A New Approach

Let’s bring the balance back into mental wellness by adding therapy, nutrition, mindfulness techniques, skill building, and giving back to the greater good. Food For Thought: Could adding a combination of this “STUFF” create space for a possible slow and safe titration to lower doses of your psychiatric medications? Could adding a combination of other therapies create space for a possible slow and safe titration to lower doses of psychiatric medications? Could starting other types of therapies eliminate the need to start medicine? 

As a Graduate of Johnson and Wales University and a former career as a chef I continue to be passionate about the art and science of food. I enjoy exploring the powerful connection between the brain and the digestive system. Nutrition can have a positive effect on mental health. Cooking is one of the few artistic expressions that embodies all five senses of sight, sound, touch, scent, and taste. The use of the culinary arts to bringing joy to people’s lives seems like a beautiful and way to use my knowledge and experience to help others in a very understandable and tangible way. 

YOU ARE NOT A DIAGNOSIS

As a provider, I believe in several treatment philosophies that you should know to see if I am a good fit for your mental health needs. First and foremost, it is my honor to treat an individual, not his/her/their diagnosis. Throughout my 13 years of experience in psychiatric nursing I notice often that many people introduce themselves as their diagnosis, saying “I’m Depressed” or “I’m Anxious.” I firmly believe no one should be defined by a label. YOU ARE NOT A DIAGNOSIS. I put you in the very center of your treatment plan and use a combination of evidence-based research treatment modalities to guide my clinical decision making.

My experience with my own personal mental wellness adventure allows me to meet patients where they are, allowing space for true healing by cultivating strength and hope. This mutual understanding from personally dealing and recovering daily from issues including trauma, difficult relationships with food, and alcohol use allows me to bring a great degree of empathy to my working with patients. I emphasize the use of recovery-based language and strongly discourage self-deprecation. It is sometimes our mistakes that can lead us to a place of inner peace and self-love that was better than we hoped to imagine-even before the problems began. I sincerely hope that normalizing the conversations around mental health issues will help break the implication that somehow you are a bad person. I want my patients to know that I will never be in a place to set judgement about learned ways people cope. We all make mistakes! We will work together to find the solution that fits your unique gifts,  It is my sincere goal to hold out hope for my patients that they will feel better until they gain that hope for themselves.  

Medication May Be Necessary

I prescribe psychiatric medications and believe in their usefulness. Medications are often needed to help with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit related disorders. However, when doses of medications used to treat neurotransmitter regulation increase, so do the chances of side effects that can be as bad (or sometimes worse) than the condition we are trying to treat.

Weight gain is a common side effect of some of the medicines that may be needed for certain symptoms. Fear of gaining weight is the number one reason patients tell me that they are hesitant to begin or increase medication that could help them feel better emotionally.