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Fresh Start honors the courage, strength, and resilience of individuals who have embraced ketogenic therapy to treat a mental disorder. The award empowers individuals to build a brighter future by providing a one-time prize of $10,000 to support their advocacy, education, or professional advancement.
Fresh Start Award Blog
Individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses must often set aside their goals and ambitions for years or decades to focus entirely on their mental health. Even after a robust recovery achieved with the help of advances in metabolic psychiatry, many individuals find that setbacks can occur, and that the years lost to illness can make restarting their lives challenging. Fresh Start assists these individuals in pursuing their personal and professional goals.
Caroline Beckwith recovered from anorexia nervosa through ketogenic metabolic therapy. She now runs a small private coaching business in collaboration with a ketogenic therapy dietitian and serves others as a peer counselor. With the Fresh Start Award, she aims to create a scholarship program to support individuals interested in trying ketogenic therapy for anorexia nervosa.
Neseret Bemient addressed her antidepressant-induced bipolar disorder symptoms through ketogenic therapy. Inspired by its impact on her life, she is now dedicated to educating others about metabolic therapies. With the Fresh Start Award, she plans to continue building her ketogenic therapy, mental health and psychiatric drug tapering coaching. Additionally, she plans to provide online educational services through her company, Return to Wholeness, while offering pro bono support to those experiencing financial difficulty.
Nina Carbone overcame anorexia nervosa through ketogenic therapy. She is currently attending community college and will soon earn her Associate of Arts degree. With the Fresh Start Award, she plans to continue her education and use the award to help fund her studies.
Robyn Dobbins was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but through ketogenic therapy, she now lives free of mental health symptoms. She is a certified health coach and mental health advocate, frequently featured on podcasts and conferences. With the Fresh Start Award, Robyn plans to continue building her health coaching business, Harbinger of Health.
Dyane Harwood uses vegan ketogenic therapy for postpartum bipolar disorder. Since achieving wellness, she has appeared on ketogenic-themed podcasts and spoke at the inaugural Ellenhorn Metabolic Psychiatry Conference. Dyane co-hosts the Our Healing Journey with Metabolic Psychiatry podcast, moderates online support groups, and serves on two lived experience advisory panels. With the Fresh Start Award, she will enroll in a ketogenic therapy program, publish her second book, Birth of a Keto Brain—An Exploration of Metabolic Psychiatry, attend medical conferences, and create free online peer support groups.
Shannon Harwood used ketogenic therapy to put her bipolar disorder into remission. Since then, she has applied her peer support qualifications through her ketogenic and recovery coaching business, Mindbody Coaching, and contributes to lived experience research. With the Fresh Start Award, she plans to enhance the tools she uses in her coaching practice, attend conferences and webinars, and expand her professional networks.
Donika Hristova used ketogenic therapy to treat her bipolar II and binge eating disorders, a healing experience that inspired her to become a certified integrative nutrition, keto for mental health coach, and lead a free meetup group for others using the therapy. With the Fresh Start Award, Donika plans to finance a life coach certification and launch a YouTube channel to share her story, along with those of others, who have successfully implemented a keto diet as a metabolic treatment for mental health.
Isabella (Bella) Hyatt uses ketogenic therapy to manage her schizoaffective disorder. Since achieving wellness, she has enrolled in college to pursue a degree in forensic science. With the Fresh Start Award, Bella plans to help cover her tuition costs, bringing her closer to her goal of becoming a criminal investigator.
Mia Mendez used ketogenic therapy to achieve complete remission from bipolar disorder. Since then, she has become a CPTSD recovery coach, helping guide others to wellness, and shares her story of recovery on podcasts. With the Fresh Start Award, Mia plans to develop and launch a website focused on metabolic therapies and pursue certification as a metabolic health practitioner.
Oliver Seligman uses ketogenic therapy for bipolar disorder. Since seeing improvements from ketogenic therapy, he has written a leaflet for the charity Bipolar Edinburgh, co-written an article for The British Psychological Society, written a book called Befriending Bipolar: A Patient’s Perspective, which includes some of his successes with a ketogenic diet, and joined a bipolar disorder advisory group. With the Fresh Start Award, Oliver plans to invest in equipment to produce content to share his story, write a book about his journey, and cover the remaining costs of his Master’s in The Psychology of Mental Health.