Nutritional Therapy (NT) applies the latest research in nutrition and health sciences to manage chronic disease and promote optimum health. Nutritional Therapists believe that all systems of the body are linked and that chronic illness is preceded by physiological imbalances in a number of these systems. Focus, therefore, is on identifying and addressing these imbalances. Every client is treated as an individual, with their own unique physiological make-up and reasons for any health concerns. Using Functional Medicine clinical paperwork, IHS NT graduates take a comprehensive case history from clients covering current and past health, diet, lifestyle and family health. Practitioners use a range of tools to identify potential imbalances before recommending a personalised nutrition, supplement and lifestyle plan to their clients and supporting them to implement this into their life. Studying Nutritional Therapy gives students a deep understanding of how nutrients, the environment and lifestyle choices impact health and how to use this information to benefit a broad range of clients.
This comprehensive 3½ year practitioner training diploma, written up to UK level 6 (Irish level 7), provides practical and interactive lectures alongside structured home study and over 250 hours of clinical practice supervised by some of the most respected Nutritional Therapists from Ireland and the UK. Our syllabus is written to cover the UK Nutritional Therapy Council’s core curriculum for Nutritional Therapy and aims to uphold the UK’s National Occupational Standards for the industry. Students and graduates may register with the Nutritional Therapists of Ireland (NTOI), Ireland’s only independent registering body for Nutritional Therapists, and the Complementary Medical Association (CMA) & Federation of Nutritional Therapy Practitioners (FNTP) in both the UK and Ireland.
“Studying with IHS was a great experience. The lecturers were very experienced and knowledgeable and the supporting staff were extremely helpful and accommodating. The course content was excellent, evidence-based and very relevant. I feel that I was very prepared to deal with clients after this course, both from a scientific/nutrition point and by understanding clients’ motivations and barriers. I feel that IHS holds the high standards that should be expected of Nutritional Therapists and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this Institute for anyone considering a career in nutrition.” Ciara Wright, PhD, BSc, Dip NT IHS, Nutritional Therapy Diploma Graduate
The IHS Diploma in Nutritional Therapy is based on the principles and practice of functional medicine, an evidence based, patient centred approach to healthcare that focuses on identifying and preventing the underlying causes of chronic disease. This allows graduates of our programme to understand, utilise and educate others on the most up to date and relevant research in healthcare. The course includes study of medical sciences (anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology), applied nutritional science, functional medicine, research methods and practitioner development, all of which are taught from basic to advanced level over the course of the programme.
The practical skills developed throughout the course include dietary analysis, body composition analysis and health coaching. Our dietary analysis training uses the very latest and most comprehensive dietary analysis software available, body composition analysis and in depth training covering key body measurements and their links to health and disease. Our health coaching skills are based on the dynamic and fast growing field of health and wellness coaching from the US. Students are trained in the most effective ways of improving patient compliance, ensuring clients take responsibility for their own health, establishing how ready they are to change and then helping them overcome barriers to change. This ensures IHS graduates have the comprehensive knowledge base, practical skills and confidence required for working with individual clients as a Nutritional Therapist. The programme content is chosen and structured to enable participants to become professional, reflective practitioners with a practical and integrated approach to the nutritional management of ill-health.
The weekends do not solely consist of students sitting in front of a lecturer, taking notes - the days are split between discussion, group work, lectures and informative multimedia presentations to enhance the learning experience. We have more than 12 highly qualified and experienced lecturers on our Nutritional Therapy Diploma, each an expert in their field, giving our students access to a wealth of knowledge and experience from their first day of study and students will be taught by at least four different lecturers per year to benefit from this.
For clinical practice, we develop key skills in a systematic and logical fashion from year 1 so that students are confident and competent before they see clients in our supervised student clinics in year 4. IHS clinical practice involves a variety of tried and tested teaching methods proven to be the best to develop practical communication and clinical practice skills. These include in-class exercises and role play, structured at-home exercises, reflective practice, video/paper based consultation analysis, live clinical observation and supervised client consultations. Each student will have completed 250 hours of clinical practice upon graduation which not only offers the quantity of hours required to register as a Nutritional Therapist but also the broad scope and quality of training to give IHS graduates confidence in their skills.
Regular optional cooking days allow students to see first hand how to incorporate healthy eating cooking skills and ingredients into meals for both them and their future clients.
The overall aim of the programme is to equip students with the knowledge, understanding and competencies required to provide comprehensive nutritional advice to individuals and groups in a range of healthcare settings. IHS develop confident, safe and effective practitioners of Nutritional Therapy who have a specific expertise and a specialised knowledge base, competent to work either individually or in collaboration with other healthcare professionals.
Students can begin practicing as a Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach from the end of year 1 onwards. This allows students to gain valuable experience in the industry whilst still working towards their Nutritional Therapy qualification.
The second year comprises of the CI Level 5 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle: Evaluating their Role in Chronic Disease Development as well as a clinical practice module. This unique course, academically certified by Crossfields Institute to UK level 5 (Irish level 6/7), carefully examines the scientific research that indicates that many chronic diseases may result from interactions between genes, diet, lifestyle and the environment. It looks at this research from the perspective of different evidence based healthcare models, including the Biomedical and Functional Medicine ones, and considers if and how much nutrition and lifestyle choices are contributing to this chronic disease epidemic.
- Constantly updated material. All modules have a module leader responsible for them. The role of the module leader is to continually update the material delivered in lectures, student notes and online, set and mark assignments and to answer student queries on the module forums. This keeps IHS material up to date using evidence based research and the very latest theories in healthcare.
- Comprehensive and well structured study material supplied. Including presentation slides, case studies, video clips, quizzes, short answer questions and chances to reflect on your knowledge - all designed to make the learning experience as interactive as possible
- Dynamic and interactive lecture weekends. Designed to suit all learning types and engage students in the learning process. Lecture weekends include a mixture of formal lectures, group discussion, group exercises, role play and case studies
- Expert lecturers. Lecturers for the IHS Nutritional Therapy Diploma include leading Nutritional Therapists, certified health and wellness coaches, a medical doctor, an NLP Master Practitioner and health promotion experts - giving our students access to a wealth of knowledge and experience from their first day of study and Nutritional Therapy students will be taught by at least four different lecturers per year.
- The IHS commitment to pastoral care and student support. IHS have a dedicated student support officer to help struggling students or those with specific learning difficulties. We ensure that all students have access to both staff and peer support whilst studying with IHS
- Graduate after year 1 with the CI Level 4 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching (VRQ). Start seeing clients and earning an income whilst studying the rest of the Diploma in Nutritional Therapy
- Graduate after year 2 with the CI Level 5 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle: Evaluating their Role in Chronic Disease Development to enhance your understanding of what contributes to chronic disease
- IHS Nutritional Therapy students have over 250 clinical practice hours by the end of their studies. We begin our clinical practice for students in Year 1, which ensures that they are very familiar and competent with the practice of Nutritional Therapy by the time they take patients in Year 4
- Functional Medicine. The second year comprises 5 full weekends focused on the Functional Medicine approach to Nutritional Therapy practice – more than any other training provider in Ireland. Functional Medicine is an evidence based, patient centred approach to healthcare that focuses on identifying and preventing the underlying causes of chronic disease. Your training incorporates how to use key functional medicine paperwork and protocols to ensure you have the latest evidence based toolkit at your fingertips upon graduation
- Apply for direct entry onto the MSc/PG Dip/PG Cert in Personalised Nutrition taught at CNELM (Wokingham, UK) upon graduation. This course is validated by Middlesex University for attendance, part attendance or 100% distance learning
- Health and Wellness coaching underpins the IHS Diploma in Nutritional Therapy. Students are trained in the most effective ways of improving patient compliance; ensuring clients take responsibility for their own health, establishing how ready they are to change and then helping them overcome barriers to change
This diploma course consists of 12 modules in total including the study of medical sciences (anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology), applied nutritional science, health coaching, functional medicine, research methods and practitioner development all of which are taught from basic to advanced level over the course of the programme.
Year 1 is the CI Level 4 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching (VRQ), a unique, Ofqual regulated course where food is examined from farm to fork and seen exactly how food is grown, processed and thus nutritionally depleted and the cumulative effect this has on health. Students are then taught how to analyse a client’s individual needs and instructed how food, nutrients and supplements can be used to counteract the health problems associated with modern lifestyles and promote optimum health.
Year 1 Interim Award: CI Level 4 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching (VRQ)
Year 2 is the CI Level 5 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle: Evaluating their Role in Chronic Disease Development, where chronic disease prevalence and how different healthcare models currently approach chronic disease prevention and management are reviewed. This unique qualification also evaluates current research methods, with a focus on their strengths and limitations when researching in the area of chronic disease. To understand how chronic disease may develop, it is necessary to understand how the body functions in its optimal state so students undertake units in nutritional biochemistry and integrative physiology, with an emphasis on how different bodily systems work together to support metabolic homeostasis. This is followed by an exploration of how potential disordered physiology may arise as outlined in the Functional Medicine model with particular focus on the role of nutrition and lifestyle factors. Finally, students apply their learning to critically evaluate the role of nutrition and lifestyle factors in the development of key chronic diseases, including Metabolic Syndrome, Autoimmune conditions and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Year 2 Interim Award: CI Level 5 (UK) Diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle: Evaluating their Role in Chronic Disease Development
Year 3 consolidates all the theory learned on the course so far by exploring evidence based strategies for managing chronic disease states from both an orthodox and functional medicine perspective. It specifically explores personalised nutrition and lifestyle interventions. We call this our ‘experts’ year as we ensure students have access to a range of guest speakers who are considered experts in their particular fields, be this medicine, diagnostic testing or neutriceuticals. Research modules give students a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the need for evidence basis in healthcare and a module on practitioner development ensures students develop proficient skills in communicating with clients and understanding/reflecting upon the complexities of the patient/practitioner relationship (based on the principles of NLP and health & wellness coaching). They are then encouraged to utilise these new skills during their first supervised consultations and through taking leading roles in clinical based activities, role plays, discussions and case studies. Our innovative and dynamic entrepreneurship module ensures students learn key business skills from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Nutritional Therapy field and beyond. This includes developing a business plan, marketing, presentation skills and the fundamentals of setting up in practice. Students graduate this module having already designed and developed key marketing literature so they are ready to go into practice.
Year 4 is six months in duration and requires the production of clinical case studies, reflective narratives and evaluations of the effectiveness of nutritional therapy in various clinical scenarios. All clinical practice during this module takes place in the IHS student clinics. This module provides students with intensive supervised clinical practice and tutorials in small groups designed to maximise their skills and bolster their confidence prior to graduation. During supervised cases they are expected to exhibit advanced therapeutic skills, knowledge and competence. The aim is to give students a comprehensive and thorough overview of contemporary professional practice. The success of our current graduates demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach.
The IHS Diploma in Nutritional Therapy can be completed in-class, online or a mixture of the two (blended learning).
The first 3 years of this 3½ year part-time course includes approximately 10 lecture weekends (in-class only) per year alongside structured home study. The 4th year (6 months in total) is solely focused on ensuring graduates are competent and confident in clinical practice. It comprises of 6 clinical practice weekends which students attend in small groups (3 or 4 students) with an experienced Nutritional Therapy practitioner as a clinic mentor. Each student must pass a number of live supervised clinical practice cases in order to graduate.
The programme has a strong practical orientation and integrates elements of theory and practice (academic subjects and clinical practice) from year 1 onwards. This provides opportunities for progressive, professional development where the student can reflect on, analyse and evaluate professional practice throughout the course. The nutrition and lifestyle coaching interim award at the end of year 1, alongside more advanced clinical training in years 2 and 3, also offers the student opportunities for putting into practice theories and ideas generated in the taught elements of the course.
All students are enrolled onto the IHS Learning Management System. Here you will find all course material, forums, quizzes, assessments etc in one place to help you organise your study and study material as efficiently as possible. You will also upload all assessments here and can also use it to communicate directly with module leaders, other members of staff and fellow students.
This is a lifelong learning course and students are accepted on to this course through a combination of academic qualifications and relevant life experience.
The minimum academic entry requirement for this course is 4 grade Cs (preferably including a science subject) at Leaving Certificate. A pass in either Irish or English must be included. Overseas equivalents are also considered.
For entry to the programme applicants with Prior Learning and Experiential Prior Learning will be considered. The knowledge, skills and competencies identified are those corresponding to the knowledge, skills and competencies defined by Level 4 and Level 5 on the National Framework.
Students with a nutrition coaching qualification from elsewhere may be able to fast track into year 2 of the IHS Diploma in Nutritional Therapy (a bridging module may be required to be undertaken if this qualification is below UK level 4 - Irish level 6). Also, students who have obtained other nutrition qualifications or have undertaken some study in the field may be eligible for fast track entry onto the IHS diploma programme. These students will be assessed in terms of modules completed in prior studies and will complete all outstanding modules in the diploma programme.
* not including Nutritics dietary analysis software - special discounted rate for IHS students
** please note that prices are subject to change, subject to future academic accreditation
