Meet Mental Note – a podcast highlighting both the work and the beauty of mental health recovery. Stories will span a variety of mental illness struggles from eating disorders to depression, OCD and Bipolar. We will introduce you to relatable personalities, and dive deep into how they choose health amidst daunting illnesses. At the end of it all, we will provide hope that recovery is possible—and worth it.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
