Shannon Nardi
Shannon Nardi was born and raised in Southern New Jersey where she has spent most of her time dedicated to identifying and following her passion for integrative medicine within the context of mental health treatment. Shannon graduated from Capella University honorarily with a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling and became licensed in Professional Counseling.
Shannon has more than a decade of working in the substance abuse field, where she excelled at assisting individuals who have co-occurring disorders in all levels of care including residential, intensive outpatient, and outpatient treatment. During this time, Shannon focused on the treatment of trauma in substance abuse and became a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. Following her true desire for understanding the mind-body connection and the impact which nutrition has on our well-being and the functioning of the brain, Shannon went back to school to become a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.
Shannon became very passionate about the impact nutrition had on mental health and overall wellness, and with the help of close colleagues, identified the reasoning behind her own illness and years of pregnancy loss. After applying the knowledge of holistic nutrition to her daily practice, Shannon was better able to truly understand the monumental strength of nutrition in the world of healing. She truly reaped the benefits of a heavily meat-based diet as she was able to maintain pregnancy full-term and birthed two healthy children. Not only does Shannon prioritize providing the whole family healthy meals, she even feeds her two Cane Corso Mastiffs a raw meat diet as well. Shannon has also been devoted to her physical health most of her life and identifies weight training and martial arts as necessities in feeding her soul and balancing her mood.
While making family a priority, Shannon switched her focus and honed in on mental health treatment only while exploring ways to incorporate nutrition into her practice. She spent years assisting individuals with a wide array of mental health complications, including disordered eating and dysmorphic body image, helping them to gain the confidence and self-compassion needed to grow and heal.
Shannon believes in an integrative approach to exploring and treating the root causes of mental health symptoms which includes DBT, Mindfulness CBT such as grounding and progressive muscle relaxation, and Motivational Interviewing. She believes that the client-therapist relationship is by far the most important aspect which encourages internal growth and exploration and should be nurtured throughout the therapeutic process.
Spiritual connection and patience allow for a safe space to feel heard, validating the raw and real emotions that arise within the healing process– this is by far the most valuable aspect of an unconditional supportive relationship. Shannon notes that without this connection that was life-changing in her own healing journey, her ability to be present and helpful in all of her relationships today would not exist. Shannon prides herself on her ability to truly listen to her clients with decades of experience coupled with her professional nutrition knowledge.
“The best way out is always through.”- Robert Frost