Mindful Meals: Culinary Arts & Mindfulness

Join us for a special conversation exploring the value of integrating culinary arts into mental health therapy and mindfulness practice. 

As a licensed , master’s level social worker with an interest in applying creative approaches to improving wellness,  I will serve as the moderator for this informative discussion.

I will be joined by a group of five outstanding women who have dedicated themselves to helping others. Each panelist comes to the table with unique personal and professional experiences that have led them to using culinary arts as a tool to improve mental wellbeing. 

Meet Our Group: 

Courtney: Courtney is a registered social worker and psychotherapist in Ontario, Canada. She combines her love of nature, baking and other creative outlets, to achieve better overall wellness and health. She happily uses baking and nature as tools in her private practice with clients, and in the community through her social enterprise Wildflour Fields Bakeshop & Studio. Courtney hopes to lower the stigma attached to mental health services, while also increasing the creativity, the comfort and the accessibility of such supports in her community and beyond.

Ella: Ella is a qualified Wellness and Resilience coach based in London, England. Ella takes self-care and creative coaching to a new level with her social project, Bake Well Being. Her method uses a combination of creative and learning experiences to mutually improve mental health awareness, well-being and support through the healing powers baking possesses. Cathartic bakes, filled with skillful techniques, topped with creative expression to enhance self-esteem, empowerment and overall well-being.

Julie: Julie is a licensed clinical social worker and lives in the Metro Detroit area. She uses cooking in her practice to help her clients foster meaningful relationships, nurture life skills that can be utilized in life outside the kitchen, as well as help clients cultivate a practice of mindfulness. Julie believes that this practice can help her clients live happier, more fulfilling lives. 

Melanie: Melanie is a passionate educator and certified mindfulness instructor who uses food as a medium to instill confidence, creativity, and connection in students. With an illustrious culinary career in New York City, including esteemed establishments like The Four Seasons Hotel, she transitioned to teaching in 1996, making many notable TV appearances and authoring 'Making Artisan Cheesecake' in 2015.

Val: Val is a movie marketer and producer and mental health advocate. Since 2013 she has run an international awareness and fundraising platform for mental health called DEPRESSED CAKE SHOP. Through branded grass roots pop up cake sales the project has raised over $400,000 and priceless awareness for mental health charities around the world. She is on the Board of Advisers for HOLLYWOOD & MIND, an organization that sits at the intersection of mental health and storytelling.