Why Food Allergies Affect Mental Health

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:00

Welcome back to Voices in Health and Wellness. I'm Dr. Andrew Greenland, and today's conversation is one I'm genuinely looking forward to because we're exploring a side of healthcare that often gets overlooked: the psychological impact of food allergies. Joining me today is Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, a licensed psychologist, founder of the Food Allergy Psychologist, host of the Don't Feed the Fear podcast, and an expert in food allergy, anxiety, trauma, and nervous system regulation. Amanda has spent more than a decade helping individuals and families navigate the emotional burden that comes with food allergies, something that affects far more than just physical health. So with that, Amanda, I'd love to welcome you to the show and thank you very much for joining us.

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 0:39

Thank you so much for having me and making space for such an important conversation.

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:43

Well, I'm

Amanda’s Route Into This Niche

Dr Andrew Greenland 0:44

really looking really looking forward to it. So for listeners meeting you for the first time, can you share a little bit about your background and what led you into specializing in food allergy psychology?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 0:53

Sure. So I was a psychologist first before I became a mom, but showing up in this space, I'm always a food allergy mom first and foremost. I can't remove that from any aspect of who I am or how I operate in the world. So I have three kiddos, and my first, the oldest who's a teen now, is the one who has food allergies. And I was very early in my practice when I started managing that and learning a lot of things very quickly and connecting to a lot of people who were also managing the same things. I didn't really have any intention of making that my specialization, but it became clear to me very quickly how many people, when they found out I was a psychologist, were asking for support. And my practice just grew into that very quickly and filled and stayed filled for years before I started the podcast. I never even had a website or social media, did any marketing because unfortunately there was always a long line of people more than I could help, which was why I decided decided to start my podcast and to try to do some more work to reach more than just the people that I could see individually in my practice.

Dr Andrew Greenland 1:52

Fantastic. So did you set up the practice and then realize you had a massive demand? Or how did you find out about this kind of unmet need out there? I'm just really curious.

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 2:01

Right. It was it all kind of happened at the same time, but not intentionally. So I was just establishing my practice at the same time that we were adjusting. And so through word of mouth in the community and being connected to our local allergy advocacy group, so many other parents that I was meeting at those events were coming to me, asking for support, spreading the word to other moms. And so then in the community, that just kind of became known what I was doing. And so as I said, I never really needed to advertise or make it official, but that's kind of how I became known here in our community. And, you know, I would get people would spread the word outside of our area that I wasn't able to work with because I'm only licensed here in my state of New York in the US. And so it became clear when people were finding me from that far away, without me putting the word out at all about what I was doing, that there really were people searching and looking for support that that just isn't out there.

When Care Feels Medically Shaky

Dr Andrew Greenland 2:58

So do you um feel that patients were being medically supported but emotionally overlooked or not even medically properly supported with this?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 3:06

Oh, I think there's a wide range within food allergy, honestly. Um, you know, we had I've talked publicly about some of our amazing experiences and then some of our really disappointing experiences. And I think this is probably true in a lot of areas, but you have to learn so much so quickly as a patient. Um, I think the recognition of the emotional support comes afterward because in the beginning it's such an emergency situation of figuring out how to safely feed yourself or your child. Um, and else I don't want to make a broad statement because I have met so many amazing allergists who I know are giving really good care. Um, but I'll talk personally, you know, my first experience with my first allergist, one of the first things she said in the appointment was factually just incorrect information that I had just read from a reliable source. And so I started things out in a very shaky position in terms of feeling that I did need to learn everything and question the medical support that I was getting. So I think it is out there, and I think it also does take an educated patient and consumer to learn to distinguish the difference because unfortunately there are the support isn't always going to be there or the information isn't always gonna be the best. But if you're connected and informed, hopefully you'll find the good ones who are out there, and there are so many. Um, and and I don't think it's fair to expect our providers to have to provide the emotional support too. That's not what they're trained in, they're not trauma providers, you know, um, and yet the need is there. So I would say that yes, there's there's really a need for the emotional support that most of the patients that I have worked with were not getting. And the system is not set up for that. So that's not on the providers. That's a lot of work that we need to do in terms of establishing connectivity and multidisciplinary approaches to identifying and supporting people from all angles.

Dr Andrew Greenland 4:58

Thank you. Really helpful context. So, one thing that stood out to me from our earlier conversation was that your practice has essentially stayed full for 14 years without advertising. That says, you know, by itself, there's a massive demand for this. So, why do you think, you know, all these years that you've been doing it, it still remains undisturbed and has been for so long?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 5:18

I think there are probably a lot of things that go into that. The most obvious is that during the time that I was doing that, we know the data on food allergies is that they were just exploding. You know, I had my son during the time just on the cusp of us learning that early introduction can help to reduce the prevalence of food allergies. So there were so many kids during that phase when they were we were still being told to avoid the number of allergies, food allergies was increasing, the multiple food allergies versus just single food allergies was increasing during that time. And so I think that's probably one of the biggest factors. It's just there were more and more people. Um, and I think what makes it difficult is that without really specific either personal experience or some introduction, other than just applying our psychological principles and mental health approaches to food allergies, it can be really easy to miss the mark on what kind of support is actually needed. And so, really, really great providers who are wonderful at their cognitive behavioral techniques can unfortunately not fully understand the severity of food allergies or still be susceptible to the misinformation that's out there or just the lack of information that's out there about food allergies. And then that shows up in the session. So I've had a lot of clients come to me after working with other providers, even some that I know personally who, again, are really great providers. But the concept of a lot of the work that we do in therapy is challenging our thoughts, challenging how we're approaching things in a way that's not helpful. And to sit down a child or a parent who's been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition that can genuinely cause them significant harm or even death in extreme cases. And to challenge that and whether they're being too restrictive or whether they shouldn't be so careful can be dangerous for them in terms of their management and obviously makes it difficult to build trust with them and a sense of safety in the therapeutic relationship if you don't understand the extent to which people actually have to go to live safely with their food allergies. So I think part of that is getting the information out outside of our community about food allergies and how severe they really are. People still don't understand that, at least here in the US, our labeling is still not great. We still don't have restaurant menu labeling laws. We have to do so many things that from the outside look like anxious behaviors and can easily cross into anxious behaviors that really, though, are actually just safe management of the food allergy.

Food Allergies In Every Life Moment

Dr Andrew Greenland 7:49

Thank you, and touching on that a little bit more. I think many people outside this world fear hear food allergy and think primarily about physical safety. But psychologically, what are families actually living with day to day? And you've kind of touched on this a bit already, but I just want to delve into it a bit more.

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 8:04

Right. It touches on absolutely every part of life. So people outside, as you said, think it's just about safety and it's just about what you eat. But food is a part of all aspects of our society. It's how we celebrate, it's how we mourn, it's how we express love and affection and support. And those um ways of integrating food to everything then affect us in every way of life. So it affects us at school, it affects us at work. Um, when we want to take a trip, when we want a vacation or do social things, when people come to the point in their life where they're dating. Um, you know, I work with so many people in their teen and young adult years. The first thing they want to tell a prospective date is not, I can't go here, I can't eat this, you can't eat this, we or we can't kiss. That completely changes the dynamic in relationships. And that's true, you know, if I'll speak for myself as a parent. I was a brand new parent when I was learning all of this. And I had a great group of friends who are also becoming new moms too. None of them had a child with food allergies, and it very quickly eroded kind of that community that I had been able to build with them because I had such different needs that I didn't understand yet. I didn't know how to communicate to them. So of course they couldn't understand what I needed. Um, and I think that's true in every scenario, every example we could give of relationship dynamics or life experiences, those things creep in and have an effect that other people don't see.

Hypervigilance And A Stuck Nervous System

Dr Andrew Greenland 9:29

Thank you. So, how much chronic fear and hypervigilance do you typically see in parents and children? And are you encountering many that are stuck in this constant fight or flight state because of all of this?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 9:40

Absolutely. I think the most crucial part for me in kind of figuring out how to do this work, because there's no framework for it, there are other people out there doing it too, but we all kind of have been figuring out as figuring it out as we go until somewhere research just recently has been done. Um but for me, discovering and learning about the nervous system piece was the key to helping people to get unstuck. And we talk in terms that are very black and white about the nervous system, like you're stuck, you need a reset, you know. Um, and it it's not that simple, but people really do develop patterns. And the more you have to repeat a behavior, or the more a certain topic permeates various aspects of your life, like we just talked about, the more entrenched that pattern becomes. And it's um it is anxiety, it often is trauma, and yet it is logical and it is adaptive based on the experiences that people have. So people come to me feeling really stuck knowing that they are too anxious or that it is problematic, or they're restricting themselves themselves or their child more than necessary. And it's this negative perspective on I'm such a mess, I'm so anxious. And I think it's really important for people to understand how the nervous system works and why it has developed those responses in order to work with it and give it the safety that it needs in order to move out of that fight or flight state and be able to function in a different way, in a more balanced way.

Dr Andrew Greenland 11:08

So, really interesting hearing about your nervous system lens, which you approach this through. So, how um how do traumatic allergy experiences affect the nervous system in the long term?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 11:18

They are so impactful, um, and there's so much that I think it's important for people to understand about trauma, way too much for us to share here. But um, one of the things that I think is really important for people from the outside is to understand that trauma is not just having a dangerous reaction. You don't have to have a life-threatening rush to the emergency room and the ambulance reaction to be traumatized. Um, certainly that can be a terrifying experience for any parent or patient or child. Um, but we also have vicarious trauma by hearing about those experiences. We hear from the families who have lost their loved ones. They died after an allergic reaction. That's traumatizing when you know that you manage the same thing that resulted in the death of that person. Um, when we perceive that we are in danger or have been in danger, even if it wasn't factual or wasn't directly happening to us, the nervous system will still register that as something that we need to be protective of. So the more experiences we have like that, the more uh consistent the messages that the nervous system receives that I need to be on alert. Here are the things that I need to look out for. So every time we have one of those experiences from the big, huge, traumatic, scary ones to the friend that we met that, you know, the label was wrong on this food, and they had a reaction at a restaurant, and maybe they used their epi and they were okay, but our nervous system logs that as information and as something that we need to look out for in the future. So we have this data bank and all of these little touch points that are associated with it that can be so individualized to each person of what are the signals of danger, what is my nervous system looking out for? And then that keeps the nervous system in this state of trying to always scan and take in all that information to predict every possible uh danger that could happen to us. And it's as we discussed, it's everywhere, it's all the time, it's every scenario. So for people who are living with that, it becomes very difficult for them to find a window where that can turn off, where there aren't then any pieces of information coming in from the environment that are indicating a possible risk where they can shift out of that fight or flight and what we call call rest and digest. Um it's no coincidence, right? We're dealing with food allergies, and the the natural restorative state of the body is rest and digesting, digesting our food, taking nourishment and replenishing the body. And um we may not find many pockets of time where we feel safe to do that. So it it we don't have an equivalent system that searches for safety, that looks for um, you know, indications in the environment that we are safe. We really have a system that's um primed to be defensive and to be vigilant and proactive. So, in order to do that and counteract that, we have to make it a very conscious process and a very aware process that's intentional instead of the nervous system, which is going to do its thing automatically without us telling it to do that.

Dr Andrew Greenland 14:28

Got

Vagus Nerve Signals And Mindfulness Limits

Dr Andrew Greenland 14:29

it. Thank you. And what about the vagus nerve regulation and mindfulness? How do they kind of fit into recovery?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 14:35

Great question. I love teaching people about the vagus nerve and the role that it has where we keep learning so much more. Um, but basically, the vagus nerve is the line of communication between the scanning for information that we do all comes in through the senses to the nervous system through the vagus nerve. And so the brain is then communicating with the vagus nerve. Um, I think this the statistics are about five times every second, is how often the brain and the vagus nerve are going back and forth asking, Am I still safe? And the vagus nerve assessing the information that's coming in through the sensory organs and determining if they're safe. If the vagus nerve picks up on something that indicates possible danger, then it sends that signal to the brain that it's time to shift modes. And then the vagus nerve passes down into the body and communicates with all of the vital organs and all of the systems that then would prepare us for danger. So that's what triggers all of the fight or flight or anxiety symptoms that we know: the racing heart, the sweating, the body temperature increase, the uh trembling and the adrenaline that rushes through our body. And what people often don't recognize is what all these things are being turned on to go into emergency mode. There are also things being turned down in order to preserve resources. So, number one is our digestion. And so we are not going to digest our food in an emergency. Number two is the communication with the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain where we do our rational thinking and our logical problem solving, all the things that help us to be calm and make good decisions, information-informed decisions, their blood flow to that area is literally restricted during times that we're in fight or flight. So we really are hard on ourselves about how we shift into these modes and can't calm down. I can't do mindfulness, I can't sit and meditate. My body just won't let me. And we really have to, I think, sometimes understand the processes at hand in order to access that because everybody thinks that you're in danger. And I tell you to sit quietly and close your eyes and breathe and not to think any anxious thoughts, that's going to make the body feel even less safe. It's going to make it feel like it needs to be more protective, that the danger is not being recognized or understood by the people around it, and then that it has to amp up even more in order to be protective. So accessing mindfulness can be really difficult. And I think it starts with that educational piece and working with your body where it's at an awareness, not just trying to force calm, because forcing anything does not create a sense of safety.

What A Family Therapy Journey Looks Like

Dr Andrew Greenland 17:14

Thank you. So what does a I know there's going to be no typical patient and every patient is unique in their way, but what does a patient journey look like? Someone who's coming to see you, how does it all map out in terms of what you your approach and how you deliver and work with a client and how long does it take? Like those kind of things.

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 17:31

Good question. And you're right, it can vary so much. But I would say if I had to pick the typical, um, it's a lot of parents bringing their children in when they recognize that there's a problem. So that's not to say that adults with food allergies are not struggling too, but a lot of us as adults and as parents know that we don't put ourselves first. We we deal with things and we cope longer than we should, but parents are putting their children first and I think better able to recognize and prioritize seeking help. And it's usually something very specific. So following, unfortunately, I worked with a lot of people who've had really traumatic experiences in a school setting and a restaurant setting, are usually the two biggest examples of that. And then the child is showing very specific withdrawal or internalizing symptoms where they're not wanting to go places, they don't want to go to school anymore, they're clinging to their parents, and all of a sudden they're having that separation anxiety that they had once been through. And sometimes it's really specific. It's often very specific to food. So the child no longer is eating their lunch at school and they come home and the whole lunch is uneaten and they just don't feel safe eating it at school. Usually they're not saying that specifically. They're just saying things like, I wasn't hungry or I don't want to go. Um, and then sometimes it's really generalized and it's not even clear that it's specific to food or the food allergy. But as we said, the brain can register or the nervous system can register almost anything as a cue of danger. So it can be any other change or shift that is not typical for that child. So for example, I've worked with kids who um all of a sudden didn't want to go visit grandma anymore. And grandma's one of the primary caretakers, and she's the one who helps to manage the allergy. And it takes really good listening skills to get this out of kids and get to the bottom of what might have happened to cause those changes. But I've seen that example happen several times where either like they maybe saw a jar of peanut butter in grandma's house and it's not usually there, and so suddenly they didn't feel safe there, or you know, a change that happened there that they registered, sometimes not even really consciously, that cued to them, I'm not safe in that setting, or with that person or doing that activity anymore. So usually parents notice parents have a good gut instinct when something is going on with their kiddo, and that's how they show up to me. And then we broaden it out so widely from that specific concern that they brought in. Um, and you asked how long it usually takes, and that that can be very different because it's very complex. It's not just the child's anxiety that's being brought in for support. The parent is usually very intertwined because, of course, we as parents, no shame to any other parent out there. I live it too. It's anxiety provoking for us too. So a lot of times we have to do our own work in order for the child to make a shift too.

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:21

Got it. This is a real family outing, isn't it, for the for the obviously the sufferer as well as the parents and the immediate family. Um you

Oral Immunotherapy And Fear-Based Decisions

Dr Andrew Greenland 20:28

mentioned, um, I think in your upcoming book, focusing on the mental in the mental health impact of newer treatments like oral immunotherapy, which is a really fascinating angle because most conversations focus purely on the clinical outcome. What are the psychological dynamics that are um emerging with treatments like oral immunotherapy?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 20:46

Yeah, it is um a very there's a lot of conflict internally with with families who are being presented with things and it can present in a lot of ways. We would think that it's all good, right? There are treatments. There didn't used to be any treatments out there, and it's wonderful. Choice and control are what calm the nervous system. That's what makes us feel better when we're able to have exert some control or influence over our decisions. We research shows that even if we don't choose the option, just having the option improves our mental health and our wellness. Um, so you would think that all of these treatments that are expanding now would be just hands down, not complicated, a wonderful thing for food allergy patients and families. However, it's not that simple, of course. One is access. You know, I was seeking these treatments 12 years ago or so when they weren't widely accessible. And so I was searching all over, trying to hunt down a doctor and travel to get them. It has improved, but it is still the case that everyone doesn't have access to this. In the in the States, there is still a significant shortage of allergists, period. So some people's food allergies aren't even managed by specialists, it's through their primary care doctor. So to have someone Providing these treatments, let alone multiple ones. If there's one that you want and your doctor happens to provide that one, you're extremely lucky. So some people, the conflict is I want to do this and I can't get access to it. It's not affordable. It's too the distance is too far. Um, the investment of the treatments emotionally and time-wise is a lot too. So it varies depending on which option is chosen, but that is a really significant um commitment that people have to make if they're going to choose one of those treatments. And then all of that is kind of just still the practical part, but the mental health side of it is I've been spending X amount of years, however long that is, for the patient, making sure that I don't ingest this allergen, I don't come in contact with it at all. And now we have treatments that require the exact opposite. And as we talked about before, the logical, rational part of the brain can be very disconnected from the emotional fight or flight part of the nervous system and brain. And even when we know that these treatments are effective, the thought of actually carrying forward with consuming the allergen is a really, really big shift to ask for people. They can want it, they can understand it and believe it and know that it's going to be helpful, and yet the nervous system will have its response when they're facing something that has been so scary for them for many years. So it's a really complicated decision-making process for people. And as we said before, there's not a lot of support. Where is the anxiety level? How will that impact the treatment? But I think we need so much more of that. And so that's why I decided to write the book because I've lived it. And so it has a little bit of that. It has my personal experience, but I've pulled in some really amazing experts on the topic to help to compare the medical information and options. And then I gave some exercises. Everybody's not going to be able to access a food allergy psychologist, unfortunately. So there are activities in there to help people go through this process, either on their own or with a therapist who might not be informed about this area, where they can work on the decision-making process, better understand their thoughts, address the nervous system response, and kind of tease it out so that they can access something if they think it's a good idea for them. And the flip side of that is I'm not up here trying to tell everybody to go out and get allergy treatment. It might not be right for everybody. And I think there's a lot of pressure and guilt and shame and all of these difficult emotions that come along with every part of food allergies. And this is one of them. So I know a lot of parents who have not chosen treatment either out of guilt or shame, or chosen treatment out of pressure and guilt and shame. And that is not a good place to make a decision from, no matter what the outcome is.

Dr Andrew Greenland 24:58

Got it. So what are the um prescribing practitioners for these therapies potentially missing when introducing these therapies? And what would you like them to know or to take on board from your experience?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 25:08

I would love, my dream would be for all of them to have systems in place that at least on a very simple level are assessing and keeping an eye out for indicators that people are already struggling with anxiety. I've worked with a lot of people who've pushed forward with treatment and it didn't go well because the anxiety was underlying. It can be hard to miss. It's not going to show up probably in a quick consult with your allergist how many times are the, or how many minutes are they actually in the room with you? Um, we're very high-functioning anxious parents and patients. We survive by having everything together, following all the rules, staying calm on the outside when we are struggling on the inside. And that's how they look at appointments. They don't always look like they're an anxious mess. The kiddo doesn't always look like they're super scared and you know, uncomfortable. So I would love it if they could all incorporate some form of checking in on that and baseline education for everybody about what the process would be for any of the treatments in terms of the social, emotional, mental health part of the treatment, changing your perspectives. What are you committing to, and how might that impact relationships and family routines and your daily schedule and things like that that everybody might not be thoroughly considering before they make the treat make the treatment decisions?

Burnout, Values And Staying Sustainable

Dr Andrew Greenland 26:30

Thank you. So one of the things this podcast increasingly explores is the reality of running healthcare practices and supporting people emotionally over the long term. What have you learned over the years about sustaining yourself emotionally in this kind of work and avoiding burnout, which is such a big thing at the moment for people in this space?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 26:47

It is. And it's tricky. I I know obviously my perspective will be different from a lot of your audience because I'm in the mental health field and not in the medical field, but I think there's probably some similarity. Um, and for me, really the toughest part personally is that I'm doing something every day with people that touches on the hardest thing that I've ever dealt with in my life. So I have to be really mindful about where I'm at with what's going on in our family and in my life and the toll that that's taking. Um, I love talking to people about food allergies and helping them with it. But when my son has a bump in the road or a blip in our allergy management, that can be really difficult. And so for me, I have to work in some extra support and things like that around it. Luckily, we've been in a good spot for quite a while. He's been in maintenance on treatments for all of his food allergies for years now, which was when I finally felt like now I have the bandwidth to start the podcast and try to do some more outreach because this isn't taking so much of me personally anymore. Um so for me in mental health, I think that's what it looks like. A lot of the people who are doing work similar to mine also have that personal experience. And so I think that is what makes us really good at it and can make it really hard for us that we have to be mindful of.

Dr Andrew Greenland 28:02

Thank you. So thinking about the business side of running your clinic, because I think this is an important thing that practitioners will appreciate. Um, you've been doing this for a while. You've started you've established a very important niche. What are the things that are going particularly well for you from a business angle?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 28:18

Well, well for me, but not well for the community that I care about, is that allergies are still a huge problem. I think there is a mental health crisis within the food allergy community. I do think awareness is improving. We're getting more research on the topics, we have more options that we've been talking about. So what has helped my business to thrive, unfortunately, is that there was such a need. And honestly, I hope I can be put out of business and retire because we, you know, we don't have these concerns anymore. Um, but aside from just the need that's there, I think in mental health, really the value of therapy is in connection and it's in healing through that relationship that you have with the provider, regardless of what lens or approach they use. And so being vulnerable enough to bring my personal experience into the room in an appropriate way, in a way that is always, you know, considering what's supportive to the patient or the client, not because I need to talk about my stress today. Um, but being show showing up as a human with similar lived experiences, I think really is what has helped my business and some of the other work that I've done to grow because people want to be seen. People in the food allergy allergy community often don't feel that they're understood, that their struggles are valid or treated as valid by people that they encounter on a regular basis. And I think there's a really deep need for that.

Dr Andrew Greenland 29:42

Thank you. And on the other on the other side of the coin, what are the sort of challenges and bottlenecks that are most impactful to your business at the moment that you're having to navigate through?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 29:53

Well, I think we all here in the US could have our complaints about our healthcare system. And I think both with allergy medical care and then with mental health access is a is a big issue. Um so I struggle personally with a lot of the typical challenges of working with insurance. Um, a lot of people are moving outside of health insurance in my field. I don't feel comfortable doing that because I feel that that will limit access to people, and I don't only want to serve the people who financially are able to seek that out. Um, so I've had to navigate that, you know, with especially recently, a lot of um patience and a lot of uh focus on what my goal is and what is really important to me, my values and my identity as a provider in order to tolerate some of those challenges. Um, and in general, there's just not a lot of access to mental health care in the US. There are people who need help who aren't able to get it. There just aren't enough providers, um, again, let alone in my specialty. So it's a challenge to have so much work, it's a challenge for people to access it financially. And then it's a challenge, you know, when I can't help everybody and I want to help more people than I can.

Dr Andrew Greenland 31:11

Thank you. Now you're a clinic owner, so you wear probably all the hats. And what's your biggest time drain as a clinic operator? For is it an operational side, the administrative side? There's there's so much clinical work that it becomes overwhelming. What's your biggest time drain?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 31:27

Um there is a lot of paperwork for me in mental health. Um, I personally have chosen, and this isn't a judgment of anyone who has, um, but I've chosen very carefully which time savers and which new developments to utilize in my practice. Um, I don't outsource my billing, I do all that myself. I have not adopted AI practices into my note-taking and my record keeping. Um, it's still evolving, and I feel highly protective of my clients in that way. Um, so again, it's not a judgment of someone who's using that, um, but I'm finding myself really walking a fine line between things that could help to streamline that and then always protecting the privacy and the confidentiality of my patients and really wanting more confidence in some of those things before I roll them out and wanting them to feel trusting in every aspect of how I'm operating my business. Um, I haven't approached it with many of them because I'm not doing it. So the only conversation I've had with most of them is just want to make sure you know you might hear about these, you know, AI systems that are recording your session and turning it into a note for the provider. I'm not using that, but even those short conversations where I'm telling them that I'm not doing it, people are having a lot of discomfort with it. So I am on the conservative side of those decisions. Um, and that both researching and understanding all of those things and staying on top of the laws and the require requirements for myself and then doing the work that is still required of me because I'm not opting into them is a pretty time-consuming process.

Scaling Support Beyond One-To-One

Dr Andrew Greenland 33:02

I hear you. Um so you talked a lot about the demand for the work that you do, and with demand continuing to grow, how do you think about capacity and scaling from the perspective of what you can deliver and the people that you can reach? What are your kind of thoughts about reaching more people for with your work?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 33:19

That's a great question. I think in my field it's so difficult because it's hard to scale beyond the one-on-one sessions. And so the podcast, I think, was a little bit of my um attempt to do that, but not at a business sense. Um, I've chosen not to monetize the podcast. And so that's reaching people information-wise, but not necessarily scaling my business. I would like to get into working more with practices, and this is something that I'm trying to utilize the book that I just wrote for working with providers and reaching more of their clients. And I've done some work supporting allergy clinics and working with groups of their patients and specializing those to their clinic specifically and how they operate so that they can incorporate these things that I know they're not equipped to do, but that I can show up as a resource for them and provide some of that in cooperation with them to help improve the care that they're giving to their clients and to scale again beyond my one-on-one model.

Dr Andrew Greenland 34:19

Um, if I if you had a magic wand, then you could fix one thing in the business tomorrow. What would that be, if anything?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 34:25

Oh, I know you're asking from a business angle, but my brain can't even go there because as people can probably tell, even though I'm I'm the clinic owner and I I wear all the hats, my heart is just so much in the work. So what really would make it all so much easier if I could wave that magic wand would be for food allergies to be understood and respected outside of our food allergy community. I think that would break down a lot of the barriers that we're facing as a community. That would improve the mental health of everyone in our community on so many levels and for so many reasons. And I think that would be the biggest change. Because my my stress would go down if all of theirs did too, basically.

Dr Andrew Greenland 35:06

Sure. Um, you've mentioned the book and the podcast. Just do you want to expand a little bit on that and tell people how they can access them and what they would get from them if they were to tune in or to read?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 35:16

Sure. So the podcast is called Don't Feed the Fear. It's on all platforms and it's easy to find. And I focus on anxiety and trauma, but I do that in a lot of different formats. So I have guests sometimes have a lot of amazing experts. I do solo episodes where I focus more deeply on mental health topics, and so I try to share a lot of good information in that. And then I'll hold it up in case people are watching the video. Um, the book is called From Fear to Freedom. It's a guide for navigating allergy immunotherapy, and um they can find that anywhere they buy their books on Amazon. It's on bookshop.org. It's available for small independent bookstores to order and libraries if anyone wants to get those resources and directly through me. So if there's anyone listening who has a practice who wants to talk about bulk orders to provide the resource to their patients, then you can reach out to me. And I'm everything the food allergy psychologist makes it easy to find me. So my website is the food allergy psychologist, that's my um internet handle, and so that should make me really easy to find.

Dr Andrew Greenland 36:20

Perfect. Thank you. Well, put that on the bio page as well. Um, thinking about the next year or so, what does success look like for you in your work in the next 12 months? Where would you like to be? What would you like to have achieved?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 36:30

I would love to bridge the gap between um the mental health care and the medical care that we talked about early in the com earlier in the conversation. Um so I'm really excited just tomorrow. I'm not sure when people will be listening, but um I'm traveling to the FAST OIT conference in Texas in the States, which is the group of providers who learn and share how to do immunotherapy treatments together. And so I get to talk to them about all of this and these mental health aspects of not just food allergy management, but navigating treatment decisions and then doing the treatment successfully. And I would love to continue those conversations and be the go-between between the patients, between the providers who are offering this, who I know want their patients to have better experiences. I've gotten to meet so many of them already, and I I know how genuine and eager they are to have the best outcomes for their patients. And I think this is another one of those links that we need to strengthen. So I hope I can be a part of that.

Self-Compassion And Closing Reflections

Dr Andrew Greenland 37:29

Wonderful. And finally, if you were to start this all over again tomorrow with everything that you know, would you do anything differently?

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 37:37

I would. Um, and it you're gonna get a psychologist answer here too, but it really just would be with a lot more self-compassion. Um, I think I my own experience mirrors that of a lot of people in our community where we're thrown into something and we really just have to power through and push through. And we don't realize until looking back how hard we pushed ourselves and and how difficult it was for us. And so I would love to give that insight and experience that I've gained now to myself back then, both personally as a mom and business-wise, um, that you know, to be compassionate, to be empathetic toward myself about all that is on our plates and how complicated and difficult this topic is, and to just accept that I'm not going to be able to fix it all all at once, but it's still worth moving forward and and making progress at whatever pace works.

Dr Andrew Greenland 38:30

Without Amanda, I'd love to thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a genuinely fascinating conversation. I think you're really addressing one of the most overlooked gaps in healthcare, helping people feel emotionally safe while managing real medical risk. So thank you for your insights, thank you for the education, the information, and the behind the scenes work of what you do in the clinic. It's been a delight. Thank you so much.

Dr Amanda Whitehouse 38:51

Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.