A wellness or health coach may help you put into practice what you’ve learned from diabetes education and the guidelines that you and your doctor have worked out to manage your condition.
A wellness coach can be a very valuable addition to the care team for someone with type 1 diabetes, focusing on the day-to-day behavioral and lifestyle changes that are crucial for managing the condition.
While a doctor or diabetes care and education specialist is tasked with helping guide your diabetes care management plan, including medications and insulin dosing, specific nutrition guidelines, a wellness coach helps you put that plan into effect in your daily life.
Here are the key ways a wellness coach can help with type 1 diabetes:
- Behavior change: They use techniques like motivational interviewing to help you identify and overcome barriers to following your care plan.
- Accountability: Diabetes management is 24/7. A coach provides regular check-ins and support to help you stay consistent with daily tasks like blood glucose monitoring, insulin timing, and carbohydrate counting.
- Personalized goal creation: They help you translate broad medical advice into small, manageable, and S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals tailored to your unique lifestyle.
A key role a wellness coach can play is helping you apply into your daily life any diabetes education you’ve received.
Following nutrition guidelines: While a registered dietitian or nutritionist may give you the specific meal plans and carbohydrate counts, a wellness coach helps you implement them. This may include:
- developing healthy and convenient meal planning routines
- navigating social or special eating situations (parties, restaurants, holidays)
- addressing emotional eating patterns
They help you find forms of exercise you genuinely enjoy and create a realistic schedule, while encouraging you to follow your doctor’s advice for managing blood sugar and insulin around activity.
They help you develop routines and strategies to improve sleep quality, which is crucial for insulin sensitivity and overall well-being.
- Coping with diabetes distress or burnout: Living with type 1 diabetes can be stressful and lead to diabetes distress and burnout. A coach offers non-judgmental emotional support and can help you develop better stress management and healthy coping mechanisms.
- Your mood: They encourage a positive outlook, helping you move past feelings of guilt or shame when blood sugars are off-target and focus on learning and moving forward.
- Communication: They can help you prepare for appointments, organize your questions, and articulate your needs and challenges to your healthcare providers, acting as a bridge between your clinic visits and your daily life.
A wellness coach focuses on empowerment and self-efficacy, ensuring you have the confidence, skills, and support necessary to successfully manage the daily demands of type 1 diabetes.
Read how Healthline Editor Mike Hoskins manages his diabetes to avoid distress and burnout, when he’s feeling exhausted and stressed by his type 1 diabetes.
This is a great question, as both a Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (DCES) and a wellness coach play important, but distinctly different, roles in managing a chronic condition like Type 1 diabetes.
The key difference lies in their scope of practice, credentials, and focus (Clinical vs. Behavioral).
| Wellness or health coach | Diabetes educator | |
| Education and credentials | Certification varies widely. The gold standard is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), which requires an accredited program and a board exam, though this is not a licensed medical profession. | Requires an existing healthcare professional license (e.g., Registered Nurse, Registered Dietitian, Pharmacist, Physician Assistant, Social Worker) plus extensive specialized training and experience in diabetes, followed by a rigorous national board exam. |
| Scope | Behavioral and Motivational. They help you identify barriers, build motivation, set goals, and stick to the plan. They cannot diagnose, prescribe, adjust medication doses, or create complex medical meal plans. | Clinical and Educational. They interpret your medical data (blood glucose readings, A1C, lab results), teach you how to manage the condition, and are part of your medical team. |
| Role | Accountability and Habit Formation: Stress management, identifying emotional eating patterns, building a consistent exercise routine, problem-solving logistical barriers, and improving communication with your medical team. | Diabetes Self-Management Education: Carbohydrate counting, insulin dose adjustments (based on doctor’s orders), sick-day management, pump/sensor training, medication interaction education, and personalized meal planning (if they are also a registered dietitian). |
| Access | Generally not covered by insurance, though some employers or specialized programs may include it. | Services are often covered by insurance as part of diabetes medical care. |
A wellness or health coach may help you put into practice what you’ve learned from diabetes education and the guidelines that you and your doctor have worked out to manage your condition.
This can involve helping you navigate mental health issues, and developing specific ways or mindsets to address eating habits, sleep routines, physical activity, and the coordination of your care with your diabetes care team.
Wellness Coaches for Type 2 Diabetes
People with type 2 diabetes may also find benefits from working with a health or wellness coach. Learn how these professionals can support diabetes management.