If you're not asking your clients what's on their plate, you're missing essential information that could hold the key to their progress.
Their food choices are affecting how they feel day-to-day, impacting their motivation to make changes...
...and are likely also contributing to the mental health issues that brought them to you in the first place.
The low mood, anxiety, and poor concentration — the irritability, insomnia, inattention, and hyperactivity... Your interventions for these symptoms and more fall flat when you don't consider the fuel your clients are feeding their brains.
It's vital that you gain expertise in the use of food as medicine to help the clients in your practice meet their mental health goals.
That's why we've created this engaging, intensive course bringing you the latest information on how to harness the power of nutrition to improve your client outcomes.
Best of all, when you complete this comprehensive course, you'll be eligible to become a Certified Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist — CMNCS* (a $199.99 value — yours FREE!) *Professional standards apply. Learn more at www.evergreencertifications.com/CMNCS.
REGISTER TODAY to provide the whole-person care you've always wanted!
Food as Medicine:
Certification Course for Mental Health ProfessionalsClick here for Credit details
The term "nutritional psychology" may be relatively new...
...but the idea that what we eat affects how we feel is old wisdom.
When you register for this practice-changing course, you'll get:- Unlimited, on-demand access to course materials — including a comprehensive manual, videos, case examples, and exercises to use during the learning program and beyond!
- Up to 18.25 CE hours
- Eligibility to become a Certified Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist* — we'll cover your fees! (a $199.99 value)
- The confidence you need to safely and ethically facilitate whole healing for your clients — all within your scope of practice
The Body as Power Source
- The 4 main body-based sources of energy
- What you need to know about the messenger system between the body and brain
- How the skeletal and nervous systems interact
- Impact of cortisol dysregulation on mood
- Poor glucose regulation can present as or contribute to neuropsychiatric symptoms
- Why routines of diet, sleep, breathing, and exercise are so important to mental health
- The physiology of breathing and anxiety tolerance
- Polyvagal theory and the trauma response
Keys to Understanding the Digestive System
- Your client's unique microbiome and where it comes from
- The balance of healthy and unhealthy gut bacteria
- Interactions with diet, medication, and the environment
- Probiotics and prebiotics
- Nutritional and lifestyle strategies to reduce inflammation and its effects
- Running on empty or an overfull tank — adrenal fatigue, dysregulation, and the HPA axis
Help Clients Build Health
- What is a healthy meal?
- The 10 food groups for stabilizing mental health
- Meal composition and timing determine whether clients respond or react to stress
- Protein, carbohydrates, and fats — the building blocks of nutrition
- Diverse consumption of vegetables to support the gut biome and nervous system
- The true impact of processed food on mental health
- "Fake" foods that might influence behavior
- Sugar, artificial sweeteners, and mental health
- High-quality meals for anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD
- Food to manage acute and chronic emotional dysregulation
- Snacks, meals, and treats to regulate mood, foster energy, and create mental clarity
- Organic or not organic — is it worth the price?
- Food insecurity, food quality, and how to put an affordable meal together
- When to choose an elimination diet
- Potential risks and benefits of gluten-free, paleo, keto, and more
- Rotation diet and intermittent fasting
- Herbs and vitamins to improve mental health
How to Get the Information You Need
- Important body-based questions to ask with dysregulated clients
- Pros and cons of the 24-hour food recall
- Best practices for gathering and using a 3-day food diary
- Well-validated tools to measure depression, anxiety, fatigue, and more
- How therapists can use the review of medical symptoms
- Steps to evaluating a food label and why it matters
- Functional testing nuts and bolts
Apply the Science of the Mind-Body Connection
- The link between neurotransmitters and emotions
- How nutrient deficiencies lead to neurotransmitter dysfunction
- The role of inflammation and serotonin in autism, addiction, and more
- Dopamine and dysbiosis — impact on mood
- Norepinephrine, blood sugar dysregulation, anxiety, and PTSD
- Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and oxidative stress
- Endocrine imbalances and psychiatric manifestations
- How psychosocial interventions may help improve immune biomarkers
- The gut as the second brain — basic understanding of the digestive system
- Mindful eating practices to aid digestion and absorption
- Impact of stress on the gut-brain axis
- Dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability in severe mental health conditions
- Enhance vagal tone through natural interventions to reduce digestive disorders
How to Create a Healthy Lifestyle Plan for Your Client
- Understand and harness the power of physiological rhythms
- Stress, depression, and more symptoms of rhythm dysregulation
- How the timing of meals matters
- Dietary-related mental health symptoms
- Why exposure therapy for PTSD might be more effective in the morning
- Deficiencies and excesses — anxiety and depression
- Supplements for use in the treatment of bipolar disorders
- Spotlight on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Nutritional and herbal supplements in the treatment of OCD
- Potential nutritional contributors to ADHD and what to do about them
- Cortisol, thyroid hormones, and PMS/PMDD
- Rituals and lifestyle interventions for restoring circadian rhythms
- Creating a healthy connection with self — promote rest and recovery
- How to overcome negative self-worth that is an obstacle to new behaviors
- Motivational Interviewing to resolve ambivalence about healthy habit change
- Co-regulation and social support networks
- Adding novel stimuli to enhance neurogenesis and cognitive flexibility
Ethically, Safely, and Legally Use Nutritional Psychology
- The importance of your client's regular medical care
- Address clients' desire to stay on or stop medications
- Nutritional therapies, culinary medicine, and more — who can practice, who needs to refer
- How to build an integrative care team
- Best practices for collaborating with other professionals
- What is functional medicine?
- Developing a niche practice as a certified specialist
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Certification Course for Mental Health Professionals
Click here for Credit details
Kristen Allott, ND, LAc, is a naturopathic physician, international speaker, and author. For over twenty years, she has been known as a pioneering advocate for the use of whole foods nutrition for improving energy, mental clarity, and decision-making. In her seminars, people learn how to support their brains and body by treating the physiological and hormonal causes of mental health and addictions. Being passionate about achievable results, she provides resources to support clients and providers. She regularly provides full-day seminars to mental health professionals, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and the Washington State Courts. In 2021, New Harbinger Publishing released her new workbook, Fuel Your Brain, Not Your Anxiety: Stop the Cycle of Worry, Fatigue, and Sugar Cravings with Simple Protein-Rich Foods.
Click here for information about Kristen Allott.Vanessa Ruiz, ND, RN-BSN, is a naturopathic physician and registered nurse. After experiencing health issues stemming from burnout as a nurse, she began studying integrative ways to help herself heal. Her interest in integrative health led her to become a naturopathic physician with a focus on mental health, trauma, and complex PTSD. She earned her Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine at Sonoran University of Health Sciences in Tempe, AZ. She has been featured in the documentary A Created Life: A Journey to Empowerment and Shoutout Arizona for her ground-breaking work in mental health. She is a public speaker on the topic of functional medicine and mental health, teaching behavioral health professionals nationally and internationally. In addition to her clinical practice, she is the founder of Nurses for Natural Health, an organization dedicated to empowering and educating nurses about natural health and burnout recovery.
Click here for information about Vanessa Ruiz.Vicki Steine, DSc, LCSW, BCHN, IFNCP, has been a social worker for more than 25 years, working in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and works with children and adults with ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD, Tourettes' syndrome, addiction, and trauma in her private practice in the Atlanta area. Dr. Steine received her Master's in Social Work from the University of Georgia and her Doctorate of Science in Holistic Nutrition from Hawthorn University. She is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition through the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, a Nutrition Certified Practitioner through the Integrated and Functional Nutrition Academy, and a member of the National Association of Social Workers. Dr. Steine enjoys combining her skills as a social worker and nutrition educator to help her clients who struggle with staying organized, keeping focused at work or school, and overcoming the anxiety and depression that often prevent them from fully living their lives. She integrates nutrition, mind-body exercises, and traditional psychotherapy methods, like Cognitive Behavior Therapy, to help her clients live optimally. She has spoken at many conferences and delivered workshops providing education to professionals and lay people alike on the benefits of nutrition and improving mental health. Dr. Steine has had personal success using a holistic approach, including nutrition and supplements, to recover from a near-death boating accident and an episode of debilitating depression.
Click here for information about Vicki Steine.Certification Course for Mental Health Professionals
Click here for Credit details
In just three easy steps, you will become a Certified Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist (CMNCS)*:
Step 1: View the entire course — at your convenience!Step 2: Complete the CE tests and instantly print your CE certificates.
Step 3: Submit your application to Evergreen Certifications and we'll cover the cost of your certification fee for 2 years ($199.99 value!)
*Professional standards apply. Learn more at www.evergreencertifications.com/CMNCS.
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Certification Course for Mental Health Professionals
Click here for Credit details
We’re that confident you'll find this learning experience to be all that's promised and more than you expected.