The answer is straightforward! They recommended a variety of food for eating disorder recovery. An eating disorder coach helps you to build positive behavior in your life. If you lie in the below-mentioned category, your problem will be resolved better through an eating disorder coach.
- Do you ever hate when you look at yourself in the mirror?
- Are your negative thoughts heavy on you and become an obstacle to enjoying life
- Do you worrying about your diet and food plan
- Are you struggling with over-exercising
If the answer is yes, then you must consult with an eating disorder coach. They will adjust different sessions to talk with you about your problems and suggest a solution.
They motivate you to feel free from body-shame and food obsession. Coaches do their job by assisting you in meal selection grocery shopping. Furthermore, some of them also spend time in clients’ homes. Coaches are trained, so they better help you manage such disorders timely. They serve for many years in health issues in many ways.
A coach is different from a mentor. Mentors have lived experiences such as they suffered themselves from unhealthy eating problems. While coaches help clients with different tasks and change behaviors. More about their job is mentioned below:
- Moreover, these coaches help you to manage regular eating habits
- They change the feelings of your body from negative to positive
- They encouraged you to stick to new eating habits to solve illness
- They make healthy food choices
- Cope with the fear of weight gaining
- Coaches understand the effect of hunger
In short, they know how to stop this eating disorder and push you towards ordinary people’s regular eating routine. They work with a variety of clients who have a newly recognized eating disorder, including those who have been getting treatment for months.
What Are The Benefits of Becoming An Eating Disorder Coach?
In this field, you motivate your client to find freedom from their illness. Due to this profession, you help them at the time when they lose all their hopes, and many of them also commit suicide. You go to their home if you do the residential treatment. The following benefits are:
1. Eating Disorder Coaches Provide Support And Guidance to Those Suffering From Eating Disorders
It might be a difficult task to understand the person’s eating problem. Coaches do this responsibility very well and provide support and complete guidance. They help at this time when people feel helpless. Eating disorder coaches make mealtime stress-free for their clients . Patience is also an essential thing that eating disorder coaches show. They always remain kind and polite with their patients.
2. They Can Help You Develop a Healthy Relationship With Food And Your Body
A good relationship with food and body makes you mentally and physically perfect. Coaches guide you properly about which food is good for you and which one is wrong. Relationships with food are also meaningful, the same as other relationships. When you build it in the correct way, then you live a happy and healthy life.
3. Coaches Can Also Helps You Set Goals And Work Through Any Challenge You Face
Coaches motivate you to define and realistically reach goals. They help to build the goals then actively work on them. Goal setting also plays a crucial role in reaching the destination. In the case of eating disorders, the main goal is to restore the patient’s healthy body weight. Increases the positivity and reduces the negative behavior of a person suffering from an eating disorder.
How to Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
1. Find Your Specialty
The first and foremost step is assurity about your career. If you want to become an eating disorder coach, then do research in which specialization field you can help patients. We mentioned above the most common 3 types of eating disorders. Choose the one then start to help people suffering from eating disorders.
2. Use Your Personal Journey And Experience
Some people don’t have any healthcare qualifications, but they have past personal experience of eating disorders. Their recovery may take a short time or a few years. There is no magic in it that they are aware of the disease in the starting stage and recover it themselves. The illness and recovery of those people may not be the same as you but not too much different either. They help people with their experience of illness and recovery
3. Certification
As such, certification is not part of the qualification for becoming an eating disorder coach. At the same time, various courses and certifications enhanced your knowledge about disease and treatment. We will also discuss the different types of certificates below to help you make informed decisions.
What Qualifications Are Needed To Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
Coaches give services regarding assistance with meals, eating disorder coaches become an up-to-come as an accessory to standard treatment. An emerging eating disorder behavior is deep-rooted in everyday life; mainly, it’s about mealtime and never to be ignored. The respective counselors are licensed mental health professionals with advanced degrees in psychotherapy.
They usually utilize cognitive behavioral therapy, family-dependent therapy, and many others related to psychotherapy. In this field, the therapists are qualified to treat patients suffering from eating disorders and co-occurring disorders during the individuals as well as in group therapy. The registered dietitian trained from different medical nutrition therapy and gets their specialization in it deals with the patients suffering from eating.
They recommend them with the best nutrition meal plans to overcome this eating disorder in about every stage from low to a high level. Moreover, these nutrition coaches counsel the patients about adopting healthy eating habits during the treatment.
Furthermore, many other medical specialists such as a cardiologist, endocrinologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, and orthopedic doctors are helped to control situation-related eating disorders.
What Skills Are Required To Be Successful As An Eating Disorder Coach?
To overcome eating disorders, coaches adopt a number of essential skills such as mental health used as top-ranked skills. So, eating-disordered coaches are basically required in order to be more successful at their respective workplaces. The most essential eating disorder skills are listed below;
1. Mental Health
It is usually needed for a person to live a healthy life and have a well-being state of mind without having stress or psychological breakdown. The patients typically provide the nutrition eating meal to cover this chemical dependency as well as mental health issues.
2. Treatment Plans
A specialist makes a complete plan of patients containing all essential information about the patient and his disease and patients’ treatment requirements, cost, and precautions. Furthermore, a treatment plan includes the expected side effects possible during the treatment.
3. Community Organizations
These organizations worked without taking any profit for the people affected by the different diseases such as eating disorders by maintaining relationships with police, hospitals, and many other organizations.
4. Community Resources
These are sources that play a vital role in people’s daily lives struggling to develop their lifestyles day by day. The services presented by community resources for the patients suffering from an eating disorder include people, houses, and population assistance. It includes the cultivated social network team cooperation for the appropriate treatment.
5. Group Therapy
Group psychotherapy treats a number of clients mutually at a place through multiple sessions. This act causes the source of support and encouragement from their peers taking the respective group therapy.
So, there are a number of other skills required to be a successful eating disorder coach listed as fellow;
- Community out research
- Dual diagnosis,
- Body image
- Crisis inventions.
What Are The Certifications To Become An Eating Disorder Coach?
However, certification is not compulsory in this field, but it benefits you in various ways.
- Certificates increase your knowledge about eating disorders
- It polishes your skills to help people with an eating disorder
- It enhanced other skills like communication and problem-solving
There are a variety of programs that provide eating disorder coach certification. Some of them are mentioned below
1. Precision Nutrition Level 1
This program helps people to reach their nutritional goals. Through this certification, you get the knowledge of how food affects your body and what methods work best to live a healthy life. You will get a prestigious PN coach level 1 certificate after the completion of this course.
You will learn different vital points regarding your job in this period such as.
- You will learn about how to allow clients to make a healthy food choice and live an eating disorder free life
- The course is self-paced
- The duration of completion of this course is about four and a half months
- You will have to clear exams with 75 percent to get the certificate
2. Institute For Integrative Nutrition
IIN is one of the famous institutes providing eating disorder coaching. This course aims to teach you very basic knowledge of health care coaching.
- You will learn different skills to become an expert in nutrition science
- This course teaches you various coaching methods
- Tutorials, lectures, and assignments are available on different topics
3. Duke Integrative Medicine
It is a university-based program. You will take the course then pass the exam to get the certificate. This course includes.
- This course teaches you how to work with clients to change their negative thinking
- You must have a bachelor’s degree in any field for attending this course
- It consists of face to face sessions along with video lectures
4. Dr. Sears Wellness Institute
It is a world-class center that provides an entry-level program. The course is the best opportunity for those who are not professionals.
- It helps you to get knowledge about healthy eating habits
- Four cornerstones are involved in healthy living. i.e., attitude, lifestyles, exercise, and nutrition
- You can quickly go through the knowledge of this course online
Coaching certificates are a superb investment for your bright future. You will learn different skills that prove beneficial to becoming a successful coach. It is essential to do your research before enrolling in any program.
How Much Does An Eating Disorder Coach Earn?
Becoming an eating disorder coach is not an easy profession. It is a tough job, and the pay of coaches varies with qualification. Eating disorder is one of the illnesses that kills one person every hour. You may think that the pay of an eating disorder coach is probably equal to doctors, but sadly it is not! Anyone who wants to become an eating disorder coach invests in education with salary knowledge. However, it is complicated to give the exact answer to the question below.
The BLS (Bureau of labor statistics) makes an average estimation of eating disorder coach pay. They earn about $450000 per year. Similarly, PayScale approximates the eating disorder coach salary closely to BLS estimation. It is about $43000 per year. Besides this, salary.com also gives a rough idea about the salary of an eating disorder coach. It is between $35,396 to $44,431 per year.
However, the variation in the salary of people doing an eating disorder job depends upon their work setting. Their work setting includes:
- Doctor’s office
- Clinics
- Hospitals
- Residential care facilities
- Nursing homes
- Private practices
However, their pay is low when running group therapy sessions. At the same time, the highest-paid are those who work independently. They set their rates and earn more than those who work with groups. One of the essential factors that influence the salary of eating disorder coaches is education. Highly educated people typically earn more money.
An ED coach with a Ph.D. degree is able to make more money than one with a master’s degree. Furthermore, additional certifications and training also lead them to make more income.
What Are Eating Disorder Coaching Methods?
What Are The Eating Disorder Coaching Methods?
- In-person eating disorder coaching
- Virtual eating disorder coaching
1. In-person Eating Disorder Coaching
It is one of the traditional versions of coaching. You can easily change scenery according to the patient’s mental conditions in this method. Some pros of In-person eating disorders are mentioned below:
- For those clients who do not have an entirely private place, then in-person coaching proves beneficial for them
- A coach can easily detect your binding with those who suffer from an eating disorder
- You can notice the awkwardness and reaction
- You can change the environment in different sessions because the environment has a significant impact on mental health
2. Virtual Eating Disorder Coaching
It is coaching in which you guide another person through an online platform. It is the best way of guidance during a pandemic when there is a restriction to move out. The most common virtual coaching platform is talking to someone via Zoom link. Some pros of virtual coaching include:
- You attend sessions in your private home wearing any type of dress
- You don’t have any rush to attend the session
- You can take a session at any time or adjust suitable with your coach
- It is a more affordable method of coaching
- If you miss any session during a busy week, you can listen to the recorded video in your free time
Tips For Becoming an Eating Disorder Coach
It is not an easy profession. You will face various ups and downs in this field regularly. Here we suggest the most important tips for those who want to become successful eating disorder coaches.
1. Validate the efforts
Those who suffer from eating disorders are likely fighting an internal battle in their head. It should prove effective to praise one’s effort rather than what one accomplished. Encourage and motivate their little effort with good words like I am proud of you and very well done.
2. Always remain cool and calm
It sounds simple. Right ?! But we all have different emotional stages in life, such as frustration from routine anger, worries, etc. Don’t show these emotions in your professional career. It is very important to deal with people with cool behavior and observe how they respond to treatment.
3. Focus
Focus is also an essential parameter to becoming a successful eating disorder coach. Focus on tasks and setting goals. Motivate them that it is straightforward to control the situation and get rid of eating disorders.
4. Modify When Needed
There is no particular key parameter to becoming a successful eating disorder coach. If one plan does not work, change it and work on the second. Never stick to a single idea. Try different things and take notice of a change.
5. Awareness
A successful eating disorder coach has full awareness of different symptoms of usual eating behavior.
What is The difference between Eating Disorder Coach And Recovery Coach?
Some people think that an eating disorder coach and a recovery coach have the same meaning. Both may sound similar, but there is some differentiation between eating disorders and recovery coaches.
What is Recovery Coach Not?
- It is not counseling
- Psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy is not involved in it. At the same time, Eating disorder treatments involve this therapy
- It does not give any medical support or nutritional guidance
Here are some suggestions that the following people do not take treatment from a recovery coach.
- Under 18
- Pregnant
- Actively suicidal
Conclusion
You are the most important and loved one for your family. Eating disorder coaches assist you in getting from mental illness and enjoying a happy, healthy life. Coaching services provide full support and guidance to overcome negative feelings. They always motivate and encourage you in your recovery journey. You can get help in various ways from an eating disorder coach. Eating disorder is a treatable disease if you get the proper treatment from the right person.
All the services provided by the coach are flexible and according to your need. They quickly remove the obstacles from your recovery path. The coach recognizes your values and develops a healthy relationship with food. We hope this blog post is the food of thought for all those who want to learn about the eating disorder and eating disorder coach. If you feel that you have this mental illness, then contact an eating disorder coach as soon as possible!
Frequently asked questions
What does an Eating Disorder Coach offer?
Eating disorder coaches offer various services to help people who suffer from unhealthy eating habits. If you feel yourself in trouble with an eating disorder, then you must consult with coaches. They not only guide you but also support you in your difficult time. The eating disorder coach listens to you calmly and gives you the problem of your solution.
Resources to be an Eating Disorder Coach?
Many resources support you in the recovery path. Many social media platforms provide professional guidance and advice that help you deal with eating disorders.
What to Expect From Your First Meeting With Your Eating Disorder Coach?
Remember that you start the conversation with those who have a solution to your problem. Eating disorder coach definitely listens to your problem with patience. Their behavior is polite to you. They fulfill all your expectations about the treatment of eating disorders. Do not forget that eating disorder coaches care about your short-term or long-term health. So you can feel free to discuss your eating habits.
What Are The Benefits of Working With an Eating Disorder Coach?
One of the main benefits of working with an eating disorder coach is that you get awareness about the illness. Awareness can lead to prevention and treatment. Coaches help you to deal with real-life situations. They help you to implement goals that work very well. Different sessions are held to guide you and support you properly. They deal with your feelings and thoughts and tend your negative behavior into a positive one.
ABOUT SAI BLACKBYRN
I’m Sai Blackbyrn, better known as “The Coach’s Mentor.” I help Coaches like you establish their business online. My system is simple: close more clients at higher fees. You can take advantage of technology, and use it as a catalyst to grow your coaching business in a matter of weeks; not months, not years. It’s easier than you think.
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