Pivoting to Health Coaching as an RN
Burnout in the nursing field is high, and many nurses are interested in a change. Pivoting to Health Coaching as an RN can be a great solution. We talked to one Registered Nurse who gained the confidence and tools she needed to land a dream job.
Katrín Sigurdardóttir, who lives and works in Iceland, was ready to return to her career after staying home with her young children. Previously, she worked in a traditional nursing role as an RN, but she was ready for a pivot.
“I knew I wanted to be on the preventative side, rather than on the reactionary side of healthcare,” she shared. A friend told her about the Master of Integrative Care program at NWHSU.
“This was actually the program I had been dreaming about for years, before I knew that it was even a possibility.”
She attended an information session and applied the next day.
Building Confidence through Education
For Katrín, earning the degree was about building confidence. Returning to school wasn’t easy. “I hadn’t been in school for 25 years,” she explained. “It was a steep hill getting back into it. For the first few sessions I felt completely under water.”
However, she started building confidence: both to finish the degree, and to re-start her career. “The program gave me the tools that I needed to pursue the next step in my career. And the confidence,” she said. “It doesn’t give you all the information you need. It gives you the tools to figure out how to get the knowledge you want.”
After doubting herself in the beginning, Katrín thrived: graduating Summa Cum Laude as valedictorian in her class.
Online Flexibility, With Opportunities to Connect
The program is offered online and almost completely asynchronously, which worked well for Katrín, who was doing the work from Iceland. Still, she built relationships and had some synchronous courses because she pursued the health coaching specialization.
She specifically credits the final health coaching practicum class, where she got to work with many clients, as the greatest impact on her education. “You know, you come into it as a student and you’re not very confident about if you can really help somebody. But everyone I spoke with claimed they benefitted from just sitting down and talking,” she shared.
Using yourself as a tool like that for people, it’s just very empowering, and it leaves you feeling great.”
Health Coaching Specialization
Katrín didn’t know anything about pivoting to health coaching as an RN before applying to the master’s program. “When I started looking into it, I saw that it could be a great tool for me to reach my goals,” she explained. “I wanted to motivate people to make healthy choices and hopefully move themselves towards better health.”
What she learned through the specialization helped her career and personal life. “It just gave me a different perspective on how to help people. You don’t necessarily help people by telling them what to do,” she said. “You have to meet them where they are and you have to figure out what their resources are and what way works best for them.”
Beyond the hard and soft skills she gained from the program, she also gained a credential. The Health Coaching program at NWHSU made Katrín eligible to take her boards to become a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC). Katrín passed (100% of our coaching alumni have at time of publication) and joined the ranks of over 10,000 board certified health coaches internationally.
Career Success After Graduation
With the confidence and skills she gained from the program, Katrín has built a meaningful career. After graduating in the summer, she got a job in the fall working in health promoting services at a primary health clinic.
“All day I’m meeting with people with obesity, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes or diabetes, digestive issue, autoimmune issues…” she explained. “And I help them figure out where they can change their lifestyle to improve their health.” She uses her health coaching skills and provides education for patients. In appointments, she equips patients with the information they need and helps them set and achieve goals.
“This is my dream job,” she gushed. “My youngest client is 4 and my oldest is over 90. Doctors refer patients to me all the time. I see individuals, couples, parents and children, a lot of immigrants and refugees. I do a lot of work with interpreters. The spectrum of clients I see is just huge. It’s a lot of fun.”
Katrín practices in her hometown in Iceland, but these jobs are growing for RNs in the United States as well, often as “nurse navigator” positions.
Finding her Niche as a Private Practice Health Coach
Beyond her role at the primary care clinic, Katrín’s capstone project in the master’s program inspired a small business. She studied histamine intolerance, and now supports patients with suspected histamine intolerance through her private practice health coaching business.
Seeing wins for patients makes the work incredibly rewarding. One story that sticks out is that of a 26-year-old man who had seen a laundry list of doctors and specialists for rashes that he would break out in every few days. She worked with him and a month later he came back to tell her he felt like he had his life back. “I feel like I was the right person at the right time for him,.” she shared. “It’s such an honor to be part of this field.”
Are you interested in pivoting to health coaching as an RN? Our Masters of Health Science in Integrative Care or Health Coaching Graduate Certificate can help you prepare.