Programs and courses offered by NIWH are designed exclusively for health, mental health and education professionals. As a result, all prospective candidates are required to have appropriate education and credentials prior to their application to the Whole Health program of choice.

After an application is completed with an NIWH program representative, it is submitted for an independent verification of the candidate’s license, certification or degree credentials, and the absence of disciplinary action or suspension, before a decision of acceptance is made. When the program representative is notified of a positive confirmation the applicant is contacted and offered enrollment into the program. Applications are not posted online and are only accepted via phone interview to insure candidates are qualified to apply to the program.

To maintain high standards and a balanced ratio of academic advisers to learners, NIWH accepts only a limited number of learners per year. If a candidate is offered acceptance into the program they will be sent, via e-mail, a copy of their license/credential history, registration and refund policy documents. The documents are reviewed with a staff member of the NIWH Business Office to insure all the applicant’s questions are answered and that they understand their payment and start date options before committing to enrolling.

A frequently asked question is “When are the program start dates?” Because the National Institute of Whole Health is approved to provide Whole Health training to over 3.5 million military family members around the world, there are no cohort or group start times. After an applicant is offered and accepts enrollment, they then select their chosen start date and begin on that day.

All NIWH learners work with an academic adviser who is a licensed healthcare provider and a graduate of NIWH. There is ample opportunity to meet and interact with other learners and our Program Mentor through our 2 bi-monthly live call-in discussions, the Student Forum, private NIWH Facebook, Linked-In and through the Student Services office. NIWH provides a live 24/7 telephone answering service for all our students around the world.

The high standards and national accreditation’s, endorsements and educational alliances of our comprehensive Whole Health training programs and afford NIWH graduates multiple opportunities to become certified with additional healthcare industry standard credentials; the opportunity to test-out for the Chronic Care Professional (CCP) national certification; the AHNCC Board Certified Holistic Nurse** certification; AHNCC Board Certified Nurse Coach, or the CCP national Registered Health Coach*.

There are two Tracks a learner can choose from: the Basic 12 month, which is 6-8 hours per week or the Accelerated Track, which is 6-7 months long, requiring 12-16 hours per week. The Whole Health programs were piloted with nurse cohorts to determine the specifics clock hours for the curriculum to be completed. The pilots determined the metrics of completion identify that approximately 19% of learners can complete the program in 6 -12 months; 49% of learners complete the program in 6-12 months and 32% of learners require additional time to complete. This depends on the track the learner chooses and how much time they commit to weekly. If the learner needs additional time beyond that time, optional extension time is available and fees apply.

Learners who focus on mastering the course Learning Objectives, and do not spend hours doing additional online “research” on the subject topic, are the learners who complete the program in 6-12 months. NIWH provides for each course, summaries of where the referenced information to answer the learning objectives is found in the handouts; as well as a 5 Aspects of Whole Health outline for each course. As this is a self-directed, adviser facilitated program we can only encourage learners to utilize the information and videos provided to complete the course assignments. This allows a more fluid completion of the CORE courses.

NIWH emphasizes that this is a Whole Person Health continuing education, professional development program that has “juiced” the most important evidence-based health information from what would normally be a 12-week course, while demystifying the information that is important for the professional to provide their patient/client. The course Learning Objectives are the focus of the course information and learners DO NOT have to do outside reading to complete the assignments and earn their continuing education contact hours.

Tuition fees are ALL INCLUSIVE. There are no additional lab fees, diploma or graduation fees or need to purchase books, as all expenses are included in the tuition. There is one item the learner must purchase independent of the tuition cost, however. A $5.95 e-book or soft cover version, available on Amazon.com, new or used.

Another frequently asked question is “What do graduates do when they receive their credentials?” NIWH learners are health or education professionals who are working in their respective fields and take the program to (1) enhance the work they are doing with their patients or clients (2) re-direct their work towards health and wellness education and advocacy. They can apply the training to mainstream medical employment or apply the credentials in creating their own private practice.

NIWH has a broad spectrum of nurses, educators, mental health and medical professionals who apply the training in a wide variety of settings and often use the professional credentials of the National Provider Identification number, professional liability insurance as a health educator and the provided Billing and Coding Manual, to begin their own practice or business in Health and Wellness Education and Advocacy.

All NIWH Whole Health programs offer evidence-based course work which incorporate principles of natural health, health and wellness behavior change, disease prevention, health advocacy, nurse coaching and integrative, holistic nutrition. NIWH Whole Health programs include accredited and approved continuing education credits for credentialed and licensed medical, health care, allied health care professionals. Please see our Accreditation page for details.

Visit our FEES pages for tuition costs. Visit our Payment Options page.

*Chronic Care Professional certification and Registered Health Coach® are a Registered Trademarks of HealthSciences Institute. NIWH graduates qualify to test out for the Chronic Care Professional certification and move on to the Registered Health Coach program, which if successfully completed, leads to registration on the PartnersinImprovement® national online Health Coach Registry®. A special NIWH discount applies. For more information visit http://www.healthsciences.org/registered-health-coach.

** The AHNCC Board Certified Nurse Coach certification option is available to NIWH nurse graduates, but requires additional mentor coaching hours to sit for the exam. A special NIWH mentor fee discount applies.

*** International Coaching Federation certification may be earned through the NIWH ICF accredited coaching program option. A special NIWH discount applies.