At a career day at Shasta College, a high school student walked up to instructor Joanne Tippin and told her she aspired to be a wellness coach at a school because she wanted to prevent other children from facing the kind of bullying she had endured.
Run by Tippin, the college’s wellness coaching program became the first in the community college system this April to be officially designated by the California Department of Healthcare Access and Information as offering the required curriculum aligned with a state certification.
As part of the statewide Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, the certified wellness coach is a new professional pathway that seeks to build a larger and more representative workforce to support the social and emotion well-being of children and youth especially in underserved communities. On completing the required curriculum and earning the state credential, students become trained in early intervention and non-clinical support and are prepared to work at schools, community-based organizations and health centers…