One of the main reasons that people develop unhealthy habits, whether it’s a poor diet or things like smoking and heavy drinking, is simply a lack of education about how these habits can damage health and why it’s so important to stay away from such things in order to enjoy a longer, healthier, happier life. For far too long, people were simply left to fend for themselves when it came to learning more about health and good habits. Thanks to the rise of the public health educator, which the Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates is growing nearly three times faster than the average occupation, that is no longer the case.
What Does a Public Health Educator Do?
It might seem a bit redundant, or even a bit inherent, but many people just aren’t sure what a public health educator does. The common conception among many people is that these educators spend their days toiling away in traditional classrooms, teaching college courses or basic nutrition to groups of younger students. That could not be further from the truth.
In fact, public health educators almost never work at universities. Public health professors do, to be sure, but that’s not what this position is concerned with. Instead, a public health educator typically has a bachelor’s degree nutrition, sports health, or public health. They use the skills learned during their undergraduate studies to help people learn more about how to stay healthy, promote good habits, and reduce the likelihood of suffering from chronic disease or chronic pain throughout their lifetimes.
Where Does a Public Health Educator Work?
The typical public health educator can work in a variety of settings, but is almost always employed by either a hospital or family health clinic. Typically, their employer will ask them to hold group sessions on things like good nutrition, creating a “clean” diet, developing a safe and smart workout routine, or avoiding common addictions like nicotine or binge drinking.
In some cases, they’ll work with people one-on-one to assess their current health habits and help them fix any problems that might end up causing long-term suffering, pain, or disease. Though these settings are the most common for the public health educator, they’re also found in a wide variety of other professional and charitable settings. These can include:
– Schools
– Government offices
– Non-profit organizations
– College classrooms
– Private consulting firms
– Gyms
– Social work offices
– Charities
In each of these settings, the public health educator can adapt their unique set of skills to the environment where they work. A professional working in a school, for instance, might teach younger children about the benefit of fruits, vegetables, and gym class. At a gym, the same person might offer new members a complimentary diet and nutrition evaluation to help them better meet their immediate and long-term fitness goals.
A Highly Adaptable, Fast-Growing Profession
The public health educator is in high demand in virtually all environments today, driven by a seemingly unending diet craze and the emphasis of wellness that originates with the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act. With settings that range from schools to family practice clinics and larger hospitals, those looking to educate the public about the benefits and habits of good health have no shortage of ways to get immediately involved in the process.