In this episode of BrainFuel, Ruth is joined by Johanna Jefferies, Public Health Consultant and Associate Director at Hampshire County Council, and Jonathan Baker, Senior Insight Lead, to share how they’ve successfully embedded behavioural science into council and public health work in a way that’s practical, memorable, and genuinely usable.
Jo and Jonathan unpack what it really takes to roll behavioural science out across an organisation iincluding what didn’t work at first, what they changed, and why training alone is never enough. You’ll hear how Hampshire redesigned its approach to focus on real-world application, post-training support, and building confidence (not overwhelm).
We also dive into their personal behaviour change stories, the biggest myth they’d throw into Room 101, and the three ingredients they believe every council needs if they want behavioural science to stick.
🧠 What You’ll Learn In This Episode
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Why “good training” isn’t the same as behavioural science actually being used in day-to-day work
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Why councils need to apply behavioural science to how they embed behavioural science
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Why training should focus on mechanism and practice, not just theory
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The biggest blocker: behavioural science being seen as “for frontline behaviour change”, not strategic council work
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Why follow-up support matters more than templates
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Three ingredients councils can copy if they want behavioural science to scale internally.
🚪 Room 101: Training Without Support
If Jo and Jonathan could throw one thing into Room 101 forever, it would be this:
The idea that you can train people in behavioural science and then leave them to figure it out alone.
Even great training doesn’t translate into real practice without follow-up support, confidence-building, and early case studies that show it working inside the organisation.
🎉 Free Event - Making Hidden Voices Heard - 26 March 2026
To celebrate five years of Hidden Voices Heard (and our much-loved Behaviour Change Marketing Bootcamp training), we’re hosting a free event dedicated to just that 'Making Hidden Voices Heard' on:
📅 26 March 2026
➡️ Head to www.hiddenvoicesheard.com to save your spot.
