Making Ketogenic Therapy Accessible for Psychiatric Recovery – A Nonprofit Story

This isn’t the usual kind of blog post you find here. It’s not an education piece around psychology or mental health. It’s not a ketogenic diet science breakdown. It’s something else. I am going to tell you the story behind my nonprofit and why I’ve decided to stop keeping it quiet.

I started the nonprofit in 2022. I would get people interested in my Online Program who couldn’t afford to pay. So I would quietly let them in at reduced cost or no cost, depending on the situation. I couldn’t bear the thought of turning them away. Being a mental health counselor for so many years meant I understood the suffering they were experiencing every single day. I wanted them to have access.

Then I helped Lauren Kennedy West of the Living Well with Schizophrenia YouTube channel, and she recovered. Publicly and spectacularly, in front of everyone. And so of course I got a lot of interest. Both for private consultation and my online program. But I noticed right away that a large percentage of these inquiries couldn’t afford access to me, either through private consultation or the program. And that makes sense. Many, many people with serious mental illness are on disability or unable to be gainfully employed. It wasn’t like they could access metabolic therapies within the existing medical system in a way that was covered.

When Preparation Meets Need

And so, I am happy to say, because I already had my nonprofit in place and I had a scalable online program ready to go, I was able to assist them and give them access to what for many has become a life-changing therapy. An anonymous foundation heard about what I was doing through the grapevine and gave me some grants in appreciation for what I had built and how I was serving. Which was really nice, because I had always had to self-fund my nonprofit in the past.

Still, I kept the full and partial scholarship access to my program quiet. I didn’t publicize it. I was afraid that if I let people know I was doing this, I would get a tsunami of people. And I wouldn’t be able to help everyone. And there would be people disappointed.

And then one day recently, I just said to myself: Why not. Why can’t I just open this up? I felt driven to write an email to someone I know who is brilliant and whose opinion I respect. And they just happened to have been working in the nonprofit sector for many years.

I am working on this vision. This weekend I am teaching myself grant writing and I have a resource to find grants. I am going to find enough funders and funding to expand my nonprofit out to the point that a message can be put on the Metabolic Mind website that says if someone has proof of government disability they can have free access to a ketogenic professional on their treatment team (me). And then Lauren can announce it also, and people will come. And I will be ready for them because it will be funded well enough that I can take less private clients … That is where I am headed. ❤

Her response was “Ooooh, Nicole, I LOVE this!!!”

So now, my work is public and open. Brain Fog Recovery Source, the nonprofit I built quietly in 2022, is making public its Metabolic Psychiatric Recovery Program. It is the same high quality online program that paid participants get to join. It’s the same online program that has helped people reduce or eliminate psychiatric symptoms, stabilize their lives, return to work, and reclaim function. It’s the same structured, clinician-led education I’ve used for years. But now, it’s free for those who qualify.

Since 2022, I have already served 60 participants and their caregivers at low or no cost when I was doing it under the radar. Imagine how many I can support now that I am telling the public.

So now it’s open. And there might be a tsunami of people. And I might have to generate a wait list. But I can use that wait list to demonstrate clearly to funders that people are ready. That they want access now.

And I have decided that putting someone on a wait list, even if it is several months or even a year out, is not an act of neglect. It is an act of hope. For someone who never had a path in at all.

What You Need to Know If You Want to Support This Work

You need to know that it takes time to find funders, even for causes that are well understood and widely accepted. But this? This is a learning curve for funders. Most have never heard of it. It is not clinical care. It is education and support. And it is likely going to take time for me to help them understand how big this is, how evidence based it is, and how complete the level of psychiatric recovery can be using ketogenic metabolic therapies.

I am going to be grant writing to the moon and back. I am going to do the work of moving the nonprofit sector forward in its understanding and willingness to fund access for this underserved population. But it may be slow. And that may limit how quickly I can scale access.

In the meantime, public donations are what will allow me to offer immediate access to more people. It is one of the most direct and powerful ways you can help.

If your loved one on disability has already benefitted from the program or is on the wait list to join, you can make a donation to the nonprofit in their honor, or to help someone else gain access sooner.

You may also be wishing someone you love would be open to ketogenic therapies but they aren’t. You can donate to help someone else get access, who is ready to start.

If you are someone who has recovered from mental illness using a ketogenic diet and you know firsthand how powerful this intervention can be, and you are in a position to support this work, that would be deeply appreciated by those seeking program access through the nonprofit.

This work exists because people need access now, not years from now. It exists because I got tired of waiting for the system to catch up. And I decided I didn’t have to. I already had the tools. I already had the structure. I already knew how to help. So I built it anyway. I am scaling it anyway. We flow around the system that has become an obstacle for so many. And if you see the value in that, if this speaks to you, I would be honored to have you alongside me.

If this resonates with you, feel free to say so in the comments.