About me

my story

I live in Bramhall, Cheshire with my family but grew up in Watford, Hertfordshire.

I developed a strong interest in health and wellbeing from a young age after seeing my late father physically and mentally struggle living with diabetes and heart disease. Both health conditions are highly common in South Asian people and can lead to other chronic health problems if people do not get the support, and information they need to adapt their lifestyle to manage the conditions. Sadly, this was the case for my father.

This ignited a passion and curiosity in me to further understand the psychology behind living with a health condition particularly after completing my master’s in health psychology. After working for a few years at Diabetes UK, I pursued to do a PhD in which I researched the management of diabetes in the South Asian population, and enrolled on the BPS professional doctorate programme to train to become an independent health psychologist. My vision and ambition was to be able to help people to have the psychological support they need to feel empowered to either live with a long term health condition, and/or create healthy habits to live a healthier life and prevent the onset on of lifestyle conditions such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. 

I have over 15 years’ experience of working in the health psychology field, and with a range of diverse populations. Since qualifying in 2014, I have worked as a Lead Health Psychologist in an NHS Trust, a Clinical Lead in an NHS funded Specialist Adult Weight Management Services and provided guest lectures to masters students at The University of Liverpool, Department of Psychology.

I have experience of providing advice, support, education, and training to healthcare professionals on the psychological aspects of health behaviour change, in particular the management of diabetes both within the South Asian community and wider populations. 

Despite revolutions and advances in scientific research today, people are still struggling to access the healthcare services and psychological support that they need to change their lifestyle behaviours and/or manage their health and wellbeing. Many of us try to make changes independently or often with some support of a healthcare professional but usually once there is a diagnosis of a long-term health condition such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol and obesity.

When people get stuck in a vicious cycle of yoyo dieting to manage weight or change our lifestyle, they can easily end up being self-critical, feel shame and guilt - and these emotions can then become barriers to making changes and in the long run they end up gaining more weight. For some, the rollercoaster rides of diets and/or intense physical activity in an attempt to lose weight, get fit and healthy have been short-lived or stopped after a period of time. This can often lead us to believe that we are a failure, or we are doing something wrong, and before you know it, you are back into a vicious cycle of stop and start with making lifestyle behaviour changes. Eventually we resent the changes and give up completely. 

so, what’s th e answer to long lasting h ealth behaviour change?

People need support, information, and achievable goals to be able to build new habits and skills. Often, we set the bar too high which means we have failed before we have even started.

Research suggests that it can take up to three months to form a new habit, so taking a more realistic and kinder approach to lifestyle behaviour change can help to ensure that you meet your health goals, no matter how big or small. 

That’s why at Evoking Health Limited you will receive tailored support to suit your needs on your journey to health behaviour change.

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