Mental Note

Should I Say This in Therapy?

Have you ever wondered what your therapist can and can’t share outside the therapy room? Or when therapy confidentiality laws require them to break that trust?  

In this collaborative episode, Ellie Pike joins clinicians Maria Ortiz and Dr. Zoe Ross-Nash from the ‘On the Mic with ED’ podcast to unpack the often-misunderstood boundaries of confidentiality in therapy. 

Topics Covered:

• What informed ...

Intermittent fasting is everywhere—from influencer feeds to doctor’s offices—but is this trending approach to eating really the wellness cure-all it claims to be? In this episode of Mental Note, registered dietitian Jennifer Vittitow joins host Ellie Pike to explore the hidden downsides of intermittent fasting, including its impact on mental health, disordered eating behaviors, and social connection. Together, they unpack the scien...

A dangerous secret lurked behind author Lara Jacobs’ ambition: she relied on anorexia to focus her writing, blurring the line between artistic drive and self-destruction. 

In this episode, Lara shares how years of chasing a story across continents ultimately led her to eating disorder treatment and to rediscovering herself—both as a writer and as a person in re...

Supporting a loved one through eating disorder recovery can feel overwhelming—but you don’t have to do it alone. In this special Q&A episode, we sit down with experienced parents Beth Ayn Stansfield and Amy Oberholtzer, who have navigated this journey with their own children and turned their experiences into advocacy. Beth Ayn, now the National Family Advocate for Eating Recovery Center, and Amy, founder of the nonprofit CATCH, sha...

In a world where mental health care is often seen as one-size-fits-all, Akiera Gilbert is on a mission to break down barriers and open the doors of eating disorder treatment to those often left behind.

As the CEO of Project Heal, Akiera leads an organization dedicated to transforming the system while offering immediate, life-saving support to those who face financial, cultural, and systemic obstacles to ...

As an eating disorder survivor turned eating disorder therapist, Carly Compton strives to be the person that she wishes she would have known when she was younger. 

That conviction led her on a rewarding journey to become a therapist, model, host of the Recover with Carly Podcast, and creator of an eating disorder curriculum for adolescents. In all these endeavors, Carly focuses on partnering with individuals to give up dieting, rec...

From Chaos to Creativity:

Storyteller and artist Landon Bryant explores his journey from struggling with life’s basic challenges to finding success and support after an adult ADHD diagnosis. Landon shares how he navigated the difficulties of his condition, including years of trial and error with medications and strategies, and how he ultimately embraced the creative potential of ADHD. This conversation s...

GLP-1 weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, have exploded in popularity due to their weight-loss potential. But what do they actually do? How do they function? And why are they the subject of so much controversy?

With insight from Dr. Elizabeth Wassenaar, Regional Medical Director for the Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center, this episode will empower you to make an educated decision when it comes to ...

Growing up, Vik Chopra was not the kid most people assumed would end up serving a sentence in Federal prison. A student leader with straight A’s and numerous volunteer hours, Vik secretly hid pain and shame beneath a shiny outward persona - with disastrous consequences. 

Now a filmmaker, actor, and writer who has embraced his queer and South Asian identities, Vik takes us on a transformational journey through addiction, incarcerati...

Welcome to part two of our Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Discussion with Leah Young where we focus on the proactive steps you can take to find recovery from a SUD.

Today’s episode is all about what to do once you realize you have a problem with substances or addictive behaviors. We’ll discuss topics like:

• Different strategies for ending destructive behaviors spanning from abstinence to harm reduction
• How to develop boundaries t...

In our next two episodes, we will explore a disorder affecting nearly one in five Americans - Substance Use Disorder (SUD). From knowing when your patterns are problematic, to building new neural pathways, to measuring success - we want to dig deep. And we’ve got the incredible expertise of Leah Young to show us why there’s so much reason for hope when dealing with addictive behaviors and substances.

You can think of today’s podcas...

Close relationships set the tone for how we experience love and security. Yet, keeping those relationships healthy is rarely easy. Fortunately, Attachment Theory researchers have spent decades scrutinizing why we connect the way we do and what actions help make friendships, partnerships, and family bonds flourish.

For therapist, mama, and author Eli Harwood - aka Attachment Nerd - her journey into understanding attachment patterns ...

Today, we investigate Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) - a diagnosis that can be as confusing as its name suggests…

But fear not! We are lucky to have Dr. Michelle Jones as our guide. As a clinical psychologist who studied ARFID since it first became a diagnosis, she's uniquely qualified to distill years of research into succinct explanations. Together, we unpack all the fascinating ways ARFID affects our relations...

One chilly Maine morning, enveloped in a snowed-in cabin, musician DW sat at a piano recording a melody that had just popped into his brain. As he played, the phrase “I deserve to be well” tumbled out of his mouth in song. 

He immediately broke down in tears asking, “Wow, do I really believe this?”

That question, and the ensuing album he created with his band The Collection, fueled an artistic journey to make sense of depression, t...

The end of the calendar year packs a lot into a short amount of time and it can be easy to deprioritize your mental health in all that noise. One of the best ways to refocus on your values is to remember the ways you’ve grown this past year. 

So to honor the journey of 2023, we created an audio mural using six short stories from listeners and past guests. Storyt...

Today’s episode is all about giving you an incredibly practical tool for navigating emotion-focused conversations anywhere and with anyone. To do that, we’ve invited Dr. Allison Chase to walk us through Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT for short).

Mostly, we will focus on Emotion Coaching - a skill that creates shortcuts between two very different parts of the brain. The results are powerful and can help you and your loved one...

Have you ever been told that you’re too emotional? Or felt the need to hide your heart in order to be accepted and productive? Community builder and writer Nōn Wels can relate.

As a sensitive kid growing up in an environment that didn’t always feel safe, Nōn learned to guard his heart so that nobody could find their way in. This led to a lot of pain and struggle: substance abuse, an eating disorder, self-harm, suicidal ideation, an...

Have you ever wondered why our culture treats fat and fat bodies with such vehement scorn? What about the experiences of people who are fat? What does it mean to exist in a thin-obsessed society? 

With humor, personal stories, and research Aubrey Gordon & Kara Richardson Whitely - two fat authors and storytellers - explain how the world works differently for people depending on their size. Along the way, we talk about the unintende...

Have you ever noticed that you simply notice more? Therapist, author, consultant, and Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) April Snow wants you to know that you are not alone.

In fact, the genetic trait responsible for Sensory Processing Sensitivity - aka what makes HSPs more attuned to the world around them - is present in 20% of individuals, regardless of gender. It can be both a superpower and an Achilles heel. And that’s why we are so...