S4 Ep86: When does my child need a mental health day?

After a lot of thought and with a heavy heart, the podcast chapter of the Full Bloom Project is coming to an end. I have learned so much through the creation of the podcast and from our guests and I hope that you have as well. Thank you all for supporting us in the search for a more inclusive next generation. This is not the end of the Full Bloom Project and we hope that you stay in touch with us as we embark on the next chapter. Please consider supporting us on Patreon, Patreon.com/fullbloomproject, and follow us on Instagram @fullbloomproject.

There is no health without mental health, and yet we don’t often think to take our kids (or ourselves!) for mental health check-ups. Pediatric mental health struggles are often overlooked, misunderstood, and stigmatized, but Dr. Helen Eggers is changing that with a new Teletherapy platform for kids and families.  Read the full show notes for this episode here.

Dedicated body-positive affinity spaces for youth are hard to come by, but we can and should change that. Hillary Kinavey and Dana Sturtevant of Be Nourished join for a conversation about how to apply their Body Trust model to heal ourselves and build a body-compassionate and weight-inclusive world for our children. Read the full show notes for this episode here.

Body-positive adolescent medicine physician, Shelly Aggarwal, joins for a conversation about the nuances of weight-inclusive healthcare during the tween and teen years.   Read the full show notes for this episode here.

We've talked about the well-meaning, yet potentially harmful messages kids hear about food, nutrition, and health in schools...but can we offer more than complaints and concerns? If we're lucky enough to have (or be!) teachers and school administrators who are receptive to making changes, where can we send them for practical, impactful guidance? One place is @Dietitians4teachers, the instagram account run by registered dietitian, Gwen Kostal. Tune in for tons of actionable strategies, compassionate guidance, and an innovation session where Gwen and Zoë noodle over how we can best help school professionals embrace protective, food neutral, food literacy frameworks.  Read the full show notes for this episode here.

Have you ever wondered how your unconscious bias works? Or how we can move away from a culture infected by stigma and towards one dominated by genuine inclusion? Jessica Nordell, author of the book The End of Bias: A Beginning: The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias, is here to offer practical, science based, guidance to help us make meaningful change...and help others do the same. Read the full show notes for this episode here.

Weight-based bullying is brutal and, unfortunately,  pretty common. Despite our best body-positive efforts to protect our kids, young victims still sustain emotional and psychological wounds that can have traumatic, life-long effects. But… there’s hope. New treatment to help bullied youth has emerged and Dr. Janet Lydecker, of Yale’s Teen POWER program, joins for a conversation about the path towards healing…and how parents can help.  Read the full show notes for this episode here.

In honor of eating disorders awareness week 2022 we are re-posting this crash course in everything you need to know to support you in early detection and intervention! 

Organized children are not born, they are raised. That is the philosophy of this week’s guest, developmental pediatrician, Dr. Damon Korb. This week we get a crash course in executive function, otherwise known as those critical skills that help us plan, focus, and juggle all of our tasks, goals, and impulses. Dr. Korb shares 5 principles to help us nurture this critical aspect of development in children of all ages, neurotypical and neurodivergent alike. Read the full show notes for this episode here.

This week Dani Lebovitz, of Kid Food Explorers, returns for a real time demonstration of how to build food acceptance skills, featuring two very special guests: Zoë’s kids! In this very practical episode, Dani leads Noah (6) and Leo Bisbing (7.5) on a food exploration adventure, using their 5 senses... in search of delicious!  Read the full show notes for this episode here.