Karen Giesbrecht is a registered dietitian with a particular interest in mental health, strong communities, and real food. At home in Vancouver, Canada, Karen takes great delight in sharing good meals with her family, friends, and those in her community who know hunger.
“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter” [African Proverb].
I am no lion, but here are my attempts to tell a different story:
Reimagining Community Around the Table with Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries
Collaborative & Research Projects:
Nutrition Therapy for Addiction Recovery, a guide that aims to clarify the role of food in addictions treatment, outline what a dietitian can do in a recovery program, and clarify how nutrition care is tailored to the unique needs of individuals in recovery. It contains tools and guidance for dietitians looking to learn to care for vulnerable clients in this taxing, yet rewarding field. (2019)
Food asset and need scans for Vancouver’s Westside, Downtown, Mt Pleasant, Richmond, and Mission BC. See summary of 3 here.
Anemic: Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in Metro Vancouver (2022).
Interviews:
Talk Recovery Radio - Using Nutrition for Mental Health (October 2020)
Sanctuary Mental Health - Mental Heath, Faith & COVID-19 (June 2020)
Workshops:
Household Food Insecurity 101
We envision a food system where everyone has secure access to safe and nutritious food, produced in an environmentally sustainable way and provided in a manner that promotes human dignity. This workshop explores the terminology related to food security and food systems, key references and information sources related to food insecurity in Canada, and how to use the Collective Impact Framework to guide collaboration in your local context.
Life Writing
Join a small group of (aspiring) writers to explore how we communicate the complexities of life, especially given the new ways of being that this season is forcing us to find. Fiction and creative nonfiction writers are invited to participate in this workshop. We will explore how we write about life in today’s diverse environment and practice a writing exercise. Our time together will be designed to build confidence around what we can cook up with words.
Food & Recovery: An Intimate & Complex Relationship
There are few relationships in our lives as intimate as the one we have with food, or as complicated. But typically, addictions care has not focused on nutrition, nor have dietitians been central in the recovery care team. This 3 session course for practitioners covers links and strategies for change in people addressing their addiction behaviors through the lens of nutrition. While the primary focus is on client care, these sessions will also be relevant for staff as we learn to better care for ourselves and each other in this rewarding, yet often taxing work.