This comprehensive 2½ year practitioner training begins at level 5 and progresses to level 6 – equivalent in level to a degree programme.
What is Nutritional Therapy?
- Nutritional Therapy is the application of nutrition science in the promotion of optimum health. Our Nutritional Therapy graduates use a range of tools (nutrient screenings, questionnaires, Institute for Functional Medicine – IFM – timeline, matrix and functional tests) to assess and identify potential physiological and nutritional imbalances that may be contributing to an client’s symptoms and health concerns. This allows graduates to create a personalised nutrition and lifestyle plan for their clients including therapeutic diets, functional foods, practitioner grade supplements and lifestyle interventions.
This course provides practical and interactive live, online webinars and structured home study with over 250 hours of clinical practice (including 70 live hours). The syllabus is written to cover the UK Nutritional Therapy Education Council’s core curriculum for Nutritional Therapy and aims to uphold the UK’s National Occupational Standards. Students and graduates may register with the Nutritional Therapists of Ireland (NTOI), Ireland’s registering body for Nutritional Therapists, the Complementary Medical Association (CMA) & Federation of Nutritional Therapy Practitioners (FNTP) in both the UK and Ireland.
The Diploma in Nutritional Therapy is based upon two key, evidence based and well respected healthcare models – Functional Medicine and Health & Wellness Coaching.
Functional Medicine:
- Incorporates a patient-centred approach to healthcare
- Addresses the web-like interconnections of internal physiological processes
- Emphasises the role nutrition, lifestyle and environmental factors play in development of health concerns
- Acknowledges the biochemical individuality
Health & Wellness Coaching:
- Offers the most effective tools for improving client compliance
- Helps clients overcome barriers to change
- Assesses and develops readiness for change
During clinical practice, we develop key skills in alogical and systematic fashion from the beginning so that students are both competent and confident before they see clients in supervised student clinics in year 4. Our approach involves a variety of education methods proven to be best practice for developing communication and clinical practice skills. These include in-class exercises, role play, structured at-home exercises, reflective practice, video/paper based consultation analysis and live clinical observation, as well as supervised client consultations.
The overall aim of the programme is to give students the knowledge, understanding and competencies required to provide comprehensive nutritional advice to both individuals and groups in a range of settings. The Institute of Health Sciences develop safe, confident and effective practitioners of Nutritional Therapy who have a specific expertise and specialised knowledge base, competent to work either on their own or in collaboration with other healthcare professionals.