Food For Thought: How ChefPsychNP Ellen Minier Fosters Wellness by Combining the Culinary Arts with Psychiatric Therapy
Food has a tendency to bring people together in ways nothing else can. It provides a way for us to stay connected, learn about each other, and nurture relationships. Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Chef Ellen Minier’s passion and love for cooking traces back to early childhood memories with her grandmother in the kitchen. “My grandmother would let me stand on a chair in the kitchen next to her, and I would be in charge of something like stirring the pot or greasing the cookie sheet,” she recalls. “I just loved helping her out.”
As Ellen grew, she developed a deep connection with cooking and what was shared around the dinner table. “It was a time to have both tough conversations and light-hearted, fun conversations,” she says, referring to how the sharing of food brings families and friends together. Her love for cooking followed her into adulthood, causing her to pursue a career path in the culinary arts. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, SC with her Associate in Culinary Arts in 1998 and enjoyed a career cooking in several restaurants in Charleston and Asheville, NC.
After getting married and having children a few years later, Ellen realized working long, tedious hours in restaurants was not conducive to family life. Per the advice of her mother who holds a PhD in Nursing, Ellen applied to nursing school and got accepted into the Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program at A-B Tech. She graduated with her LPN degree in 2007 and went back in 2011 for her Associate’s Degree in Nursing. During her first job as an LPN, Ellen felt an immediate calling to the psychiatric nursing field. She went on to obtain her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from East Carolina University in 2013 and her Master’s in Nursing with a concentration in Psychiatric Nursing in 2016.
During her career, Ellen began to notice pitfalls in the world of psychiatric medicine. Oftentimes, she noticed higher, unnecessary doses and inappropriate combinations of medications being prescribed to patients. She began to consider a different solution.
In 2021, Ellen brought together her passion for mental wellness and culinary arts to create Food For Thought Mental Health and Wellness, a psychiatric practice that helps patients achieve better mental health by balancing medication management with therapy and the culinary arts for better, more wholesome results. The idea for Food For Thought came about while Ellen was working as an LPN at Eliada Home in Asheville. At the time, the home was a psychiatric residential treatment facility. “I would go from cottage to cottage checking on the kids,” Ellen recalls. Oftentimes, she found herself around the patients during their meal times. So, she started putting her skills to work.
“I started cooking with the kids and coordinating it with the residential counselors to have cooking sessions with them,” she explains, “and so, they started calling me ‘Chef Nurse.’” The name Chef Nurse certainly stuck with Ellen. “I never lost my love for culinary arts,” she says. “Whenever I would hear someone was having a hard time, I would make a bunch of food for them to fill up their freezers so they wouldn’t have to worry about what to eat,” she continues, adding that there is a sense of wellness that comes with a delicious and beautifully prepared meal made by someone who cares.
“It’s important for me to present new options for people to get good mental health care that’s more than just medication,” Ellen says. “In sharing meals with people over the years, what I learned was that while a meal is being prepared, people are more likely to talk more about their feelings.”
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Food For Thought offers medication management, individual therapy, and culinary art therapy. Through Culinary Art Therapy group sessions, patients will have the opportunity to utilize all five senses and practice mindfulness techniques through the accessibility of food and the activity of cooking, with a focus on nutritional wellness and the development of coping skills.
For Ellen, treating an individual is an honor and a privilege, something she does not take lightly. She is committed to creating a cohesive treatment plan for each person, as well as battling the stigma that often comes along with mental health concerns. “I can help anyone figure out what works best for them,” she says. “By making a well-rounded treatment plan with eating, moving, and breathing, along with the medication – that’s the approach to mental healthcare that will ultimately be more successful.”
For more information, visit www.chefpsychnp.com or call (828)-989-0196.