Transform Your Practice

Using ketogenic diets to manage mental health conditions requires special knowledge and skills.

The Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health clinician training program is designed to provide you with the scientific knowledge and clinical tools you need to begin safely and confidently incorporating these powerful metabolic interventions into your clinical care of people with mental health conditions.

The program consists of five modules: The Science of Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health, Client Assessment and Engagement, Treatment Planning and Implementation, Medication Management, and Troubleshooting. Each module includes a 2-hour video recording of a previous live training group with approximately 60 minutes of slide-supported educational content and 60 minutes of questions and discussion. The videos are available for your review for 90 days. Each module also includes summary handouts detailing the content covered in the videos as well as supplemental handouts addressing information beyond the videos. There are over 100 pages of printed materials that are yours to keep as a reference for future use.

Before beginning the training, you will fill out a pre-test to assess your current knowledge. After you have watched the videos and reviewed the handouts, you will submit a post-test in order to receive a certificate of completion for the training program. Upon completion of the course, all clinicians will be invited to join a private clinician support network so that you can remain connected to Dr. Ede, your fellow students, and previous course graduates.

Metabolic health is key to optimal mental and physical health.

It’s long been recognized that a properly formulated keto diet effectively treats metabolic syndrome, which is a key driver of many common chronic diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type two diabetes. However, the equally significant mental health benefits—and how to achieve them—are far less widely appreciated. Interest in ketogenic diets for mental health is growing rapidly among patients, increasing demand for clinicians who are knowledgeable and skilled in these interventions. Learning how to safely and confidently incorporate ketogenic therapies into your work will help to meet this growing need, help to improve your clinical outcomes, and help revitalize your practice.

Tuition for this 5-module Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health clinician training program, including 100+ pages of supplementary materials is $750 (US). Optional live 90-min Q&A discussion groups for clinicians who have completed the training are $90 (US).

Unlock the door to a powerful new metabolic intervention service and income stream for your practice! Course includes these valuable benefits:

• Comprehensive content covering everything you need to begin implementing ketogenic diets into your clinical practice
• Module materials—detailed, comprehensive handouts containing all of the information presented in each class to minimize your need for notetaking during the course. All content is fully referenced, continually updated with the latest scientific information, and includes live links to additional information.
• Patient handouts designed to be shared with your clients and colleagues
• Food lists and diet options, including gradual implementation approaches
• Helpful clinical guides for laboratory testing, metabolic monitoring, and nutrient optimization with clinical values listed in both conventional and standard international (SI) units.
• Documentation of cutting-edge science that supports using ketogenic diets for mental health (evidence is formatted for sharing with your collaborating colleagues who may need more information before considering this approach).
• Practical tools for client assessment and treatment implementation
• Medication management guidelines for safe, low-carbohydrate treatment in the context of psychiatric, diabetes and/or other medications. Whether you’re a prescriber or a non-prescriber, this course advises on crucial safety precautions that protect your clients and reduce your liability.
• Important health condition precautions to minimize medical and legal risk
• Better outcomes for your clients (in many cases) whether they are using ketogenic diets in combination with or instead of medications
• Access to a clinician support network of course graduates
• Personal health benefits—many course participants report a significant improvement in their own mental and/or physical health as a result of this training.

Group discounts available: Special pricing options are available for clinic-wide or practice-wide trainings, as well as for any colleague group involving four or more participants. Please complete the inquiry form below with your training needs and we will see how we can address your needs.

If you would like to register for the training, click here.

Module 1: The Science and Safety of Ketogenic Diets

• Nutritional and metabolic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders
• Brain metabolism: glucose, ketones, insulin resistance
• Therapeutic impact of ketosis on inflammation, oxidation, neurotransmitter regulation, energy delivery, and neuroplasticity
• The latest research: how ketogenic diets affect specific mental health conditions

Module 2: Assessment and Engagement

• Medical and psychiatric contraindications to ketogenic diets
• Clinical testing: insulin resistance, nutrient status, inflammation, autoimmunity
• Engagement: expectations, readiness, obstacles, goal-setting, motivation, support
• Care coordination and contingency planning for mental health emergencies

Module 3: Implementation of Ketogenic Metabolic Therapies

• Brain-healthy diet principles
• Macronutrient calculation, metabolic monitoring, ketone target ranges 
• Keto-adaptation: general concerns, mental health concerns, mitigation strategies 
• MCTs, exogenous ketones, and time-restricted eating

Module 4: Medication Management

• The metabolic impact of psychiatric medications
• Medication safety and monitoring concerns
• Diabetes medications and other nonpsychotropic medications
• Psychiatric medication adjustment and tapering strategies

Module 5: Troubleshooting Strategies

• Assessing and addressing dietary quality
• Troubleshooting ketone levels
• Identifying and managing food sensitivities and food addiction
• Managing treatment resistance and non-responders

This program welcomes adult-focused clinicians from all disciplines including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, primary care physicians, psychologists, counselors, dietitians, nutrition therapists, social workers, and health coaches.

Although one entire module is dedicated to medication management you do not need to be a prescriber to benefit from this module. All clinicians working with patients who are following ketogenic diets need to be aware of important potential interactions between the ketogenic diets and prescription medications.

You do not need to have any pre-existing specialized knowledge about ketogenic diets to benefit from this program; it is designed to bring everyone’s knowledge level to the same high standard by completion of the course. Past course participants have ranged from beginner-level clinicians to clinicians who already have advanced knowledge of ketogenic diets. Those with advanced knowledge should only take this course if they do not already have specialized knowledge and experience regarding the use of ketogenic diets specifically for mental health conditions.

This program may NOT be right for you if you work exclusively with people under age 18, pregnant women, people in crisis, or people with underweight anorexia. The metabolic principles presented in this course are relevant to people of all ages. However, special considerations do apply when implementing ketogenic diets in growing children and teens, and Dr. Ede is not a child/adolescent psychiatrist, therefore she has no clinical experience with this age group. We do include some information about how ketogenic diets affect people younger than 18 years old, but this information is not comprehensive enough to fully prepare you to safely implement ketogenic diets in people under 18 years old. If you have any questions about whether this training program is right for you, please include them on the inquiry form below and we’ll address them in our reply.

If you think this training is right for you, register here.

Your tuition for the comprehensive five-module Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health program includes all of the detailed resources listed below (and more). Totaling more than 100 pages, these professional materials minimize your need for note-taking during the course and include handy reference guides to efficiently support your clinical practice. While the majority of these resources are for your personal use, you will also receive documents designed to be shared with patients and colleagues. All content is fully referenced, continuously updated, lists clinical values in both conventional and standard international (SI) units, and includes live links to additional information.

• The Science and Safety of Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health
• Client Assessment and Engagement
• Treatment Planning and Implementation
• Ketogenic Diets and Medication Management
• Troubleshooting Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health
• Insulin Resistance Tests
• Laboratory Tests Checklist
• Guide to Metabolic Monitoring
• Calculating Macronutrients
• Guide to Nutrients
• Consent Form for Ketogenic Diet Therapy
• Intake Form Sample Questions
• Pre-Ketogenic Diet Checklist
• Recommended Resources
• Patient Handout: Is the Ketogenic Diet Safe?
• Patient Handout: Tips for Success
• Patient Handout: Paleo Diet Food List
• Patient Handout: Ketogenic Diet Food List
• Shareable Resource: The Scientific and Clinical Rationale for the Use of Ketogenic Diets in Psychiatric Conditions, including live links to scientific references

Although the live trainings that were recorded for the video modules in this course were accredited by the AAFP, the course in its current format is not. We are in the process of applying for CME accreditation for U.S.-based physicians (MD or DO), nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and medical assistants. We hope and expect to receive approval by March 1st. If you are seeking educational credits, you may wish to wait until we announce the outcome of this process. If you are seeking educational credits, please indicate this in the training inquiry form and we will email you when it gets approved. If you would like to enroll now, we will extend access to the certified version at no additional charge if it gets approved.

You can start the training course whenever you are ready and will have 90-days to access the videos. The live 90-min Q&A sessions will occur weekly at different times and days to accommodate different time zones and schedules. When you have completed the training, you can indicate your preferred times and we will do our best to accommodate you in future sessions.

There are five videos of approximately 2 hours each for a total of approximately 10 hours. The videos are available to view for 90 days.

It is possible to schedule a private Q&A session for your clinic. Please indicate your interest in the inquiry form below and we can discuss your needs.

Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist specializing in nutritional and metabolic psychiatry. Her two-plus decades of clinical experience include twelve years at Smith College and Harvard University Health Services, where she was the first to offer nutrition-based therapies as an alternative to psychiatric medication. Dr. Ede writes about food and the brain for Psychology Today and for her own website, DiagnosisDiet. She speaks internationally about nutrition science, nutrition policy reform, and dietary approaches to psychiatric conditions. Dr. Ede developed the first and only medically accredited Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health Clinician Training Program, in which she teaches practitioners of all backgrounds how to safely incorporate metabolic therapies into their care of people with psychiatric conditions. In 2021, she co-authored the first inpatient study of the ketogenic diet for serious mental illness, and in 2022, she was honored to be a recipient of the Baszucki Brain Research Fund’s first annual Metabolic Mind Award. Her bestselling book, Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind, was published in January 2024.

You can read testimonials from course graduates in the sidebar (desktop) or bottom (mobile) of this page. If you would like to contact clinicians who have completed the course for more information, a list of references is available upon request.

The course is quite different from the book—both in perspective and information. Although I hope the book will be a useful resource for clinicians, it is primarily written for the consumer, and in fact advises the reader to work with a clinician if they have any health concerns or take medications. The training is designed to give clinicians the information they need to provide support for the individual who is wanting to change their diet. So the training covers the science in a little more depth, including an overview of the current studies available on ketogenic diets for mental health, how to evaluate patients, how to talk with patients about considering dietary changes, potential contraindications or interactions with medications, special monitoring required during keto-adaptation, and more in-depth troubleshooting with the diet.

If you are not a clinician, I recommend starting by reading my book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind, as it describes which dietary changes are most worth making and why, whereas the training program teaches how clinicians can support patients in implementing ketogenic diets specifically. If you have already read the book, and want to learn more about how to safely implement the diet, you are welcome to take the offline course to expand your knowledge. However, while the training provides information that clinicians should know in order to support their patients with ketogenic diets, clinicians will use that information in combination with their existing clinical skills and knowledge. Therefore, the training should not be considered a substitute for clinical guidance. Implementing a ketogenic diet for mental health can come with some unique risks and challenges and we therefore strongly advise working with an experienced clinician who can monitor and support you to keep you safe and increase your chance of success. You can search for practitioners who use ketogenic diets in their mental health practice in our international Ketogenic Diets for Mental Health Clinician Directory.

Also, please note that some of the material will be less relevant to a non-clinician (for example, how to talk with your patients) and non-clinicians are not eligible for inclusion in the clinician support network or in the live Q&A sessions upon completion of the training. If you have questions, please ask in the inquiry form below.

If you have any questions which are not addressed here on the website about whether this course is right for you, how you can arrange for private or customized trainings, or any other questions, please fill out the inquiry form below.

If you are interested in enrolling in the training program, simply fill out the brief inquiry form below and we will respond (typically within a week) answering any questions you might have and confirming the basics of the course. Registration includes reviewing and signing a training agreement and paying an invoice. These will both be sent to you upon confirmation that you would like to enroll. Note: due to increased interest in the program, response time may take a little longer. We kindly request your patience.