Consilience Podcast

There is a lot more to compassion to simply being kind. You might think I'm nit picking but the distinction is important. Compassion requires strength and courage whereas kindness may not. The advice 'treat yourself kindly' is kinda vague and unhelpful. If you truly want to solve your problems and improve your wellbeing, you're gonna need compassion. Learn why in this episode. Download your freebi...

Holistic health and high performance are rarely spoken about under the same breath. If you care about your health, you don't have what it takes to achieve great things - right? Not at all. To elucidate how we can chase high performance in sustainable ways, I sat down with Dr. Eric Helms. Eric is a Research Fellow at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand. He researches physique and...

You are listening to part 2 of my conversation with Mac and James discussing the costs of living up to masculine ideals. If you missed the first part, you can check out the previous episode where we talked about mens body image, disordered eating and the difficulties of admitting ‘weakness’. In this episode, we talk about improving the industry to mitigate risk, better help our clients who may be...

Body image and disordered eating in men is a topic that doesn't get enough attention. Yet a culture of muscularity has developed quite rapidly in the last decade, promoting the personal acceptance or internalisation of a muscular body as the male beauty ideal. The population prevalence of eating disorder behaviour in males far outweighs the treated prevalence, suggesting that (a) males are particu...

I am joined by Hugh Gilmore, to discuss what really made the difference in our coaching practice.  We're sold the idea that the route to becoming a high-caliber coach is to learn more and more esoteric bits of information. The truth is, there comes a point when learning even more knowledge about training and nutrition has limited effects on client outcomes.  So what really makes the diff...

Dr Hannah Gilbert is a compassion focused psychotherapist with keen interest in how anthropology can inform and inspire psychotherapeutic theory and practice, and runs workshops on compassionate mind training and the therapeutic relationship. She works in charity development for the  Compassionate Mind Foundation and is a lecturer in Integrative Counselling & Psychotherapy at th...

We all want to be successful, help others and strive to improve. This is all well and good...but can sometimes manifest in rigid demands, pressure to be perfect, and never feeling quite enough. Why do we fall into this trap? How can we pick ourselves up?  I am joined by Dr Hannah Wilson to discuss the importance modelling vulnerability within a culture that stigmatises being a normal, fallibl...

Changing our habits is not easy. Our brains make sure of that! Luckily, we can learn how to train our mindsets to drive automaticity and habit formation in psychologically safe and sustainable ways. Casey Hughes is Vice President of Behavioral Design at Fresh Tri. As a behavioral scientist and seasoned health coach, Casey has deep expertise in both the art and science of behavior change. Using psy...

We all know that our mindsets can either help us achieve our goals, or hold us back. What's less clear, is it actually means to improve your mindset.  I'm joined by Dr Darren Britton, a Sports Psychologist and Performance coach using solution-focused practice and mental skills training to help people to be at their best when it counts, in sport, education, and life. We discuss: What is a solu...

There seem to be a lot of conflicting messages regarding whether fat loss improves health (and if so, for whom), whether fat loss is possible to achieve and maintain, and if so, how we might go about it. In this episode Danny Lennon helps to clear up the confusion. Danny is the founder of Sigma Nutrition, an educational platform committed to providing objective, evidence based information on nutri...

Chris is a Clinical Psychologist with many years of experience working in the NHS. He  is now co-director of Balanced Minds where he provides Compassion Focused therapy and training courses. He is the author of a number of Compassion Focused Books & co-creator of The Self-Compassion App. We discussed: How CFT addresses the essence of the human condition and enables us to courageously turn...

Ella is a sport and exercise psychologist in training who's passionate about supporting people to change their health and fitness behaviours.  With a BSc in Psychology, an MSc in Sport Psychology and ongoing Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Ella is on a mission to support individuals through their psychological barriers to health and fitness behaviours. We discussed: What makes a g...

Dr Martin Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Staffordshire University, UK. He is a researcher, chartered consultant psychologist (BPS, HCPC Reg., CSci) and book author. He is most known for his work examining the use of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) within performance settings. We discussed: Beliefs that hold us back Healthy negative emotions Accepting ours...

My colleague Dr Gabrielle Fundaro and I chat with Dr Mike Albert, the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Accomplish Health, a personalized metabolic wellness center delivering sustainable health, weight loss and wellness. Combining prescription medications, nutritional therapy & health coaching. Dr Albert is passionate about translating scientific evidence into practice. He does this by s...

Jade Bailey is part of the team at the Body Image & Health Research Lab at Western University in Ontario, Canada. Her research interests are on the intersections of body image, mental health, and physical activity in adult female and LGBTQ+ populations. She is particularly interested in and passionate about self-compassion and intuitive movement interventions. We discussed: What happened to sp...

Roxy O’Rourke is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Her research is focused on sport and mental health in athletes with disabilities and people with chronic health conditions. Roxy is also the co-founder of One Athlete, an organization aiming to provide athletes with the education and tools to monitor signs of overtraining and relativ...

Thomas is a registered dietitian and behavioural & cognitive psychotherapist. Having first studied Psychology and Nutrition, then Applied Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Thomas later completed his PGDip in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy at Royal Holloway University, London. Tom is the director of the Body Image Treatment Clinic, in London, where h...

Dr. Jessica Alleva, Ph. D., is an assistant professor of psychology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Her mission is to help people develop a healthier relationship with their own bodies. Jessica’s research investigates novel strategies for improving body image, as well as the factors that can make us feel better (or worse) about our bodies. She is also an Associate Editor for Body Imag...

David Brown is a first year PhD student whose research interests involve investigating the role of body image in various contexts, focusing specifically on the impact of body image concerns on sport and exercise participation, psychophysiology, and health. David’s research examined psychobiological responses (i.e., cortisol, body shame, and body dissatisfaction) to, and recovery from, a social-eva...

Dani is a Personal Trainer from Bristol who specializes in training for strength, health and mobility. In her coaching, she draws upon her experience, not just a trainer, but as a human. One who has also had her ups and downs, who didn't believe in her body, who saw it start to fail and become injured, who battled with and overcame bullying, bulimia and loss. By trying new things, allowing the rig...

Dr Alicia Carter is a psychologist who works as a tutor and research assistant at School of Psychology, University of Queensland. She has facilitated compassion-based workshops at the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation and recently defended her PhD on "Compassion Focused Therapy for Body Weight Shame. We discussed: What is Compassion Focused Therapy? An evolutionary functional analysis of...

Dr Georgie Buckley is an accredited Dietitian from Melbourne who has extensive experience working with eating disorder population groups and in sports nutrition. Georgie is particularly passionate about eating disorder prevention and inclusive healthcare, specifically in healthcare settings where weight stigma and oppressive power imbalances are involved. In 2021 Georgie completed her PhD at Swinb...

Luke Tulloch is an online trainer and educator from Sydney, currently based in Gothenburg, who coaches people to feel strong, without the constant food stress. Luke is all about figuring out how to fulfil your potential. He leads by example and seeks to live according to his values of progression, learning, challenge, freedom and independence. In this episode we discuss: How can we set ourselves g...

Professor Phillippa Diedrichs is a research psychologist with an international reputation for creating evidence-based strategies to improve body image in community, business, and policy settings. At the Centre for Appearance Research, she leads a team of researchers investigating psychosocial influences on body image and the development of digital and face-to-face body image interventions. She is...

Dr. Eva Pila is an Assistant Professor at Western University in the School of Kinesiology who directs the research team at the Body Image & Health (BIH) Lab. Their research focuses on understanding body image and body (in)equity as it relates to movement, mental health and well-being. A main goal of this research is to develop psychological interventions, currently centered on self-compassion,...