The job of a health educator includes assessing the community’s needs; developing effective programs or curriculum to address those needs; teaching; evaluating and analyzing the effectiveness of programs; and advocating for the community.

Deborah Tackmann, who has worked as a health educator and physical education teacher for more than 30 years, also works for the Eau Claire City-County Health Department in Wisconsin as a health educator with its Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention. In this role, she works with public school advisers, students and community members educating, advocating and developing programs.

She goes to work each day with the hope of empowering students. At the end of one school year, a high school student walked up to Tackmann and handed her a bullet. Tackmann will never forget his next words: "I was going to put that in my head because I didn’t think I had value. But you taught me I had value."

When Tackmann was an undergraduate, in the wake of Title IX legislation, she studied physical education with the hopes of becoming a P.E. teacher. But her interests widened. Knowing a high school student’s frontal lobe (the part of the brain that is associated with reasoning skills and decision-making) isn’t fully developed, she wondered, "How can we create lessons that not only engage the learner but also empower them with the knowledge and skills needed to choose healthy lifestyle behaviors? How do you help students use effective decision-making skills, create smart goals and demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks?"

To answer those kinds of questions, she went on to get a master’s degree in professional education with an emphasis in effective teaching methodology. And today, she spends long days in Wisconsin’s Fall Creek school district giving kids the life skills and knowledge they’ll need to flourish, or in her words, "improve the quality of their life and the quantity of their life."

Being a health educator is "a lot more than pits and zits," she says.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 7.2% employment growth for health educators between 2022 and 2032. In that period, an estimated 4,400 jobs should open up.

Health educators are required to have a bachelor’s degree in health education or health promotion. These programs usually include a range of courses such as anatomy; planning and analyzing health education programs; and personal and community health. They also usually include an internship. However, in order to specialize in sectors such as public health education or school health education, or to become eligible for certain positions in the government, a master’s degree or doctoral degree is required.

Some employers might insist that health educators acquire the Certified Health Education Specialist designation, which you can receive after passing an exam offered through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. To maintain your certification, you will need to keep up with continuing education requirements every five years.