EDUCATION

UPCOMING WEBINAR: Three Mental Health Nutrition Principles

Every Therapist Should Know

Date: Wednesday, February 26

Time: 6:00pm – 7.30pm MST (website will be recorded for all registrants)

Location: Online (Zoom)

Our clients’ symptoms can be both physiological and emotional in origin. As therapists, we’re trained to work with emotions, but in general, our medical system doesn’t have much to offer biochemically aside from a pill or two and a recommendation to exercise. And if a client’s depression or substance cravings are due to dysregulated blood sugar or nutrient depletion, we may be wasting time for months or years on therapy, when we could be addressing the root cause by helping them to balance their physiology. Enter mental health nutrition – a powerful and highly effective approach that has been gaining traction in recent decades. Mental health nutrition is the art and science of using nutrition and supplements to balance and stabilize biochemistry and reduce or eliminate mental health symptoms, including anxiety, panic, depression, ADHD, obsessive thoughts, insomnia, poor focus, substance cravings, and more. Join us to explore the connection between the Standard American Diet, gut function, and mental health – and to learn some simple, highly effective interventions that you can implement in your practice immediately.

BIO: Stephanie Small is a licensed clinical social worker and nutritionist. She received her BA from Yale University, her MSW from Smith College for Social Work, and certifications in Holistic Nutrition Education and Mental Health Nutrition from Bauman College and the Alliance for Addiction Solutions. She ran the nutrition program at a substance abuse recovery center in Denver for two years and has trained in trauma therapy, internal parts work, somatic therapies, and more.

She currently maintains a private practice online and in Boulder, CO, writes for national and local publications, consults for mental health agencies and substance abuse recovery centers, and speaks at live and online events. She is the creator of the certification program “Mental Health Nutrition for Therapists: Foundations” (see below), delivered by the Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition (www.addictionutritionacademy.com).

Registration

UPCOMING COURSE: Mental Health Nutrition for Therapists: Foundations

Course Dates: Every Wednesday from Wednesday, April 1 through Wednesday, April 29

Time: 6:00pm – 7.30pm MST

Investment: $575

Location: Online (Zoom)

You’re a conscientious therapist who truly wants the best for your clients. Sometimes, despite your (and their) best attempts, a client remains mired in depression or anxiety, or continues to struggle with insomnia or substance cravings. At that point you suspect a biochemical rather than emotional cause, and refer them to a great psychiatrist who you trust, but you’d really like to have other options. You may not even resonate with the idea of “band-aiding” symptoms with a pill rather than identifying and treating the root cause, but you don’t know what else to do. You’re curious about natural / holistic methods of healing, but your knowledge of these is limited to articles you’ve read here and there on St. John’s Wort or how inflammation is connected to mood. You’re busy and not necessarily a “science person”, so the thought of seeking out and studying this information may never have even crossed your mind.

Until now.

Mental Health Nutrition for Therapists: Foundations is designed for the busy therapist who desires a simple, non-intimidating, and highly effective approach to stabilizing biochemistry using nutrition and supplements. While mental health nutrition can be an infinitely complex topic, this course will cover the ground-level basics. These interventions provide massive bang for your buck and are highly rewarding both to facilitate and observe – while change in therapy can take months or years, someone’s biochemistry can shift dramatically in a matter of minutes. You’ll learn how to embed these interventions in the front end of your work with clients, which can help to quickly resolve many of your clients’ symptoms that are physiological in nature, freeing up therapy time to work on issues that can actually be helped by therapy!

The first hour of each class is dedicated to lecture, while the final 30 minutes will allow for discussion, Q&A, and mini case studies.

CEUs are optional and this course is approved for five CEUs through B.E. Education Group, LLC.

Graduates will receive a Certificate of Completion.

For more information and to register, click here.

Course Curriculum

CLASS 1: Why Mental Health Nutrition?

We’ll explore how the modernization of our culture has led to an increase in mental health problems, with a focus on how the Standard American Diet negatively impacts our food supply and our gut function.

CLASS 2: Digestion Basics

The gut is the gateway to health, and you are what you absorb! Learn about the deep and multifaceted connection between digestive function and mental health. Discover how to assess your clients’ gut function, and learn simple interventions to heal and support the digestive system.

CLASS 3: Problems with Modern Nutrition

Experience a deep dive into how our modern food supply and way of eating contributes to depression, anxiety, insomnia, ADD, autism, bipolar, schizophrenia, and more.

CLASS 4: Nutrition Basics & How to Eat

We’ll sift through all of the conflicting and confusing “nutrition noise” out there, and identify a simple and sustainable “food philosophy” that regulates our biochemistry and makes room for one’s own intuition. We’ll cover the basics like macronutrients, micronutrients, the crucial connection between blood sugar and mood, and how specific nutrient depletion can cause mental health problems.

CLASS 5: Specific Neurotransmitter Support

While healing the gut and eating plenty of real food go a long way towards stabilizing biochemistry, sometimes our clients are so depleted that they require more concentrated nutrition in the form of supplements in order to increase their neurotransmitter production. Did you know that you can do this naturally – no meds needed? Our final class is an introduction to supporting serotonin, GABA, catecholamines and endorphins using supplements only.