Did you know that Wednesday of this week was Registered Dietitians Day? I wanted to take time to acknowledge our wonderful team of dietitians at Chrysalis because every day feels like RD day to us; quite literally, we could not do our jobs without them!

All professional practice guidelines for eating disorder treatment state that a multidisciplinary team approach, which includes nutritional care with a registered dietitian, is the gold standard. In addition, the Joint Commission actually requires any organization that is accredited for the treatment of eating disorders (which Chrysalis is) to provide nutritional assessment and “nutritional rehabilitation” to their patients. Furthermore, all disciplines within the field of mental health (psychology, social work, and professional counseling) have a portion of their ethics code that addresses scope of practice. This means that any therapist who treats eating disorders (or other medical conditions requiring nutritional counseling) has to be referring to and collaborating with a registered dietitian in order to be complying with their ethics. Simply put, mental health clinicians are not allowed to treat what we aren’t trained in!

While all our dietitians are extremely competent in treating eating disorders, they each have unique specialties they offer to diversify the nutrition services we can offer at Chrysalis. Chaundra Evans, RD, LDN, CEDRD-S is also an expert in the care of bariatric surgery patients and is certified in adult weight management. She offers a compassionate, non-diet approach to those with binge eating disorder, emotional eating, and medical conditions due to obesity. Chaundra is an outstanding public speaker who has presented locally, regionally, and nationally on topics related to eating disorder treatment and bariatrics.

Terri Mozingo, RD, LDN, CEDRD is the Director of Nutrition for our Intensive Outpatient Program, chosen for this role because of her wealth of experience treating eating disorders at higher levels of care, including inpatient settings. She is especially passionate about working with patients with complex medical issues given her background in hospital-based nutrition. Terri is also an expert in pediatric nutrition, treating children and adolescents with a wide variety of presenting concerns and is certified in child and adolescent weight management. She provides education to kids and their parents to offer a non-diet, shame-free approach to treating pediatric obesity.

Sarah Voegtle, RD, LDN, CSSD rounds out our team with expertise in sports nutrition and food allergies, holding specialized certifications in both areas. Sarah has extensive knowledge and is passionate about offering nutritional counseling and eating disorder treatment to military service members and their loved ones, having previously worked on Camp Lejeune with this population. She is also an integral member of our Intensive Outpatient team, providing nutrition groups and meal groups in that program.

It is often a misconception that a client has to be in therapy at Chrysalis to see one of our dietitians. All three of our team members accept outside referrals and gladly collaborate with any referring party, whether it be a mental health clinician or a medical provider. In addition, to participate in our IOP, a patient does not have to see one of our dietitians individually; our nutrition director will communicate with any outpatient dietitian to ensure that a participant’s meal plan is being met.

Chrysalis Center’s mission is to offer expert level, integrative, evidence-based treatment to all of our clients. Hopefully after reading this, you see why our dynamic group of RDs is crucial to the success of our program and to healthy outcomes for our clients. Thanks Chaundra, Terri, and Sarah for all you do! Learn more about our dietitians here.

 

Kelly Broadwater, LPA, LPC, CEDS-S is the founder and executive director of Chrysalis Center. A certified eating disorders specialist, she has had the privilege of working side by side with registered dietitians her entire career.