Australian model and Instagram influencer Tegan Martin has defended her plans to launch a “health coaching” service, despite a Daily Telegraph exposé revealing she has not acquired certifications from the organisations she listed to prospective clients.
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The former Miss Universe Australia recently told her 120,000-strong Instagram followers that she will “be taking on a just a few health coaching clients” later this year, and emailed potential clients saying she had studied at Sydney college Cadence Health and through New York’s Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkkFkUunRoH/?taken-by=tegan.martin
However, The Daily Telegraph revealed she has not completed courses at either of those institutions.
Speaking to Woman’s Day, the 25-year-old said the story had been “blown right out of proportion” and that claims she is similar to cancer fraudster Belle Gibson are patently false.
Martin said she was unable to complete her final exams due to the effects of her chronic fatigue, and that she still intends to finalise her study at IIN.
“I would certainly word my email differently,” she said.
Despite initially telling a potential client she had more success treating her own health conditions “due to studying at IIN than with any doctors [sic] consultation,” Martin said “I was never positioning myself as an authority or trying to take away from doctors.”
In 2015, IIN spokesperson Justine Thorner said so-called health coaches ordained by the organisation don’t “diagnose, treat or take responsibility for bringing about wellness changes in a client’s life,” but can still “make back their tuition before graduation.”
