Feel free to reach out to me for individual support, corporate support and/or training in FIT as a practitioner or trainer: linda@doctorlindasolbrig.com, or for research related questions please email: linda.solbrig@plymouth.ac.uk
I am an award winning (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies) and National Institute for Health Research highly commended Behaviour Change Psychologist and a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society. I am a published and widely cited researcher in the areas of obesity, weight-loss, motivation, e-health, wellbeing, education and behaviour change.
I am the primary developer of the highly internationally acclaimed (medical research literature, mainstream print media, TV and radio) motivational coaching intervention Functional Imagery Training (FIT) in the context of weight-management and physical activity. I co-designed and tested FIT, while completing my PhD in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, where I until 2025 was still a visiting specialist in the Faculty of Health, lending expert advice across projects further testing FIT in a diverse range of health issues, including alcohol dependency and work-related stress, as well as facilitating workshops in Motivational Interviewing and Functional Imagery Training.
“As part of her doctorate she designed, executed and reported a randomised single-blind trial of FIT for weight loss, published in the International Journal of Obesity (DOI: 10.1038/s41366-018-0122-1), which showed that FIT led to a five-fold increase in weight loss compared to Motivational Interviewing (MI)…
NIHR Researcher Awards, 2020, panel member
This research has the potential to transform behaviour change approaches to obesity, implicated in many aspects of health. I am recommending her because of the exemplary way in which this research was conducted and the adoption of Open Science perspective in making the data and analyses available to other researchers as supplementary materials (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-018-0122-1#Sec24)”
I also run my own consultancy through which I deliver training to professionals and practitioners who want to become certified FIT practitioners, provide expert scientific advice for the production of television series on behaviour/lifestyle change and to corporate businesses wishing to design bespoke behaviour change/wellbeing interventions for their clients and/or staff.
Since 2024 I have been working with with the Volunteers of America Los Angeles, delivering FIT training for practitioners and training FIT trainers within VOALA to help case managers and workers on the frontline deliver FIT in shelters to homeless women and veterans to set appropriate goals and to motivate actions out of homelessness, to build resilience and to move into more securing housing and work.
From 2021-2026 I also worked with E.ON, UK to train managers and leaders in FIT for performance, wellbeing and to motivate workplace safety long-term.
I accommodate a limited number of private clients who work with me on tackling issues from weight-loss, anxiety to improving symptoms of functional disorders, such as CFS/ME and/or Fibromyalgia.
I have extensive academic background in the development and testing of behaviour change and wellbeing interventions, as well as developing training and delivering training in behaviour change to professionals, practitioners, and students. I also have a wealth of clinical experience, working for NHS and Public Health service providers such as Livewell Southwest; I am still a Livewell Southwest honorary specialist health consultant and I retain a honorary University of Plymouth research associate role.
As of April 2026 I have moved into a learning delivery management role at Hemsley Fraser in Plymouth, UK.
In my early career, before starting my academic journey in psychology, I trained and worked as a chef in Australia and the UK, as well as studying drama in Berlin, Germany.
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