LHNC Empowering People with Head and Neck Cancer Through Health Behaviour Change

Wednesday 22nd October 2025

This one-day workshop is designed for healthcare professionals involved in the care of individuals who have head and neck cancer. The training focuses on the critical role of health behaviour change for improving long-term outcomes and quality of life pre and post cancer treatment.

Course Description

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the psychological and physiological dimensions of behaviour change post-treatment.

• Examine evidence-based approaches for fostering sustainable and meaningful health-related behaviour change.

• Develop practical, patient-centred coaching skills to effectively support individuals in their recovery and self-management. 

Grounded in current research and best practice, this workshop offers both theoretical insights and actionable strategies, enabling health professionals to support behaviour change more confidently and effectively for people living with head and neck cancer.

About the speakers: Dr Andy Levy and Dr Roganie Govender

Andy is a Chartered Psychologist and academic based at Edge Hill University, with a strong interest in applying behavioural science to real-life health issues. He collaborates with multidisciplinary teams to create practical, evidence-based approaches that help people make meaningful, lasting changes to their health behaviours. Much of Andy’s work centres on improving quality of life for people living with and beyond illness, particularly those recovering from head and neck cancer. He’s passionate about translating behaviour change theory into accessible, everyday strategies that healthcare professionals and community groups can apply in both clinical and non-clinical settings.

 Roganie is a consultant clinical academic speech and language therapist at University College London Hospital and Associate Professor at UCL Head and Neck Academic Centre. Since completing her PhD in Behavioural Science and Health at UCL, Roganie is keen to ensure that behaviour change is incorporated into prehab and rehab interventions delivered by health care professionals working in cancer. She has developed a theory-based behaviour change intervention for swallowing pre-habilitation and recently completed a multi-centre pilot trial of the same. She intends to apply the learning from this process to support increased use of behaviour change in practice.