WellSpoken’s Accreditation Scheme Aims To Put Credibility At The Forefront Of The Wellness Industry

LONDON, United Kingdom — British startup WellSpoken has launched the wellness industry’s first accreditation scheme, aimed at putting credible content at the forefront of wellness.

With a goal to eradicate the ‘pseudoscience’ that has seen the sector facing backlash — in particular the wellness industry’s reputation for delivering, at times, questionable quality of nutrition, fitness and wellbeing information — WellSpoken plans to regulate the industry through a set of guidelines and checks which businesses must adhere to, in order to receive its stamp of approval.

Founded by healthcare regulation and communications specialist Sarah Greenidge, WellSpoken works as an independent advisory authority to offer a robust evaluation, accreditation and training process for anyone who issues content in the wellness space. The company has been working with leading professional associations, independent regulators and government bodies, to establish an industry ‘gold standard’ for credible wellness communication, this extends beyond relevant UK and EU legislation (which are limited to product advertising and do not cover the wider remit of general wellness).

According to Greenidge, WellSpoken hopes to future-proof the wellness industry and ensure it thrives for years to come.

“It has never been more timely or important for wellness brands to demonstrate a meaningful commitment towards providing the public with credible content,” she explains.

“WellSpoken is calling both wellness brands and industry partners to join together to harness their responsibility in providing evidence-based, authentic communications that will ensure the positive growth of the industry.”

Brands, individuals, bloggers, publishers, ambassadors, experts and organisations can all sign up to become a WellSpoken member. After a successful assessment, which involves a series of detailed credibility checks, members that pass will receive an official certification in the form of the WellSpoken Mark. This will verify their authority and reliability for one year before they are evaluated again. In these 12 months, they will also be subject to four random spot checks on their content, in order to maintain standards.

“There is some amazing wellness content available in the wellness space that has such a positive impact in helping people to live well. Unfortunately, not all of the information and content out there is like this, and due to the sheer volume of wellness information we see, it can be a confusing landscape for the consumer to navigate and decipher what is credible,” says Greenidge.

“The onus in wellness so far has been on the public to decipher good from bad information; however, I believe that brands and influencers also have a responsibility to make sure that the information they publish is of the very best standard. Whether it be how much protein to consume, how many HIIT classes to attend a week or even understanding of the benefits and limitations of certain meditation practices – these everyday choices need to be informed by credible information.”

As a result of its work, WellSpoken argues that there will be an industry-wide improvement in the availability of trustworthy, reliable and evidence-based health and wellness information. It will also mean there is now an independent body available to provide authoritative advice and guidance to brands on how they can uphold credibility in the wellness sector.

“WellSpoken is the new benchmark for clarity in wellness, spearheading the movement towards driving increased credibility and authenticity in the wellness industry and increasing health literacy amongst consumers,” argues Greenidge.

“The mission of WellSpoken is to drive change in the industry and rebuild its reputation as a credible, responsible industry by cleaning up the volume of poor quality wellness information and protecting and nurturing the wellness community. If we achieve this, we are well on the way to completing our mission.”

To find out more about Wellspoken’s certification, or to apply for accreditation, visit: www.wearewellspoken.com