Mental Note

Middle school teacher and content creator Jay Salazar joins for a candid conversation about living with ADHD, anxiety, and eating disorders — and what changed after receiving a late ADHD diagnosis in adulthood. Jay opens up about growing up with rigid, all-or-nothing thinking, relying on spite as motivation, and struggling silently with disordered eating, body image, and overstimulation. Together,...

What does eating disorder recovery really look like? And why is it so often misunderstood? In this episode we sit down with Juju Parzyck, body image coach and the creator behind @fitfatandallthat on Instagram, to explore the realities of non-linear recovery and body image healing.   Juju shares how her eating disorder began as a coping mechanism during adolescence, how therapy and working with a r...

What does it really mean to support a partner with an eating disorder? Does it require becoming the food police? What about the caregiver's needs? Psychologist and author, Dr. Dana Harron sits down with us to examine the unique challenges faced by partners and spouses when caring for someone through eating disorder recovery. Drawing from her practical book, Loving Someone with an Eating Disorder,...

In this episode of Mental Note Podcast, Ellie Pike sits down with Harper Reed—eating disorder survivor and recovery coach—for an honest conversation about eating disorder recovery, grief, anxiety, and what it really takes to rebuild your life after feeling stuck. Harper shares how years of cycling in and out of treatment eventually gave way to a powerful mindset shift: realizing she had to build a...

Is exercise really as good as antidepressants—or is that headline missing the bigger picture? In this episode of Mental Note, we sit down with registered dietitian and eating disorder specialist Adee Levinstein to unpack the complex relationship between exercise and mental health. Together, we explore why one-size-fits-all fitness advice—like the 10,000 steps myth—often falls short, how diet cultu...

Say It Brave On Campus, Episode 3 What if eating disorders aren't simply individual illnesses, but rational responses to disordered systems? In the third and final episode of our college-focused miniseries, Shannon Kopp speaks with Sophie Szew - mental health justice advocate, master's student at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and Forbes' 30 under 30 honoree - about how her lived exper...

Say It Brave On Campus, Episode 2 In part two of our mini-series, Shannon Kopp sits down with neuroscientist and data analyst, Sam Funderburk, to talk about high-functioning depression, male mental health stigma, and the quiet pressure to keep pushing toward the next milestone.  Sam shares his experience with anxiety, depression, and suicidality during college and graduate school — including how g...

Say It Brave On Campus, Episode 1 We chose to honor this year's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week by trying something new - our first ever mini-series. The topic? Real stories from the intersection of college life, mental health, and eating disorders. So, for the next few days you'll see three back-to-back episodes appear in your feeds, each taking a different angle on these pivotal years....

If you've ever stared at a simple task and felt an unexplainable, heavy resistance… you are definitely not alone - and you are not broken! With the help of psychologist and clinical director Leslee Marcom, we'll unpack the topic of executive functioning and why struggles with organization, time management, procrastination, and task initiation are not signs of laziness or lack of motivation. Our co...

For most of her life, science teacher and meteorologist Crystal Weidman was labeled a "picky eater." While friends and family fixated on her unique food rules, they completely missed the clues that something more serious was to blame.  In this episode Crystal shares her story of navigating ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) along with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).  This conve...

In this episode of the Mental Note Podcast, psychiatrist Dr. Alyssa Lucker unpacks the complicated relationship between social media and mental health - especially for teens and young adults.   We explore the challenges of researching social media effects, how it influences the developing brain, and where responsibility lies between parents and platforms. Dr. Lucker also highlights potential benef...

Depression doesn't always look like staying in bed or losing motivation. For high-achieving people, it often hides behind packed schedules, perfectionism, and quiet exhaustion. In this episode, therapist Jenny Jacobsen unpacks how depression shows up differently in top performers, the overlap between burnout, boredom, anxiety, and depression, and the early warning signs you need to know. She also...

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. ...

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 connect...

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 recovery. With honesty and hope, she r...

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,...

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 obstac...

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...

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 convers...

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...

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 jou...

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 reducti...

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 substanc...

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...

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 fascinati...