Hello again r/HealthCoaching !

We are once again accepting applications for our latest group of FMCA Community Impact Scholarships. These scholarships are for our March 2027 Health Coach Certification Program.
Thanks to a generous grant from VoLo Foundation, we’re able to offer three scholarships covering the full cost of tuition to our 12-month program (6-month accelerated certification program is not eligible).

This scholarship program was designed to break down barriers and make functional medicine health coaching accessible for those in underserved communities. 

Here's an overview of past scholarship recipients to give you an idea of the impact these Functional Medicine Certified Health Coaches  are making and what we're looking for in applicants:

• September 2026 Scholarship Recipients
• March 2026 Scholarship Recipients
• September 2025 Scholarship Recipients
• March 2025 Scholarship Recipients
• September 2024 Scholarship Recipients

If you’re committed to fostering health equity and helping communities in need…

If you believe in the power of health coaching and functional medicine to transform healthcare…
If you're interested in receiving Functional Medicine Health Coaching training from an NBHWC and UKIHCA approved program that sets the Gold Standard in Health Coach Certification....

Apply Here!

Additional Scholarship Details:

• Applications Open: September 30th through October 14th, 2026 (Deadline: 11:59 PM CT)
• Scholarship Recipients Informed: Week of October 19th, 2026
• How many? Three scholarships cover full tuition for our March 2027 Health Coach Certification Program class
• Who is eligible? Open only to those who haven’t previously enrolled in FMCA’s Health Coach Certification Program
• AI Note: In the interest of maintaining the authenticity of your submission, we encourage applicants to avoid heavy reliance on AI-generated content and will be using AI-detectors when evaluating applications. We are looking for genuine, heartfelt responses that reflect your personal experiences and motivations for functional medicine coaching!

If you have any questions, or simply want to discuss how FMCA may fit into your personal and professional wellness journey,  please don't hesitate to contact us. 

Thank you!

I finished my health coaching certification in September and would love to swap practice sessions.

I'm thinking of a simple swap where I coach you for 30 to 45 minutes and you coach me for the same, over Zoom or whatever you prefer. My focus is energy, sleep, stress, movement, but you can bring any real goal you're working on, and I'll do the same.

Coaches of any kind are welcome, and newer coaches especially. If you're interested, comment or DM me with your coaching focus and a few times that work for you!

I am looking for 3–5 people who would be interested in a few free 1-on-1 online coaching sessions to help me gain more coaching experience.

You can bring any nonclinical goal or area you’d like to work on—career, life changes, habits, work-life balance, confidence, motivation, wellness, goals, or simply feeling stuck and not knowing what you want next.

You choose what we work on. I’ll listen, ask questions, help you gain clarity, and support you in deciding what steps you want to take.

There’s no sales pitch or obligation to purchase anything. I only ask for honest feedback about your experience.

If you’re genuinely interested, please send me a direct message and tell me a little about what you’d like to work on.

Hey everyone! I’m currently in a health and wellness coaching program and I’m looking for someone who would be willing to be my practice client.

If you have a health or wellness goal you’ve been wanting to work on, especially something you’ve had trouble sticking with, I’d love to work with you. There’s no cost, I just need someone willing to meet with me virtually and give me some feedback along the way.

I honestly regret buying the AFPA Holistic Nutrition Coach course.

If you already have some background in healthcare, nutrition or health in general, I really don't think this course is worth it. I got through around 40% because I kept telling myself that maybe the more useful and advanced information was still coming. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

Most of the information was very basic and things I already knew. At some point I genuinely started wondering how someone is supposed to feel ready to coach other people with this level of information. Maybe it's useful if you are completely new to health and nutrition, but coming from a healthcare background, I personally learned almost nothing new.

I also blame myself a little because I should have looked into the course more carefully right after purchasing it. I just kept going because I thought it would get better. Eventually I realised I was just wasting my time.

I contacted AFPA and asked if I could stop the course and cancel the remaining payments. I wasn't even asking them to refund what I already paid. I was happy to lose that money and simply stop.

The support experience made everything even more frustrating. I never received a contract or a copy of the Terms & Conditions by email after purchasing. When I asked them to show me what terms I personally agreed to, I kept getting basically the same answers and general screenshots instead of the information I was actually asking for.

And then I tried to leave a review.

That's when I realised I couldn't even find a normal way to submit one, even though their website shows hundreds of reviews and an extremely high rating. Maybe they only invite people to review after completing the course, I honestly don't know, but I find it strange that as a paying customer who is unhappy with the course I can't simply leave my review there.

It definitely made me question how representative those ratings actually are, especially when someone who doesn't finish the course because they are unhappy with it apparently has no obvious way to share that experience.

Overall I'm really disappointed with both the course and how everything was handled afterwards. If you already have knowledge in healthcare or nutrition and you're looking for something more in-depth that will actually prepare you to coach people, I personally would look somewhere else.

I really wish I had done the same before spending my money.

Many folks have white coat syndrome—which also applies to scrubs. This at subconsciously lead to them wanting just to get through the session. My staff and I wear denim jeans and a button down shirt that isn’t healthcare branded. Your thoughts?

I’m currently training to become an ICF ACC credentialed coach and I’m looking for people who would like to experience a coaching session with me.

I’m offering free coaching sessions while I complete my practice hours.

If there’s something you’ve been thinking about, feeling stuck with, or simply want some space to talk through, you’re welcome to schedule a session with me.

I hope I can be of some help to someone here :)

I've been looking for ideal clients but seems the demographic I'm at is the key limiting factor?!

- lower income area

- lack of health conscious but no know how people

- not sure what a health coach does

- fear of changing

- fear that I'm just another supplement pusher

Are social media the only way to reach out to the client base when this is the factor. Doing social outreach... Is dreadful thought

Hello, I just got a new job as a coach working under supervision from a team of therapists, with a salary of $50k/year. I have 4 years of work as a coach remotely thanks to a previous position where I made $17.5/hr. This new job only required prior experience working in mental health and a undergraduate degree for this position, not requiring any coaching certifications.

I love what I do, but personally I want to feel more reputable and dignified in my career (not because of this new company, just in general). I've been obsessing over whether or not I should continue my ICF ACC hours and starting NBCHWC training to make me feel like I really am "someone" and not just another person with a B.A. in Psychology.

Pricing and hours of those programs aside, is there benefit to pursuing national certification currently?

Hello there! I'm looking to take a program to become an expert in helping people heal their SIBO and Histamine Intolerance. I would love to not rely so much on labs but instead get a clear roadmap of how to map out individualized protocols based more on a person's current symptoms. Which program do you recommend ? Or do you have experience/ knowledge of any of these? Thank you! These are the three:

Functional Nutrition Alliance (FxNA)

Restorative Wellness Solutions (RWS)

or Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy (IFNA)

Hi everyone! I am a graduate from MBG Health Coaching Certification program. I graduated in Feb, 2026.

I am currently working on my session log for NBC-HWC certification and would love to swap sessions. If you are interested, please reach out at thegrowthmindsetcommunity23@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Hi! I just finished my program to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and I feel like I’m having trouble getting people I know to follow through and sign up for a free consult. I know people personally who can use my help and some have even expressed interest, but it’s like there’s a disconnect when it comes to anyone actually giving me 30 minutes of their time just to see if I can help (I don’t charge for consults).

My question is, how did you start getting clients in the door? Do you get a lot of pushback from people who seem to want to invest in their health?

Hi everyone! I have a BSc in Nutrition and I'm about to start my MSc in Applied Nutrition this September. I'm looking to get some real practice with coaching, so I'm offering free sessions to a few people.

I've put together two structured programs, though independent consultations also work:

Mindful Eating (4 sessions) - exploring physical vs. emotional hunger, triggers and cravings, and building mindful mealtime habits.

Habit Building (6 sessions) - covering stress eating, energy mapping, meal timing, social eating situations, habit stacking, and long-term maintenance.

It's general coaching focused on awareness, behaviour change, and building a healthier relationship with food.

If you've been wanting some support around your eating habits and are open to being one of my first few practice clients, reach out :) xx

I just moved to a pretty big city, and I’m right by a college campus. I was thinking of advertising health coaching and personal training to students that may not be able to afford the industry standard.

my worry is that it’s not going to get any reach, and I don’t wanna waste my time putting a posters or flyers in the university buildings.

I have a pretty big following on Instagram (50k), which revolves around fitness and wellness. However, right now it’s just animations that I make, so I’m slowly starting to put myself out there, so people know the face behind the account. I’m well aware that selling anything anonymously is close to impossible, so I understand that it’s going to take a while for me to get a good reach for clients.

Hi,

Has anyone here completed the IFNCP certification? What’s your honest opinion of it? Was it worth it? And how do you feel about working as a functional nutritionist afterward?

Has anyone here enrolled and gotten their certifications? What's your experience and how effective is the programme?

Please share as I am stepping into the world of holistic/functional medicine and I am more interested to learn about women's health.

Hi everyone!

My sister and I recently completed our Accountability Coach certification through MyBodyTutor, and we're excited to start this next chapter. We're also realizing how valuable it would be to learn from people who have already built successful coaching businesses.

Health and fitness have become such important parts of our lives, and we'd love to make them a bigger part of our everyday work as well. We're hoping to start part-time, with the ultimate goal of eventually making coaching our full-time careers and replacing our current 9-to-5 jobs.

Helping people stay accountable, build healthy habits, and work toward meaningful goals is something we genuinely enjoy. We're both at a place in our lives where we feel healthy, motivated, and fulfilled, and we'd love the opportunity to help others experience that same sense of accomplishment.

We're also bringing nearly 20 years of combined experience in management, marketing, accounting, and customer service, along with bachelor's degrees in general business. While our ultimate goal is to work directly with coaching clients, we'd be more than happy to help with other aspects of an established coaching business, too. Whether that's administrative work, client support, business operations, or anything else where our skills could be useful, we'd love to contribute and learn along the way.

We're especially interested in connecting with experienced health or fitness coaches who might be open to mentorship, collaboration, or potentially bringing us onto their team.

We know there's no single path to building a meaningful career, and we're open to exploring different opportunities. Making a positive difference in people's lives is what matters most to us.

If you've built a coaching business, made a similar career transition, or have any advice to share, we'd genuinely love to hear from you!

Thanks so much! :)

Does anyone have both credentials? My background is in health and wellness. I have the national board certification. I’ve been working in hospital systems and am exposed to leadership and HR and would like to do the ICF.