A Few Words
About Me
Brains at Work Academy exists to help organisations improve resilience, reduce burnout, absenteeism and presenteeism, and improve performance and decision-making by understanding how the brain actually works at work.
Brains at Work Academy is founded and led by Nicola Hunt, a highly experienced clinician, senior healthcare leader and coach, specialising in how the brain functions under pressure in complex, high-stakes environments.
Clinical and NHS Leadership Background
Nicola began her career in the NHS, working in acute and critical care settings before specialising in neurological rehabilitation. Alongside her clinical practice, she progressed into senior leadership roles, including AHP Executive, AHP Professional Lead, and Clinical Adviser to a Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
In these roles, Nicola operated at both strategic and system level, advising on service design, workforce wellbeing, clinical governance and performance under pressure. This required balancing operational demands, risk, decision-making and staff resilience, often in highly constrained and time-critical environments.
Strategic Insight and Advisory Experience
As an AHP Executive and Clinical Adviser, Nicola worked closely with senior leaders, commissioners and multidisciplinary teams, supporting organisations to make evidence-informed decisions while managing cognitive load, stress and complexity across services.
This experience provides Brains at Work Academy with a deep understanding of:
∙ Leadership decision-making under pressure
∙ Organisational risk and accountability
∙ Workforce fatigue, burnout and retention
∙ The realities of leading through uncertainty and change
Bridging Neuroscience, Leadership and Coaching
Alongside her clinical and executive background, Nicola is a qualified professional and executive coach, registered with the EMCC. This combination allows her to translate applied neuroscience into practical leadership behaviours, supporting leaders not only in understanding how pressure affects the brain, but also in leading effectively within it, reducing the risk of burnout.
Her work bridges:
This integrated approach sits at the heart of Brains at Work Academy’s work with organisations.∙ Clinical neuroscience
Accreditations and Affiliations
