If you’re committed to living a healthy life and you want to share your passion with others, why not pursue a health-based career? By combining your interests with your professional ambitions, you can find a job you love and encourage others to embrace a healthy lifestyle.
With the potential to help other people and create a healthier society, a health-based career can be an undeniable force for good. To get started, take a look at these top four jobs for health fanatics and start planning your next career move now:
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1. Dietician
As a registered dietician, you’ll help people develop healthier relationships with food. You’ll use the science of nutrition to assist in the management of chronic conditions, for example, as well as advising patients on how to manage food intolerances and allergies. You may also work with patients who have been diagnosed with eating disorders or assist in the management of patients who are unable to eat and rely on nutritional supplementation.
To begin your career as a dietician, you’ll need to complete a relevant bachelor’s degree. Popular subjects include clinical nutrition, dietetics, and public health nutrition, but it is possible to study an unrelated subject at the undergraduate level and take a dietetics-related graduate program. Just be sure that the program you choose is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND).
Following this, you’ll complete a 1,200-hour internship, which will give you the opportunity to gain clinical experience under supervision. Then, you’ll be ready to take the registration exam issued by the ACEND, as well as the relevant state licensure exams, and start practicing as a registered dietician.
2. Nurse Practitioner
Nursing is a great career choice if you’re passionate about health and you want to help others. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with patients and deliver the specialized care they need when they’re dealing with a wide range of health issues and/or injuries. What’s more – qualifying as a Nurse Practitioner gives you a broader skillset and a greater degree of autonomy, particularly if you work in a full practice state.
Before you can qualify as a Nurse Practitioner (NP), you’ll need to practice as a Registered Nurse (RN). This means obtaining a relevant undergraduate degree, usually a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), and gaining clinical experience. Following this, you’ll be perfectly placed to undertake further study to qualify as a Nurse Practitioner.
However, your career as a nurse doesn’t have to stop there. Completing accredited DNP nursing leadership courses at Baylor University will enable you to obtain the highest nursing qualification in the U.S. and become a Doctor of Nursing Practice.
3. Personal Trainer
If you’re dedicated to fitness and you want to help others achieve their potential, working as a personal trainer could be the ideal career for you. Often, you’ll work with clients on a one-to-one basis and help them to achieve their fitness goals. This may include advising clients how to lose weight or build muscle, creating bespoke fitness plans, and teaching clients how to exercise safely. In addition to this, you may decide to offer group training to multiple clients at once, either in face-to-face sessions or via virtual workouts.
In many areas across the U.S., you can begin working as a personal trainer as soon as you obtain a relevant certification, providing you have a high school diploma. However, there are many different organizations that offer certifications, so be sure to choose one which is backed by the main accrediting body, the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).
To expand your knowledge and enhance your skills as a personal trainer, you may want to undertake more advanced courses too. An associate’s degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition, a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional and Physical Activity or a graduate degree in Health Behavior Program Design could fast-track your career as a personal trainer, for example.
4. Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists work with patients to help them re-engage with daily activities, particularly in instances when a medical condition or injury is affecting an individual’s ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Working alongside physical therapists, nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals, you’ll focus on physical, mental, and emotional well-being to deliver value-based holistic care.
As occupational therapists (OTs) help patients to engage in activities that are most meaningful to them, you can deliver highly bespoke treatments and care. This makes a career as an OT highly rewarding. If a patient has been unable to prepare their own meals due to an injury or has been unable to take part in social events due to a medical condition, for example, you’ll create a custom rehabilitation plan and work with them to reestablish skills that will enable them to achieve their goals.
You’ll need to obtain a bachelor’s degree to begin your career as an occupational therapist, although a master’s degree is fast becoming a pre-requisite in the field. Following this, you can obtain certification via the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) and pass the relevant state license exam. If you want to fast-track your studies, look for dual programs that are accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), which combine both bachelor’s and master’s programs into a five-year period.
Choosing a Health-Based Career
As you can see, there are a wide variety of careers that enable you to use your passion for health and well-being to help others. In fact, the more research you do, the more health-related jobs you’ll find. Whether you’re driven to become a medical professional, or you want to use your skills to help educate the public about living a healthy lifestyle, there are endless ways to incorporate your interest in wellness into a career.
By choosing a health-related career, you can increase your own job satisfaction and carve out a career that truly fulfills you. From working in a clinical setting to meeting with outpatients or even starting your own business, there are many ways to make a health-related career your own.
