What is a Health Educator? Meaning, Job, and More

A health educator is a teacher or health professional who teaches about health and wellness. In this blog post, you will learn about the health educator profession and information about health educator skills and teaching strategies.

  1. What Does It Mean to Be a Health Educator?

  2. Why is Health Education Important?

  3. Who Do Health Educators Teach?

  4. How Do Health Educators Teach?

  5. Requirements to Work as a Health Educator

  6. More about Health Education Careers

We didn't want to miss the chance to share the exciting things happening at McMillen Health. This post will also highlight McMillen Health’s own health educators and learning opportunities.

A student learning about brain health from a health educator.

What Does It Mean to Be a Health Educator?

Health educators are the experts in teaching about health. Their classes and lessons are based on current health research and health trends. Using engaging learning activities, health educators present vital health information to students of all ages and abilities.

Health educators adapt their health classes to be relatable, age-appropriate, and culturally relevant for their students. For health educators, the goal is to prepare students to make healthy habits they can use long after class ends.

The best health educators do more than just share knowledge. They also share quality resources with students, including materials, community resources, and helplines.

In addition to teaching, health educators may also research and design health programs.

What Do Health Educators Teach?

There are many health topics that health educators teach!

Health education topics include:

  • general health

  • hygiene

  • nutrition and physical fitness

  • drug, alcohol, and tobacco prevention

  • oral health

  • teen pregnancy

  • sex education

  • social and emotional health

  • disease prevention

  • early detection

  • human growth and development

Do you want to learn more about McMillen’s health education programming? Check out our program guide.

Where Do Health Educators Work?

Health educators can work in many different settings. Here are places a health educator might teach:

  • health education centers

  • school classrooms (both live and virtual)

  • nonprofit organizations

  • recovery houses and substance use treatment centers

  • conferences

  • community meetings

  • healthcare clinics or hospitals

  • WIC offices

  • private businesses

Why is Health Education Important?

Health education empowers students to make healthy choices. Students can use information from health education classes to live longer, healthier lives.

Health educators are empathetic and nonjudgmental while teaching. When students feel comfortable, they can ask the important health questions they need answers to. Often, health educators are teaching vulnerable populations. Access to wellness and disease prevention information can truly be lifesaving for students.

Health educators will also teach students the skills to advocate for their health and their family's and community's health. This creates a legacy of healthier lives.

Community services or other non-profit organizations may find a need for a specific type of health education. These organizations can partner with health educators to develop and deliver specialized health education to the people they serve.

Who Do Health Educators Teach?

Students learn in one of McMillen Health’s themed teaching theaters.

Health educators teach students of all ages and backgrounds. Health educators may work with diverse groups or focus on an audience with a particular health need. Thanks to virtual classrooms, health educators can teach lessons to students anywhere around the world.

For example, here at McMillen Health, we have health education programs for every age and grade level. We have also tailored our education programs to audiences including preschoolers, teens, pregnant people, parents, adults with disabilities, people in recovery, social service professionals, and more.

As the field of health education grows, health educators will be able to reach a broader, more diverse audience to share health information.

Identifying Health Education Gaps

Health educators stay up to date on health topics and work closely with their communities. This means they are often the first to notice trends or gaps in the current health education needs. Once health educators identify a gap, they can advocate for or develop programs to fill that need.

How Do Health Educators Teach?

How health educators teach is almost as important as what they teach. Students of all ages learn best when a lesson is interactive.

Good health educators are experts at engaging students in health lessons. They use props, activities, hands-on experiences, discussions, and technology to make learning interesting. This teaching strategy works better than passive lectures or reading assignments.

Interactive learning gives students a chance to:

  • problem-solve

  • develop their own thoughts and ideas

  • get feedback from the teacher

Health educators use videos, PowerPoints, interactive worksheets, games, flipcharts, and even phone apps to teach students about health.

Health Education Activities

  • experiments

  • group discussions

  • trivia games

  • goal setting

  • polls

  • meal planning

  • role-play

Health Education Teaching Props

The following are examples of teaching props health educators may use:

  • impairment goggles

  • plastinated organs

  • mouth models

  • tooth models

  • empathy bellies

  • puppets

  • costumes

  • human skeleton models

  • lifelike brain models

  • giant fake cigarettes or cannabis plants

Health education students playing with a substance prevention display.

Students visiting McMillen Health explore a display in the Great Hall.

Health Education Exhibits and Displays

At McMillen Health, we have displays and a full exhibit hall for students to explore during visits.

Our center offers the following unique exhibits:

  • TAM (Transparent Anatomical Manikin)

  • Full human skeleton

  • Interactive drug and tobacco display

  • Stationary bike

  • Interactive heartbeat and heart rate stations

  • MyPlate family meal tables

  • Large ear, mouth, and tooth displays

  • MyPlate giant magnetic wall

  • Larger-than-life cross sections of the human body

  • Puppet shows

Not all health educators have access to the same props and displays as McMillen Health. Still, health educators everywhere are dedicated to making the health curriculum exciting and memorable. The goal is to create a lasting impression on students.

Requirements to Work as a Health Educator

Each health education organization will have its own job requirements. The basic requirement for most health education jobs is a bachelor's degree in education or a health-related field.

This can include a degree in elementary or secondary education, early childhood education, nursing, dental hygiene, public health, or nutrition.

At McMillen Health, our health educators have earned bachelor's degrees in education, health, or related field. Before coming to McMillen, each health educator had at least two years of teaching experience.

What are the Responsibilities of a Health Educator?

The responsibilities of health educators depend on their work setting.

Essential responsibilities for health educators include:

  • Teach students about healthy lifestyle

  • Engage students in classes and activities

  • Use innovative teaching strategies

  • Create a safe and supportive learning environment

  • Respectfully listen and respond to students

  • Promote wellness and disease prevention

  • Help students choose health goals and strategies

  • Advocate for policies that support health and wellness

  • Provide relevant materials and referrals

  • Stay up to date on health topics

Qualities and Skills of a Health Educator

Every health educator needs to have a genuine interest in health education.

Successful health educators also have the following skills and qualities:

  • Teaching and instructional skills

  • Excellent communication and people skills

  • Strong computer skills

  • Problem-solving skills

  • Research skills

  • Ability to analyze, summarize, and share research and data

  • Ability to teach people from diverse backgrounds

  • Patience, flexibility, and adaptability

More about Health Educator Careers

What is the Workplace Like?

Depending on the workplace, health educators may be teaching virtually on-site at a location. Health educators may also travel from location to location to teach classes.

Work hours for health educators can also vary. Some will work on weekdays teaching students in schools. Other health educators might also have classes scheduled in the evenings or on weekends.

Health educators may work one-on-one with clients or teach groups of students. Sometimes health educators will have a co-teacher, and sometimes they will lead classes alone.

All health educators will spend time researching, prepping for classes, and planning lessons. Some educators may spend more time teaching, while others will focus their time on researching and creating lessons.

At McMillen Health, our educators lead classes in the center's teaching theaters or auditorium, in virtual or in-person classrooms, and on-site at schools and organizations.

A health educator talking to a senior adult about health and wellness.

Health Educator Certification

Generally, a health educator will have at least a bachelor's degree.

A person can also become a certified health education specialist (CHES). Educators can do this through the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing. A health educator must have a minimum of a bachelors degree, complete continuing education credits, and pass an exam to become certified through NCHEC.

Some health education positions may also require advanced health education degrees. Universities have masters and doctorate degrees in health education and promotion programs.

What is the Job Outlook for Health Educators?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for health educators are expected to grow. This is excellent news if you're interested in turning your passion for health and wellness into a career.

We hope this article has given you a better understanding of what health educators are and what they do. If you have more questions about health education, please reach out to us at McMillen Health. You can contact us or comment below. We would love to hear from you.

And if your goal is to turn your passion for health education into a career, check out our employment opportunities. We are looking for passionate educators to join our team and help us change lives.

Alysia Marshall-Seslar

Alysia Marshall-Seslar is the Writing and Marketing Associate at McMillen Health. Along with being the author of TamTalks, Alysia contributes to the research and development of McMillen’s custom health education curriculum.

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