Integrative Metabolic Health and Mental Health
Our Approach
Unprecedented Person-Centered Outpatient Care With a Holistic Evidence-Based Psychiatry and Nutritional Ketogenic Approach.
The Metabolic Psychiatry program is dedicated to empowering clients to reclaim their voice and autonomy. Reading
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Our approach in the Metabolic Psychiatry program is client-centered and collaborative. We believe clients have the power to guide their own wellness journey and make changes to your path. This commitment is rooted in core values of empowerment and the belief that a strong therapeutic relationship is the cornerstone of healing. Research supports this, showing that the most effective outcomes happen when the client are in control of their treatment. This empowerment is key to helping clients blossom into more, reclaiming their voice and rebuilding their life intentionally.
Our Team
We are incredibly fortunate to support clients with a Psychiatry and Registered Dietician team of thoughtful and committed clinicians dedicated to helping clients rediscover and ELEVATE their own trajectory.
Dr. Joanna Buck
Board Certified Psychiatrist, supporting metabolic psychiatry and medication management, focusing on appropriate courses of action for each patient.
Katelin Maidment
Registered Dietician supporting clients with ketogenic therapies, helping clients improve both their physical and mental health by addressing diet, nutrition, and lifestyle.
Individuals we help
Our multi-disciplinary team are committed in working with:
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Challenges with mood and emotional wellness, such as periods of depression, anxiety, or bipolar diagnosis.
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Navigating challenges with self-identity and relationships, sometimes associated with personality disorders.
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Experiences with substance use or other challenging patterns that can impact wellness.
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For those seeking a different path to wellness, who value staying connected to their community and natural supports while on their healing journey.
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Experiences of psychosis, including those that may be part of a diagnosis like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
Practices we use
We believe in learning from the source. The team is trained directly with the originators of leading therapeutic models, ensuring fidelity to evidence-based care.
While the team use many collaborative therapies, the primarily focus is following key powerful treatment styles, which are used not only as tools for promoting change in clients, but also as a productive treatment path for a given client.
What this means is: we view each client as a unique individual with their own needs, we don’t believe any client fits within a cookie-cutter treatment “track” or “protocol.” A client’s treatment path is completely personalized and always evolving.
Ketogenic Therapies
Metabolic Psychiatry explores the critical link between metabolic and mental health. Grounded in advancing research into the metabolic drivers of mental health, Lighthouse Clinic (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) explores metabolic and mitochondria functions as root causes of certain brain disorders. This field employs metabolic therapies to support alleviation of symptoms related to depression, anxiety, and other mental health areas of focus. Our work focuses on how dietary interventions—such as reducing sugar, ultra-processed foods, and carbohydrates—can support mental wellbeing and brain health. We also explore new metabolic treatments for mental well being, by addressing its interconnected metabolic and psychiatric dimensions.
Q&A
Q: What is the core idea behind Metabolic Psychiatry?
A: The core idea is that many mental health disorders are not just "chemical imbalances" in the traditional sense, but can be symptoms of underlying metabolic dysfunction. We believe that by healing the body's metabolic systems—addressing issues like insulin resistance and chronic inflammation—we can directly improve brain function and mental well-being.
Q: How can a change in diet help with something like depression or anxiety?
A: The brain is an incredibly metabolically active organ. When we consume high levels of sugar and processed foods, it can lead to inflammation and disrupt insulin signaling, not just in the body but also in the brain. This can impair energy production and neurotransmitter function, contributing to symptoms of depression and anxiety. By providing the brain with stable, high-quality fuel and reducing dietary triggers of inflammation, we can create a biochemical environment that is more conducive to mental stability and resilience.
Q: What do you mean by "malnutrition in obesity"? How can someone be overweight and malnourished?
A: This is a critical paradox we address. It refers to a state of being over-fed in calories but under-nourished in essential micronutrients. A diet high in ultra-processed foods provides excessive energy (calories) but is devoid of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants the body and brain need to function correctly. This leads to a form of starvation at a cellular level, which directly drives metabolic dysfunction and can worsen mental health outcomes.
Q: What kind of metabolic therapies do we use?
A: Our primary focus is on evidence-based nutritional interventions. This isn't just about "eating healthy." It involves structured dietary approaches that are tailored to the individual, often focusing on stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammatory foods, and ensuring proper nutrient density. The goal is to use food as a targeted tool to correct the specific metabolic issues that are influencing a person's mental health.
Q: Why is it important to treat metabolic and mental health together?
A: The two are inseparable. Poor metabolic health (e.g., pre-diabetes, obesity) increases the risk for mental illness, and poor mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety) makes it incredibly difficult to maintain healthy metabolic habits. It's a vicious cycle. By treating them together in an integrated model, we can break this cycle more effectively than by addressing each in isolation. Improving metabolic health can lift the biological burden on the brain, making other mental health treatments more effective.
Recent Research
The research here is educational in nature. This is not medical advice. Please consult your medical physician for medical advice.
METABOLIC PSYCHIATRY PRACTICES
Harvard McLean Hospital: Metabolic Psychiatry Program: Building on Decades of Research: Advancing Mental Health Through Metabolic Science
Stanford Medicine: Metabolic Psychiatry Clinic
ADVANCING RESEARCH
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Metabolic Mind | Baszucki Group - Supports resources, research and education on the metabolic psychiatry, ketogenic therapies and mental well-being
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Resources exploring research and data related to ketogenic therapy impact on mental well being:
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Brain Energy by Dr. Chris Palmer, MD
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Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind by Dr. Georgia Ede, MD
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The Migraine Diet: A Ketogenic Meal Plan for Headache Relief by Denise Potter, RDN
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Anyway You Can - A Beginner's Guide to Ketones for Life by Dr. Annette Bosworth
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