SUSAN'S STORY
Helping and coaching you to be your best.
Hello!
I’m Susan D’Addario, LCSW, Founder of The HealthShrink program, and an avid health seeker and healer in both the mental/emotional and the physical health realms. Whether referred to as a diet coach, nutrition coach, or Eating Psychology Coach, I'm fascinated with people, emotions, health, and our relationship with eating, food, and our body. I’d like to now share a little bit about myself so you can get a feel for who I am, where I’ve been, and how The HealthShrink program began.
Where I Began as a Professional Healer
In the early 1990s, I volunteered for several years at Identity House, an organization servicing the LGBT community in NYC, where I peer-counseled and ran support groups for people who were “coming out” and exploring their sexual identities. Here I began to walk my path as a healer, coach, and counselor. I was so moved and inspired by witnessing and contributing to people’s growth and healing that I decided to develop my innate skills as a good listener and compassionate human being so I could be of greater service.
I applied to graduate school, obtained a Master of Social Work degree in 1995 from NYU, and began what has now become a loving, 20+ year career as a mental health practitioner. I've worked for a decade at the substance abuse/mental health treatment provider, The Lower Eastside Service Center. I've also maintained a private psychotherapy practice, which has been ongoing since 1995. Both situations have provided me with tremendously satisfying personal and professional experiences, memories and growth.
Personal Healing
Throughout my childhood until early adulthood, I passionately engaged in sports. Playing and moving were things I connected with from the inside. After college, however, my athletic endeavors greatly dwindled. Like many, I became employed, made new friends, and socialized - not on a court, but over dinner and drinks. As time passed, I started to gain weight, and slowly I became less comfortable in my body. I tried intermittently to get “back in the saddle” by going to the gym. Those “tries” regrettably didn’t last too long.
Fast-forward
When I turned 50, I decided to play volleyball in a recreational league, and I began to work out with a personal trainer. It was great to “be back”! Unfortunately, my hands and other body parts began to hurt. In time, I discovered that healthy eating and using supplements greatly relieved my aching joints. As a result, I was able to move and to play pain-free. This was great news!
I voraciously read everything I could on healthy eating, and eventually bumped into the “Paleo/Ancestral” communities. I loved what these folks had to say, including, “Eat real food” and “Move more like our cavemen ancestors.” Beyond “Paleo,” though, I discovered Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. His work in Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind-Body Nutrition is simple, down-to-earth, brilliant and extremely informed. I've since trained at and graduated from IPE and am certified with them as an Eating Psychology Coach.
Moreover, because I have a very strong passion to help people be their healthiest and happiest, and shift from the physiological stress response to an increased, internal coherent-state, (where our most effective metabolism occurs), I’ve also graduated from the Institute of HeartMath® as a Certified Coach for Personal Resilience. Feeling stressed, exhausted, and/or having a hard time keeping up with life’s many demands and non-stop decision making (which frequently can lead to stress eating)? My training as a Certified HeartMath® Coach assists those wanting to learn how to develop their personal resilience through a variety of strategies and techniques to re-charge their inner battery any time, any place.
You will also learn about the power of the heart, its intelligence and intuition and how to tap into this frequently, underutilized resource. Becoming more able to cope with family, work, health and other life situations, without depleting our emotional energy reserves, leads to:
Better decision-making
Greater health
Increased sense of positive calm
A more satisfying and less exhausting way to live
Real Time
I couldn’t be happier in my journey for inner truth, good health, and body comfort and delivery of those same life qualities to you by way of The HealthShrink program. It innovatively features the very best of what I have to offer as a healer and diet coach for long-lasting weight loss and body-health results. In my program, overeating, binge eating, and chronic dieting are not seen as the problem, but as mere symptoms. Strategic highlights of my approach include:
Practical coaching/counseling techniques
Result oriented psychology
Clinical nutrition
Body-centered practices
Mind-body science
A positive, compassionate approach to challenges with food and health
Moreover, The HealthShrink program is backed by my:
Certification as a Professional Eating Psychology Coach
Certification as a HeartMath® Coach for Personal Resilience
20+ year career as a counselor and mentor
In-Body Analyzer for precise body composition results
As a nutrition coach, I look forward to supporting you with counseling strategies and nutrition principles that are nourishing, doable and sustainable and yield long-lasting weight loss results.
Find out more about The HealthShrink Program, what it offers, and if it’s what you’re looking for here. If you decide to work with me - which I hope you do - we can begin your journey to body-reshaping and life-transformation now.
Alternatively, if you’re ready to move forward in your pursuit of who you are as an eater and how that affects your weight and health, click here.
Sending you warmest regards for terrific body health and spirit,
Susan D’Addario, LCSW
Founder, The HealthShrink
Certified Eating Psychology Coach
Licensed Heartmath® Certified Coach
“Every meeting is personal. And, I must say, since seeing Susan, I have lost fat and gained muscle.” — Louise C.