Most of us know the basics of how to take care of our physical health, but what about the brain? Brain health is curiously neglected from public health campaigns, especially considering that dementia is now the leading cause of death in the UK and depression is rapidly becoming the leading cause of global disease burden.

What’s driving the rising rates of mental illness and neurodegeneration and what, if anything, can we do to turn the tide?

In this talk, Chartered Psychologist Kimberley Wilson will present an overview of the evidence and discuss the role of modifiable risk factors in brain and mental health.

Kimberley Wilson is a Chartered Psychologist and visiting lecturer working in private practice in central London. She is a Governor of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Mental Health Trust and the former Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Training Committee in Counselling Psychology – the group responsible for monitoring and assessing the standards of Counselling Psychology training across the UK. She formerly led the therapy service at HMP & YOI Holloway, which at the time was Europe’s largest women’s prison (closed summer 2016).

Kimberley believes the way we think about mental health – as separate from physical health – is flawed. Her philosophy of Whole Body Mental Health is a comprehensive approach to mental health care; integrating evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle factors with psychological therapy.

A former finalist on the Great British Bake Off and an award-winning food producer with a degree in nutrition, Kimberley’s work looks at the role food and lifestyle plays in our mental health, including disordered eating, the gut-brain axis and our emotional relationship with food.

Passionate about the power of psychology to transform lives, Kimberley is committed to demystifying the theories and putting the information into the hands of the people who need it through social media, her Stronger Minds Podcast, live events and regular appearances on expert panels.

Kimberley was the featured mental health expert on several Channel 4 documentaries throughout Spring 2020; Coronavirus: How to Isolate Yourself, Living With Coronavirus, and When Will Lockdown End?

Kimberley’s first book, How to Build a Healthy Brain was published in March 2020 by Yellow Kite.