Paula has been in the mental health field for 30 years and has been a licensed clinical professional counselor since 2006.  With 20 years as a therapeutic placement specialist and parent coach, she is committed to helping parents make the most well-informed decisions for their families. She works with families with young adults and adolescents and she has had the enormous privilege to help families identify the best treatment options available nationally to address their complex needs and to join families on their healing journeys through outpatient and residential treatment.  She is committed to positively impacting the lives of anyone exploring treatment interventions for themselves or a loved one.

Paula has toured hundreds of residential treatment programs nationally and followed her clients and families through the entire process. Her passionate interests includes healing from trauma, supporting neurodiversity, complex learning differences, and helping parents to adopt the strategies and approaches to help their children thrive into independent adulthood.

We discuss topics including:

• The importance of gathering information about a client
• Exploring different treatment options
• Parent coaching side and how parents can help and not harm 
• How to stay current on treatment centers
• Looking at the big picture of treatment

SHOW NOTES:

• https://www.havenfamilysolutions.com/
• Therapeutic Consulting Association: https://www.therapeuticconsulting.org/
• The Parallel Process, Krissy Pozatek: https://www.parallel-process.com/

Rachelle Heinemann is a speaker, author, eating disorder educator, and psychotherapist. She is the host of the podcast Understanding Disordered Eating. Rachelle is the author of the book “Brave on Purpose,” an interactive book about building confidence. Rachelle is a licensed mental health counselor (NY),  licensed professional counselor (NJ), and certified eating disorder specialist (CEDS) in private practice. Rachelle is part of executive leadership, outgoing treasurer and incoming VP, at IAEDP NY (International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals).

We discuss topics including:

• What does confidence mean to you?
• The complexities of being brave
• The state of being at your “core inner strength”
• How do you bring authenticity into your life?
• Doing something over and over 

SHOW NOTES:

• Brave on Purpose (use code PODCAST)
• Website/Podcast
• instagram.com/rachelleheinemann
  

Janelle Smith, MS, RDN, CSDH, CEDS is a registered dietitian nutritionist who is a Certified Specialist in Digestive Health and a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist. She works outpatient with UCLA Division of Digestive Diseases to treat disordered eating patterns in patients with chronic health conditions and also has a private practice Janelle Smith Nutrition. She is co-founder of the EDGI Training Project whose goal is to train other clinicians to treat these overlapping disorders, and published the textbook Comprehensive Nutrition Therapy for Co-Occurring Gastrointestinal and Eating Disorders, available for purchase at EDGItraining.com 

We discuss topics including:

• What Janelle sees inpatient and outpatient with patients taking GLP1’s
• The pros and cons of GLP1’s with clients
• The multisystemic results of malnutrition
• The downsides of losing muscle mass, bone density and low estrogen levels
• Dehydration and the changes of bone marrow in the body due to calorie and fluid restriction.
• Altered gut brain

SHOW NOTES:

• www.janellesmithnutrition.com
• www.edgitraining.com

Ethan Hansen Pearson, AMFT, is an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist serving clients across Los Angeles and California with a focus on LGBTQ2PIA+ teens, adults, and families. Ethan practices under the supervision of Isabella Laughlin, LMFT, CEDS, ATR-BC at a South Bay-based private practice specializing in eating disorders. His clinical work centers on the intersection of gender identity, body image, and trauma, with particular expertise supporting transgender and gender-expansive clients navigating complex relationships with food, embodiment, and self-compassion.

In addition to his clinical work, Ethan co-founded California Pathways to Practice, a training symposium for early-career clinicians, and has presented on topics involving navigating higher levels of care in clinical practice. His professional mission is to support clients in reclaiming agency, reducing shame, and building lives rooted in authenticity, safety, and embodiment.

We discuss topics including:

• The need to have body image and eating disorder support in the LGBTQ2PIA+ community
• How online apps harm body image the community
• Discovering true identity and being able to live life as you truly are
• Exploring what safety truly looks like
• Help clients build autonomy, confidence and self reliance

SHOW NOTES

• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/ethan-hansen-pearson-redondo-beach-ca/1659593
• https://www.isabellalaughlin.com/ethan
• https://nomoregatekeeping.org

SHOW DESCRIPTION:

Signe Darpinian, LMFT, CEDS, is a public speaker and therapist who specializes in eating disorders and body image across the lifespan. Her books include No Weigh!, Raising Body Positive Teens, and A Woman’s Guide to Menopause, Body Image and Emotional Well-Being at Midlife

We discuss topics including:

• The “menopause goldrush”
• What happens when women’s body change during menopause
• CBT therapy practiced in the menopause space
• Understanding that the body is trying to help us out
• Reeducate what a woman’s body should like as we age
• Exploring what a woman values as this stage of life

SHOW NOTES:

• Website: http://www.signedarpinian.com
• Book: A Woman’s Guide to Menopause, Body Image, and Emotional Well-being at Midlife
• IG: @noweighguide 

Dr. LaNail R. Plummer is a visionary mental health expert, educator, speaker, and author dedicated to redefining how minorities are seen, supported, and healed in clinical spaces. Her book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women (Jan 2026, Norton & Co), is her first of three serving as both a professional resource for educators and mental health providers, and an accessible guide for Black women looking to heal. For Dr. Plummer, the book is more than theory but a response to a gap witnessed in her entire career; the need for healthcare (especially within mental health) that affirms and reflects the real lived experiences of Black women.

Dr. Plummer brings two decades of clinical expertise and lived experience to inform her work. In 2013, she founded Onyx Therapy Group, a mental health organization with a team of 40+ BIPOC counselors and consultants serving Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, with an international footprint in South Africa. Onyx’s work spans across culturally responsive mental health care, consultation for local and government agencies, executive coaching, mentorship, and even prison reform work.

We discuss topics including:

• Black women can have clinicians that understand how to work with black women
• Understanding that we are not all the same as our perspectives are different
• Exploring the stereotypes with black women
• The importance for black women to be seen and heard
• Reviewing the messages that you have been taught about black women
• Countertransference makes every black woman not enjoy the experience of therapy or be willing to give another therapist a chance

SHOW NOTES:

• Website: www.onyxtherapy.com
• Book: The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women
• IG: @Mahoganysunshine
• IG: @onyxtherapygroup

Mallary Tenore Tarpley is an assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches journalism classes in the Moody College of Communication and writing classes at the McCombs School of Business.

Her debut nonfiction book, SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery, which was published by Simon & Schuster’s Simon Element imprint in August 2025, explores the under-discussed complexities of eating disorders and recovery from them. The book is equal parts memoir and journalism, and it weaves together Mallary’s own narrative with perspectives from clinicians, researchers, and others with lived experience.

 In 2023, Mallary received a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the science-related reporting in the book, specifically around the neurobiological and genetic aspects of eating disorders

. Mallary’s articles and personal essays about eating disorders have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine, and Teen Vogue, among other publications

We discuss topics including:

• What it means to live life in the “in between”
• Recovery is impossible but imperfect
• Slips do not have to be failures they can be an opportunity for growth
• Reframe your thinking about “full recovery”
• Being authentic with yourself while being open to experiment with food instead of always sticking with “safe foods”

SHOW NOTES:

• www.mallarytenoretarpley.com
• Book: Slip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery
• IG: www.instagram.com/mallarytenoretarpley

Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS-C, FAED, is the founder and medical director of the Gaudiani Clinic. 

Dr. Gaudiani served as the medical director for a highly specialized inpatient medical stabilization program for adults with anorexia nervosa prior to founding the Gaudiani Clinic in 2016. The Gaudiani Clinic offers specialized, trauma-informed outpatient medical care to individuals seeking support for eating disorders, undernourishment related to complex medical issues, and weight-inclusive primary care. The Clinic is based in Colorado is licensed to practice in almost every US state via telemedicine. 

Dr. Gaudiani has lectured nationally and internationally, has been featured on numerous podcasts, and is widely published in the scientific literature. The second edition of Dr. Gaudiani’s popular book, Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders and Undernutrition was published in November 2025. 

We discuss topics including:

• What led Dr. G to include “undernutrition” in her book?
• Older patients can direct the way that their treatment goes
• The importance of removing physical impediments towards older patients
• Misdiagnosed girls and women with ADHT
• POTS, SIBO, MAST Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
• Neurodiversity
• Other updates to her revised book

SHOW NOTES:

1. www.gaudianiclinic.com
2. instagram.com/gaudianiclinic

Joseph Contorer, MA, LMFT, is a California and Oregon-based psychotherapist and author, with over 30 years of experience. He specializes in helping clients with relationships, mental health challenges, and personal empowerment through a holistic approach. His book, You’ve Been Blocked, The Search for Gay Male Perfection, explores how gay men are often restricted from their true selves during childhood, leading to lifelong “blocking” that impacts their adult lives and relationships. 

We discuss topics including:

• What is “blocking”?
• Understanding “straight normal” and “gay normal”
• Gay children and gay adults will act a certain way due to being blocked
• What is “The M-Ranking”?
• Internalized homophobia

SHOW NOTES:

• www.theblockedbook.com
• https://www.instagram.com/theblockedbook

Dr. Bonnie Zucker specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. She currently has a private practice in Los Angeles and is on the clinical faculty in the Department of Psychology at UCLA. 

Dr. Zucker is passionate about educating the public about anxiety through her podcast “Anxiety Matters”, and her blog on Psychology Today. She is the author of the book Freedom From Panic.

We discuss topics including:

• What is a panic attack?
• Panic disorder can be prevented
• ⅓ of people will experience a panic attack in their lifetime
• Too much body awareness is not a good thing
• How to accept uncertainty and dismantle some of these fears
• You can never escape your body

SHOW NOTES:

• Website: www.bonniezuckerphd.com
• Book: Freedom From Panic
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/bonniezuckerphd
• Podcast: Anxiety Matters