Feature Story

July 2018

ACSM & Wellcoaches Expand Offerings for Fitness Pros

By Chandler Garland

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Wellcoaches Corp. have announced the expansion of their 16-year partnership with two newly co-branded programs in coach training and behavior change.

“The relationship between ACSM and Wellcoaches has been extraordinarily beneficial to both organizations and to those we collectively serve,” said ACSM Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President Jim Whitehead. “This partnership expansion is the next step in fulfilling our mutual vision to ensure a better quality of life through the promotion of physical activity, health and wellness.”

Since its founding of the first coaching school for health and wellness professionals in 2002, Wellcoaches has trained almost 11,000 health professionals as health and wellness coaches in 50 countries. They offer health and wellness coach training and certification programs in collaboration with the American College of Sports Medicine and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

“I’m delighted that the longstanding partnership we started with Wellcoaches, when the field of health and wellness coaching was just beginning, has grown and blossomed into national standards and robust leadership at a global level,” said ACSM Immediate Past President Walt Thompson, who led the creation of the Wellcoaches partnership with ACSM in 2002.

The two new offerings of this expanded partnership will include a health and wellness coach training and education program, as well as a behavior change coaching skills program for fitness professionals. These special programs will allow ACSM and Wellcoaches to meet growing needs for evidence-based, high-quality and innovative coach training and education across serval industry sectors. The Wellcoaches coaching protocol, described in the ACSM-endorsed Wellcoaches Coaching Psychology Manual published by Wolters Kluwer in 2015, is supported by a rapidly growing evidence base of 18 peer-reviewed journal articles covering topics from practice-based outcome studies of different chronic illnesses to coaching case studies.

The breadth of research put into these studies shows statistically significant benefits in more than 21,000 coaching clients. The manual is reviewed by the American College of Sports Medicine, the gold standard in credentialing of health and fitness professionals, and is the foundation of the Wellcoaches Core Coach Training & Certification Programs. Wellcoaches programing and the manual are widely used in academic courses, such as the Coaching Psychology Courses at Harvard University Extension School, and are endorsed by both the ACSM and the American College of Life Style Medicine.

“Together ACSM and Wellcoaches continue to lead the health and wellness coaching industry. We are delivering a gold standard for the eligibility, training and education of health and wellness coaches, which is a key to the successful rollout of population health that is one of the triple aims of health care reform,” noted Wellcoaches Founder and CEO Margaret Moore.