IIN Certified Health Coach, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and Certified Wellness Practitioner David Jaques, PhD, BCBA is one of our 2024 IINovator of the Year Award winners! He will be honored at our upcoming virtual summit, WellBeing 2024: Charting Your Path to Enhanced Health and Vitality. (Register for free!)  

David Jaques has dedicated his life to helping others. The Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Certified Wellness Practitioner has been in the human services field his entire career, spanning four decades, working closely with those who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

About 15 years ago, Jaques started Visions, which aims to create positive change through behavior consultation. Dave’s staff is made up of not only behavior analysts, but also social workers and counselors, and they provide support to those with disabilities, substance use disorders, mental health challenges, and traumatic brain injuries. 

And in the past couple of years, Visions has branched out into coaching and wellness. The company now offers those services, and is in the process of developing a comprehensive wellness and coaching program that employees can leverage. 

Read More: How IIN Helped Bianca Koyabe Heal and Find Her True Purpose As an Energy Healer

David Jaques Enrolls in the Health Coach Training Program (+ His Employees Do, Too!) 

Jaques had always had an interest in improving others’ quality of life and bringing their strength and abilities to the forefront. And that ultimately led him to pursue the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s Health Coach Training Program.  

“When I looked at the program, I loved a couple things about it,” Visions’ Executive Director says. “One is the focus on health from a very holistic standpoint, from a very client-centered standpoint. And I thought it would be a great addition to how we practice, in terms of providing behavioral support for people.” 

Jaques started the certification program in late 2023 and graduated earlier this year. So impressed with the curriculum, and how he felt it helped him as a practitioner, he encouraged some of his employees to enroll, too. All in all, Visions now has five Health Coach Training Program graduates on staff, three of whom (including Jaques) are currently enrolled in IIN’s Coaching Intensive Practicum. Once that’s completed, they’ll be eligible to sit for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) board-certifying exam. 

What the 2024 IINovator of the Year Award Means to David Jaques 

Mere months after graduating from the Health Coach Training Program, what does winning the 2024 IINovator of the Year Award mean to Jaques? 

“It feels like good validation for the steps that I’m taking,” he says, “but more importantly, the steps that Visions is taking as an organization, to really incorporate wellness and health coaching into our work. I know the ripple effect is often talked about at IIN, and we see ourselves as part of that, because there's not a whole lot of people in our space that are talking a lot about wellness, health coaching, and quality of life.” 

Want to experience the transformative Health Coach Training Program for yourself? Try our Sample Class and experience interactive masterclasses, exclusive lectures, reflective journal prompts, a 30-minute video demonstration of our coaching method, and more!