I've spent 17 years trying to answer one question.
How do you help someone change - when they already know what to do?
I'm Dr Jen Cartwright. I'm a PhD physiotherapist, motivation strategist, and behaviour change scientist based in Forster, Australia.
My career has taken me from the clinic to the lab to the coaching room — and everywhere I've gone, the same problem has followed me.
People know what to do. They know they should move more, eat better, sleep longer, stress less. But knowing and doing are wildly different things.
That gap — between intention and action — is what I've devoted my professional life to closing.
In my clinical years...
I worked as a physiotherapist and grew increasingly frustrated by the rinse-and-repeat cycle: patients coming in with the same problem, receiving the same advice, and returning the following week unchanged. I knew the problem wasn't their willpower. There had to be a better way.
In my research...
I completed a PhD and have since published over 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles on physical activity, longevity, and behaviour change. In my postdoctoral role at the University of Sydney, I'm currently coaching on a large scale randomised trial for women over 50 (Active Women over 50 study), and running a cluster randomised trial to help health professionals embed motivational interviewing into their practice (PROMOTE-PA study).
In my personal life...
In my personal life, I've lived through burnout, early motherhood, and the painful experience of losing myself. I know what it's like to feel like your best years are behind you — and I know what it takes to get that fire back.
That combination — researcher, clinician, coach, and someone who's been there — is what makes this work different.
I believe the future of health is not more information.
It's better motivation and behaviour science. And I'm here to make that accessible — for women directly, and for health professionals and for the patients they serve.
