Live webinar air date: May 21, 2025
Date
CE credits
2
Exam items
14
Description
Nutrition plays a key role in emotional regulation and well-being. Ongoing advances in nutritional science underscore the “gut-brain” relationship and highlight the critical role of dietary considerations in psychological processes. This workshop explores the “food-mood” relationship and outlines the specific nutrients the brain requires to function optimally, and what happens in the brain and behavior when these nutrients are missing. Clinical case examples illustrate the substantial change that can quickly occur in response to nutritional interventions. As long-standing components of functional medicine, nutritional considerations can enhance psychotherapeutic practices and outcomes, making them highly impactful interventions to integrate into clinical practice. Informative, practical, and powerful interventions are detailed and illustrated in support of therapists who want to extend their therapeutic practices and enhance their clinical outcomes.
The presenter for this webinar, Christina Vesalak, MS, will also be presenting a 3-day conferenceopens in new window in Columbus, Ohio, April 30–May 2 on the powerful role that nutrition plays in addiction treatment and recovery.
Learning objectives
- Describe the relationship between nutrition and emotional well-being.
- Discuss important nutritional screenings that could add value to your intake or assessments.
- Identify at least three specific nutritional interventions that might target emotional issues.
Presenter
Christina Veselak, MS
Veselak graduated from San Francisco State University in 1983 with an MS in counseling psychology. She has been licensed since 1985, and has worked primarily in private practice with a wide range of clients, including those struggling with addiction and their families. After training in Western herbal medicine and then nutrition, she became a certified nutritionist in 1993 through the American Health Science University and began to fully integrate mental health nutrition into her practice. In 2015, Veselak started the Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition, and in 2022, she also founded a non-profit organization, Eating Protein Saves Lives, Inc.
