When is expertise not enough?

You're experts in nutrition, exercise, and health - but changing behaviour is complex, emotional, and goes far beyond knowing what to do.

  • Your clients know what to do but find it hard to follow through.

  • You see emotional and mindset barriers but aren’t sure how to help within your scope.

  • You want to integrate psychology into your work safely and confidently.

How We Work

Our approach is built on applied health psychology — practical tools for understanding behaviour, and supporting clients from intention into action.

  • Understanding Why

    Understanding the drivers of behaviour is the foundation of our course - often, difficulties changing behaviour are mistakenly attributed to lacking motivation. Our course will help you understand the complexity and diversity of factors that drive behaviour, so that you can make better decisions on how to help.

  • Managing Thoughts & Emotions

    Build skills to help clients recognise and regulate thoughts and feelings that hold them back, without drifting unsafely into therapy. Learn what you can and can't do safely when it comes to implementing psychology in a health context.

  • Ongoing Support

    Access regular group and 1-1 sessions to keep developing your confidence and skills in applying psychology safely. These sessions typically include deep diving on your specific client challenges, so that we can use real world examples to apply our new skills.

Instructor(s)

Joe O'Brien

Psychologist

I’m Joe O’Brien, a Chartered Health Psychologist and the founder of Head First Health. I specialise in the area of Psychology and eating behaviour, and have been a consultant for one of the biggest global manufacturers of GLP-1 medication. I run a private practice for people who struggle with the psychological or emotional side of eating. I also train and supervise health professionals to use psychology safely in their practice. Head First Health was created to bridge the gap between physical and psychological change, with the idea that there is no real health without psychological health.

Testimonials

“Joe’s course was amazing! If you're a nutritionist or dietitian working with clients, you need this level of psychology understanding. The course opened my eyes to the complexity of behaviour change and gave me a new perspective on how I approach behaviour with clients.”

Registered Associate Nutritionist and Programme Education Developer

“Joe is so clear in his explanation of things and summarising big concepts into a practical, applicable format for use in a health professional setting. I enjoyed every minute of the course and left with a wealth of new knowledge. A must-do for anyone working with clients on health improvement interventions.”

Health Coach - Registered Nutritionist

“I would thoroughly recommend Joe's course to any nutrition or health professional wanting to ensure they are helping their patients as best they can. It provides a real insight into the psychology behind behaviour change and brings the theory to life in a fun and interactive way.”

Registered Nutritionist

“This course covers an absolutely essential topic that I am honestly shocked isn't a requirement to learn about before heading into the health and fitness industry. Joe shares a huge amount of concrete examples for each concept that make it really easy to imagine how you might bring in and use them in your own practice with clients, and makes a lot of time for questions, which means you can really get so much out of this course. Highly recommend to all health professionals. ”

Personal Trainer & Coach

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