I’m interested in a career in holistic health, but I don’t know which major to apply for. I’ve seen public health, nutrition, global health, etc. The only problem with me is that science isn’t my best subject (though I don’t mind taking some science courses), so what do you think would be the best option to become a holistic health practitioner/health coach?
If it helps, I am aware of the Holistic Health minor at San Francisco State University, and am making this post so that I can have more options. If anyone is wondering why I’m interested in the health field, but am reluctant to take science courses, it’s because I’m more interested in a holistic perspective. I’ve taken a look at the required courses for the holistic health minor at SF State, and I already feel that I would enjoy classes like Holistic Health: Eastern Perspectives, Relaxation and Stress Management, Meditation and Imagery in Healing, Art as Healing, etc.
What kind of holistic health practitioner do you want to be? A naturopathic doctor (ND)? A chiropractor? A dietitian? A sort of general-purpose health coach?
Public health is about the health of the public; people who have careers in public health do not focus on individual people’s health. It’s not about helping one person exercise more or eat more healthily. Public health is about improving the health of many at the same time: it’s about clean fluoridated water, community exercise programs, improving sidewalks and walking infrastructure in cities, discovering the causes of diseases, environmental pollution, health education in schools, etc. Those closest intersection are public health nurses/doctors/dentists who provide low-cost/free/sliding scale services to their communities to try to improve overall health, or health educators who speak to classrooms, companies, community centers and more about improving overall health.
Nutrition is a specific part of health, and that can be explored from a clinical perspective (learning how to tailor a nutrition plan to a specific person based on their health) or a public health perspective (learning about general nutrition and diet policies and how to make recommendations across the board for entire communities).
Neither of those majors are going to explore complementary and alternative medicine very heavily, although public health would probably be closer to CAM than nutrition. The other thing is that even if you don’t have to take a lot of life/natural science classes in either, both majors are based on scientific principles. There’s not a lot of science supporting many holistic health/Eastern medicine practices, so often they are not covered.