Two more health coaches at BeneFIT Corporate WellnessSM have earned their board certification from the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) after passing the exam to qualify for the standard, newly instituted in 2017. Newly board-certified Health and Wellness coaches include Catherine Finney, MS, RD, LD, NBC-HWC, CHWC, and Daryl Wukitsch, RN, BSN, NBC-HWC, CHWC. Wukitsch is a clinical health coach in BeneFIT’s Condition Support program, which provides clinical health coaching for those with certain common chronic diseases.
Per the NBHWC, its mission is to lead the advancement of health and wellness coaching by establishing professional standards and collaborative partnerships. The organization is overseen by a board of directors and supported by committees composed of volunteers and staff members who seek to advance the profession. “There are so many wellness programs now, available through health insurance plans to online advertising, that a quality measurement is essential in making a choice about which offers the most value,” says Kristin Behler, Director, Health Promotion and Wellness at BeneFIT. “It’s important that employers and consumers have a way to assess the quality of not only the programs themselves, but also of the individuals performing the coaching services as competency is the key to whether the program will be successful for the client.”
The NBC-HWC certification confirms the expertise and quality of coaches based upon standards created by the NBHWC and the National Board of Medical Examiners. Since 2010, the NBHWC has been researching the knowledge, tasks, skills, and core competencies essential to the practice of health and wellness coaching to develop coaching quality standards. Once the elements of quality were identified, the NBHWC validated them with a national survey. In 2016, NBHWC began working with the National Board of Medical Examiners (nbme.org) to establish a board certification examination, which has since certified more than 3,000 health and wellness coaches in the fields of healthcare, employee wellness, government, and private practice.
Today’s NBHWC community is composed of trained, educated coaches, who are passionate about working with patients and clients for better health outcomes. Two of BeneFIT’s health coaches were among the first group of graduates to receive their board certification in 2017; Wukitsch and Finney bring the total number to four. “Having four board-certified coaches on staff is quite an accomplishment, considering there are only a few thousand individuals who have attained this credential. We’re proud that we can offer this level of expertise and confidence to our clients,” adds Behler.
BeneFIT Corporate Wellness is a division of Populytics, Inc., a leading Lehigh Valley health care data analytics and population health management firm, and wholly owned subsidiary of Lehigh Valley Health Network, one of the largest hospital networks in southeastern Pennsylvania. BeneFIT also holds an Accreditation in Wellness and Health Promotion from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and an NCQA Population Health Program Accreditation for its Condition Support program.
For more information, contact Populytics at 484-862-3500, toll-free at 866-733-6158, email [email protected], or visit https://www.populytics.com/benefit/.
