There is now considerable evidence for using lifestyle interventions as a pivotal approach to prevent and treat common mental illness.

On this three-week course, you’ll discover the benefits of using lifestyle medicine in services that provide mental health care and gain practical skills to use in your context.

This course has been developed by mental health clinicians, academics, and those with lived experience. With their expertise, you’ll be supported in implementing lifestyle medicine to aid in the assessment and management of mental illness, recovery, and wellbeing.

What is lifestyle medicine?

Lifestyle medicine uses the evidence-based application of nutrition, movement, sleep, mind-body practices, reduced substance use, connection with the natural world and more. This is then combined with enhanced behaviour change and health coaching, new models of care, and digital health to prevent and treat disease and lead to whole-of-person wellbeing.

You’ll gain an understanding of lifestyle medicine from both a lived experience perspective and as a foundational part of care.

Explore the importance of behaviour change

Next, you’ll uncover how behaviour change and health coaching is crucial in lifestyle medicine approaches. You’ll explore communications skills, behaviour change frameworks, coaching guides, digital tools, and built environment optimisation.

With this knowledge, you’ll have a better understanding of how to care for others and yourself.

Develop as a mental health clinician with Deakin University

Finally, you’ll gain the practical skills to successfully implement clinical lifestyle programmes.

Guided by the experts at Deakin and James Cook universities, you’ll finish the course with the knowledge and confidence to use lifestyle medicine in your mental health practice.