Group Health Coaching: What It Is, Benefits, Types of Clients

Health coaching is popular and continuing to grow. It’s just one part of the booming health and wellness industry. Numerous statistics indicate that this niche industry is growing at a healthy rate of around 7% (1). Within health coaching, group coaching is increasingly popular for clients. 

What does it mean to offer group health coaching? And is it the right move for you? If you’re in the fitness and wellness industry already, group coaching could be a lucrative new offering. Learn more about it and why clients are choosing group programs. 

What Is Health Coaching? 

Maybe you’re a personal trainer or just thinking about a career in fitness or health. You might have heard of health coaching but aren’t sure exactly what it means. Here’s a quick summary of what a health coach does: 

• Meets with clients to assess their current lifestyle and health habits

• Helps clients set goals for positive lifestyle and health changes

• Creates plans and strategies to help clients meet their goals

• Helps clients identify roadblocks to lasting changes and find their personal motivations

• Assesses clients periodically and changes strategies as needed

• Motivates and coaches clients as they progress

People turn to health coaches for many reasons. Some common goals that bring people to a health coach include losing weight, improving health measures, like cholesterol or blood sugar, quitting smoking, managing stress, and sleeping better. 

Learn more: How to Become a Health and Wellness Coach 

What Is Group Health Coaching? 

Group health coaches provide services to groups of people rather than in a one-on-one coaching session. Many coaches offer both types of programs. A coaching group is typically small, about six to eight people. Group members often have common goals, but they can be broad or specific. 

Health coaches can set up these groups in any number of ways. They can be in-person, online, or a mix of both. Group coaches might work independently, run their own small coaching business, work for a gym or spa, or work in corporate wellness programs. 

Large companies increasingly offer wellness programming to keep employees healthier and to lower healthcare costs. Group health coaching is often one of the many offerings and these companies are increasingly employers of health coaches. 

Group health coaches also work in medical settings, like hospitals, cancer centers, and other medical practices. They work with patients who have similar health conditions. For instance, a coach might work with a group of patients trying to manage type 2 diabetes through lifestyle chagnes along with their medical care. 

If you’re just starting out as a health coach, you probably have no idea what to charge clients. Here is some information about current health coach rates and how to set your own. 

Why Clients Choose Group Coaching 

Some people will always prefer one-on-one sessions, but group coaching is increasingly popular with clients. There are many reasons for this: 

• Cost Savings. As with group fitness, individual prices are less when a client joins a group coaching session. By working with multiple people at once, the coach can charge each person less but still earn more. For this reason, a group program is more accessible and attracts clients who otherwise cannot or are not willing to pay the fee for individual health coaching sessions. 

• Fun with Friends. Some people join up because their friends are doing it. The idea of coaching can be intimidating, but it’s easier to consider joining a group of friends. Making healthy changes transforms from a chore into something more fun to do with friends. 

• Accountability. Working in a group is about more than the fun factor. Having other people along for the same journey increases accountability, something that many people struggle with when trying to make changes alone. For someone who has tried making changes on their own or even in individual coaching sessions but without success, a group setting is often the solution. 

• Social Support. Social support is a powerful tool for making positive changes. It’s more than just the accountability factor. Going through the same experiences and challenges together makes it easier to overcome them than doing it alone. Working through challenges with a support system is also beneficial for mental health. Those who join a group program not knowing anyone develop a new group of acquaintances, a wellness community, and in many cases, new friends. 

• The Wisdom of the Group. It can be a powerful experience to work with a group of peers. While the certified coach is the leader offering expertise, each member of a coaching group contributes and helps the others. Individuals benefit from the personal experiences of other members. Together, this collective wisdom of the group makes coaching more interesting, fun, and effective. 

Ultimately, what brings people to group coaching is a sense of community, of being in it together. What they get out of it is results. And this is why group coaching should continue to grow in popularity. 

Should You Specialize in Group Coaching?

As a health coach, or aspiring health coach, it’s worth considering offering group programs. As with fitness training, small groups represent another service you can offer. By offering an additional option for coaching, you can reach more people and potentially earn more. 

Another reason to consider group coaching is that it can be more effective than one-on-one sessions. A group creates a center of collective knowledge. Each member can contribute their own experiences, which helps the other members. Clients become peer coaches for each other. This along with the sense of community and accountability often leads to better results. 

The COVID lockdowns drove a lot of people online, including in the fitness industry. Trainers and coaches started offering more sessions online. Virtual coaching is a great opportunity to offer services to groups. If you’re already online, it’s easy to add group programs and to reach more clients this way. 

There are a lot of good reasons to consider becoming a group health coach, but ultimately it depends on what works for you. Coaching in groups is inherently more complicated than working with individuals. 

You might have to face personal conflicts, for instance. Quieter members of the group can get lost, while more domineering individuals demand a lot of attention. Managing these complexities can be challenging and require creative problem solving.

How to Become a Health Coach

Whether you choose individual, group, or both types of coaching, you’re entering a growing career field. Get the right education, training and credentials so you can offer the best services and results for clients. 

Become a certified health coach on your schedule. ISSA offers Health Coach Certification that you can complete online at your pace. Learn how to provide the guidance needed to help clients with health conditions and develop programs that empower these individuals to make lasting positive changes. 

References

1. Health coaching market size, revenue, and forecast 2030. MarketWatch. (2023, April 11). https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/health-coaching-market-size-revenue-and-forecast-2030-2023-04-10