About Us
We have known each other professionally for over 15 years. We are colleagues and friends, and over that time we have often discussed the challenges facing people who struggle with their weight. When GLP-1 medications arrived and we began seeing growing numbers of patients who had lost weight on the drugs but were struggling once they stopped, we knew we needed to do something about it.
Dr Max Pemberton
Max is a medical doctor, journalist and author. He works full time as a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, where he has spent over a decade in specialist eating disorder services. Over the course of his career, he has assessed and treated patients right across the weight spectrum, from those with severe anorexia to those awaiting bariatric surgery for obesity. He has run group therapy programmes for overweight patients and has seen firsthand how profoundly someone’s relationship with food is tied to their emotional world.
It was through this work that Max became increasingly aware of a gap in the system. Patients who were overweight and deeply distressed by it were being referred to him, yet the NHS could offer them little beyond basic advice about eating less and moving more. He knew this wasn’t enough. When GLP-1 medications began to emerge as a genuine option for weight management, Max saw both their enormous potential and the risk that they would be used as a quick fix without the psychological support needed to make results last.
Beyond his clinical work, Max is a weekly columnist and feature writer for the Daily Mail, writing on health, mental health, ethics and social issues. Before joining the Mail, he spent 12 years as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He is a regular contributor to The Spectator, has reported for Radio 4’s Inside Health, and has worked as a script consultant on the BBC’s Holby City and Casualty as well as ITV dramas. He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, an elected Fellow of the World Psychiatric Association, and the author of five previous books. He has won various awards including the Royal College of Psychiatrists Public Educator of the Year and The McLean-DB Recovery+ Lifetime Achievement Award in Psychiatry. He continues to publish academic research in the field of mental health and culture. He is the co-founder of Slimmr.
“Obesity is usually a symptom of something else, fuelled by underlying issues relating to self-worth, mood, the need for comfort, or a sense of shame. What’s happening in your mind is being played out in your body and the food you eat. “
Dr Courtney Raspin
Courtney is a Chartered Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). She is one of the UK’s leading experts in eating disorders and has spent her career helping hundreds of patients resolve their problematic relationships with food and their bodies.
After many years working in NHS eating disorder services, Courtney set up her own private practice where she continues to work with people struggling with disordered eating. She also designed and runs a psychological treatment programme for NHS obesity services in North London, through which she has developed a detailed, evidence based approach to supporting overweight patients. This real world clinical experience, working week in and week out with people at every stage of their weight journey, forms the backbone of the programme in this book.
Courtney is a passionate advocate for the idea that diets simply do not work. She believes that developing eating and exercise patterns that are genuinely enjoyable and sustainable is the key to long term wellness and what she calls ‘body peace’. Her approach is warm, pragmatic and entirely free of judgement.
Together, we developed a psychological programme specifically designed to support people using these medications. We combined Max’s medical expertise and his experience of communicating complex health topics to a wide audience with Courtney’s deep specialist knowledge of the psychology of eating and behaviour change. The result is a programme that is both clinically rigorous and genuinely accessible. This book brings that programme to everyone who needs it.
