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The Gorilla in the Room

Frustrated with your healing process or emotional connections to food? Check out this take from our Nutritional Therapist: When we really work on the spiritual and emotional side of ourselves, and in turn address what we think and feel around food, making changes to what we eat becomes SO MUCH EASIER.
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3Frustrated with your healing process or emotional connections to food? Check out this take from our Nutritional Therapist, Kristi Brown, NTP.

The Gorilla in The Room

I’ve been ruminating on something for awhile. When we go to the doctor, or really any practitioner we want a prescription or a solution to ‘fix’ us. But, more often than not, it doesn’t work that way anymore, does it? What if we’re looking at healing from the wrong angle? What if healing needs to start in a totally different place?

Let’s talk through two case studies.

Case Study 1

Person A comes in, we talk for a good hour and a half and by the end, she has a short list of action items before our next session. However, as she leaves, she’s uncomfortable. She has always gone through sessions like these and left with a big protocol. (Protocols which left her overwhelmed and stagnant, but still.) In her mind, she really wants the big protocol. That’s how this goes. She asks if she can come back later in the afternoon and at least put together a quick meal plan.  So we do.

Case Study 2

Person B tells me all about the various diets she’s done and her various moods on said diets in the past. She really has no desire to go through that again, but something has to change. She’s pretty clear on her goals and her current limitations of what she can actually do. So, we don’t start with a big elimination challenge, it just doesn’t make sense for her. We start at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Food is Emotional

Food is what we use to buffer, to soothe, to comfort, to celebrate and sometimes to punish. How we sit down to a meal has far less to do with what is on the plate and far more to do with how we feel about sitting down to that meal. Are we eating that meal because we feel we should eat it? Are we giving into a craving and feeling guilty? Are we trying to eat it as fast as we can because we feel we shouldn’t be eating that meal? Do we find ourselves eating an entire bag of chips at the end of the night and not sure even how that happened?

These habits, thoughts and patterns are in-grained in us. They’ve become well-worn roadmaps of comfort for whatever reason, but that is the work. We have to find out why are we eating the way we are. What thoughts are we having about the food we are eating? What do these thoughts tell us about how we perceive our own self-worth? When we start here, everything changes.

With Client A, her typical pattern is to get a big protocol, get overwhelmed and then do nothing. Have you ever found yourself like Client A? I sure have. We all want the big answer on a silver platter, that big protocol sounds like an answer, right? But we need to take a step back and see what is under all that overwhelm first.

With Client B, we started differently. We started talking into her thoughts and habits around food, and also gave her some physiological support she needed to help her body rebalance. Do you know what happened? Her incessant food cravings went away, she started making new choices around what and when she would eat, her joint pain started to diminish and she is consistently losing weight week after week.

Isn’t that crazy? She didn’t do a big protocol or any set ‘solution’!

But isn’t that divine?!?

When we really work on the spiritual and emotional side of ourselves, and in turn address what we think and feel around food, making changes to what we eat becomes SO MUCH EASIER.

This is how we help our body rebalance and heal.

The small stuff IS the BIG stuff.

To your food JOY,
Kristi Perry Brown, NTP

Nutritional Therapist at Nourish Your Mind, LLC

You can check out Kristi’s original post here.

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BIO

Cameryn (Cam) received her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marist College. Prior to joining Nourish Your Mind, she worked in private practice, primarily serving children, teens, and their families. During this time, she developed a passion for helping clients navigate their unique challenges through the transformative power of play and expressive arts therapy. Cam believes that every individual deserves a safe, nurturing space where they can authentically express themselves. She is dedicated to empowering her clients by identifying and utilizing their inherent strengths to help them achieve their personal goals.

In her therapeutic approach, Cam integrates a holistic wellness model with strengths- and mindfulness-based methods. She employs a variety of evidence-based techniques, including DBT and Nondirective Play Therapy, and she recognizes the importance of tailoring interventions to meet the specific needs of each individual and family.

When she’s not in the office, Cam enjoys reading, traveling, weight-lifting, and immersing herself in music and films. She also values spending quality time with friends, family, and her cats.

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor
  • Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling, Marist College
  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, SUNY Geneseo
  • Member of the American Counseling Association (ACA)
  • Middletown Office
BIO

Brianna earned her Bachelor of Social Work degree from Siena College and her Master of Social Work degree from Adelphi University. Throughout her education and early career, she worked with at-risk adolescents experiencing trauma and maladaptive coping as both a clinician and crisis interventionist. She later spent several years in emergency services, specializing in trauma-informed care for adolescents and adults. Brianna has extensive experience working with individuals struggling with trauma, anxiety, depression, mood dysregulation, self-esteem, and relationship challenges.

Brianna takes a strength-based, integrative approach to therapy, empowering clients to discover their own path toward healing and self-acceptance. She believes that while we cannot change the past, we can change our relationship with it. She is passionate about helping clients develop effective coping skills, reconnect with their inner resilience, and build lives that extend beyond surviving trauma.

Brianna believes healing is not only a journey of the mind, but a whole-body experience. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) and thoughtfully incorporates mind-body practices into therapy to support nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and emotional awareness. She is also certified in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), an evidence-based trauma treatment that helps clients process distressing experiences, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), offering a holistic approach for individuals seeking deeper healing from trauma, depression, anxiety, and other emotional challenges. By integrating traditional psychotherapy with somatic approaches and specialized trauma treatments, Brianna helps clients create lasting, meaningful change.

Above all, Brianna is dedicated to creating a safe, compassionate, and authentic therapeutic environment where clients feel seen, supported, and empowered to reconnect with their truest selves.

Brianna resides in Orange County with her two rescue huskies. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, spending time in nature, painting, practicing yoga, and cooking while surrounded by music, friends, and family.

  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker, State of New York
  • Master’s of Social Work, Adelphi University
  • Master’s of Social Work, Adelphi University RYT-200
  • Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Certified, Journey Clinical
  • Accelerated Resolution Therapy Trained, Rosenzweig Center for Rapid Recovery
  • Middletown Office
BIO

Ashley received her Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from SUNY New Paltz. While attending her graduate program, Ashley worked as a supervisor at a Crisis Intervention Program and interned at an Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, gaining valuable skills in crisis management and group therapy. Before joining Nourish Counseling, she spent several years working in a long-term outpatient care clinic specializing in children, adolescents and their families. Ashley has expertise in partnering with those suffering from depression, anxiety, trauma, family conflict, and personality disorders.

Ashley believes that each client is their own expert. She provides an integrative approach that focuses on both the thoughts and behaviors her clients may be struggling with in order to help them find balance and build resiliency. She works with clients in a person-centered and skill building approach to help determine and reach their own individual goals. Following a Dialectical Behavioral and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approach, she encourages and supports clients to reach their full potential.

Ashley lives in Middletown, NY with her husband and a very loved dog. She enjoys family time, cooking, and trying new things whenever possible.

  • American Counseling Association
  • Middletown Office
BIO

Amanda is a Certified Clinicial Trauma Professional with a deep commitment to guiding clients through their healing and discovery. She believes that you are the expert of your own life, and she is dedicated to building a safe, collaborative space where you feel both validated and motivated for change. 

Amanda specializes in treating those with Complex Trauma, Grief and Loss, Anxiety and Depression, Chronic Illness, Infertility, Infant/Pregnancy Loss, Women’s Health and Neurodivergent Disorders. She works with individuals aged 5 and up. 

Amanda’s unique, holistic approach to psychothreapy is rooted in evidence-based practices and tailored to fit your specific clinical needs. She seamlessly integrates practices like mindfulness and meditation with powerful theraputic modalities, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, and Internal Family Systems Therapy. 

After gaining experience in Baltimore – including intensive work in Residential Foster Care and as a Medical Social Worker – Amanda has been settled back in her home, the Hudson Valley. She enjoys cooking, reading and spending time with her husband and two young daughters. She has journeyed with cleints for nearly 5 years at Nourish and is now ready to partner with you!

  • Cornwall Office
  • Middletown Office