Short courses in integrative functional nutrition personalised nutrition

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Credit bearing & non-credit bearing short courses that are tailored to healthcare practitioners

Explore your passion, expand your practice and make a difference.

Short course quick-links
Graduate Diploma | BSc Nutritional Therapy | 1-to-3 day CPD

We offer as online short courses the following:

Short courses from the Graduate Diploma Integrative Functional Nutrition

  • Validated by the University of Portsmouth, modules taken as short courses offer qualified healthcare practitioners training in nutrition for health, wellbeing and lifestyle medicine. 
  • Take individual short courses in your specific area of interest to enhance your practice.
  • To qualify and practise as a registered nutritional therapy practitioner take all six graduate diploma short courses along with the clinical practice short course. 
  • Up to four short courses (80 credits) can be taken before enrolling onto the GDip course.
  • Each short course is credit bearing* (assessed), taught at Level 6, and is tailored to practising healthcare professionals including doctors, allied health care and CAM practitioners. 

More details about credit bearing courses:

    Focused on case-based learning and collaborative working all nutrition modules address diet, nutraceutical use, and test choice and interpretation.

    * All short courses are offered as non-assessed short courses, with the opportunity to switch to assessed (credit bearing)

    We recommend this short course/module as an entry point for those without a background in functional nutrition or who are returning to education after a significant break. The course runs twice a year (February and September). 

    Course info:

    • Level 6, Credits 20

    Course highlights:

    • This module lays the foundation of the philosophy and principles of practice in personalised nutrition.
    • Discover how food and lifestyle choices impact health.
    • Follow the food journey from the soil or sea to ourselves, and its impact on food quality and how this affects human health.
    • Gain an understanding of how guidelines for nutrient intakes are set, and critically explore their utility.
    • Explore factors affecting health eating choices and interpret and apply healthy eating guidance.
    • Gain a solid grounding of the impact of diet and nutrition on health and wellbeing, drilling down to the level of the genome, biochemical and metabolic pathways.
    • Nutraceutical and testing use in clinical practice are introduced in this module.

    The above four short courses critically investigate the latest evidence of how food, diet, lifestyle and environmental factors impacts microbiome and whole-body health (systems function). 

    Course info:

    • All at Level 6, Credits 20

    Course highlights:

    • Evaluate how these impacts might be measured through using a variety of biochemical and functional testing.
    • Critically discuss nutrition screening, and personally collected digital health data.
    • Construct personalised diets, nutraceutical programmes and lifestyle advice encompassing prevention and chronic illness management.

    Course info:

    • Level 6, Credits 20

    Course highlights:

    • Examine the principles and theories of behaviour change in a nutrition and lifestyle practice setting.
    • Develop interventions to support clients’ wellbeing outcomes.
    • Develop knowledge and understanding of health causality, individual differences, psychological models of behavioural change, therapeutic approaches, and ethics and communication skills in the therapeutic encounter.

    Course info:

    • Level 6, Credits 20

    Course highlights:

    • Undertake clinical training, seeing real clients under the supervision of supportive, qualified clinic supervisors in our highly respected Optimum Nutrition Training Clinic. 
    • Observe, with peers, live supervised clinical practice and critically discuss case management. Explore and discuss key aspects of practice management, including governance and ethics. Note: for those who wish to develop their own business, we recommend either the Business and Career Planning, or the Models of Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice short course.
    Eligibility criteria

      Applicants should have a degree in their subject discipline with health sciences, with or without practice experience, or significant work-based experience at graduate or post-graduate level. 

      The Clinical Practice short course entry requirements:

      • Graduate Diploma graduates who have practice experience within their own profession and who wish to register with the sector regulator, the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Commission (CNHC), and become a member of British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT), the professional body for practising nutritional therapy practitioners.
      • Qualified nutritional therapists returning to practice.
      • Transfer students with Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) who wish to complete their training in nutritional therapy
      Course dates
      Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
      Functional Nutrition Functional Nutrition
      Behaviour Change in Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice Behaviour Change in Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice
      Modulation of Neuroendocrine Function
      Modulation of Detoxification and Gastrointestinal Function
      Modulation of Cardiometabolic Function
      Modulation of Immune Function
      Clinical Practice
      Credit bearing short courses (assessed)
      • Credit bearing short courses are validated by the University of Portsmouth and can be accumulated, providing a flexible route towards the Graduate Diploma in Integrative Functional Nutrition. 
      • The addition of the Clinical Practice credit bearing short course provides a route to regulator registration (CNHC) and professional body membership (BANT). 
      • For students undertaking credit bearing short courses, we offer opportunities to refresh study skills.
      • Students enrolled onto credit bearing short courses have access to Portsmouth University’s physical and digital libraries.

      Non-credit bearing short courses (unassessed)
      • Short courses taken without assessment receive a certificate of attendance.

      Short courses: BSc (Hons) Nutritional Therapy modules

      For entry-level applicants and practitioners starting out in nutrition

      Course info:

      • Level 4, Credits 20

      Course highlights:

      For healthcare practitioners and nutritional therapy practitioners

      Course info:

      • Level 6, Credits 20

      Course highlights:

      • Examine the principles and theories of behaviour change in a nutrition and lifestyle practice setting and develop interventions to support clients’ wellbeing outcomes.
      • Develop knowledge and understanding of health causality, individual differences, psychological models of behavioural change, therapeutic approaches, and ethics and communication skills in the therapeutic encounter.

      Available for applicants without practice management experience.

      Course info:

      • Level 6, Credits 20

      Course highlights:

      • Gain the knowledge, tools and skills to set up in business and become competent, lawful, safe and autonomous nutritional therapy practitioner/practitioner.
      • Explore opportunities to build a portfolio career.
      • Develop practical business skills and formulate your business ideas, including self-promotion and marketing, within legal, professional and ethical frameworks.
      • Explore and evaluate business/market opportunities, local competition, and the financial implications of setting up and running a business.
      • Write a business plan as a blueprint for your practice.

      Available for applicants with practice management experience.

      Course info:

      • Level 6, Credits 40

      Course highlights:

      • Develop an entrepreneurial mind set to grow diverse practice options.
      • Develop skills to deliver agile practice models and evaluate multiple technologies, to support practice efficiency and client engagement.
      • Learn how to plan, design and deliver public and client `education'.
      • Apply theories and models of behaviour change.
      • Draw on experiences from your current practice and utilise feedback from peers to explore and develop a potential practice niche.
      • Trial and reflect on different practice models and efficiency tools to help you determine the future growth of your practice.

      Course info:

      • Level 6, Credits 20

      Course highlights:

      • Develop your ability to engage with and critically evaluate research methodologies and data analysis applicable to nutritional therapy and lifestyle practice.
      • Build on these skills to write a research and ethics proposal, demonstrating understanding of research principles.
      • Communicate a rationale and timeline of the identified research project to peers, allowing further development of the proposal through constructive feedback and reflection. 
      Course dates
      Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
      Diet and Health Diet and Health
      Behaviour Change in Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice Behaviour Change in Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice
      Business and Career Planning Business and Career Planning
      Models of Nutrition and Lifestyle Practice
      Research Skills

      1-to-3 day CPD courses

      Throughout the year we also offer one- to three-day CPD courses.