How Experiential Training Builds Clinician Confidence in Ketogenic Therapy

How can clinicians become more comfortable using ketogenic therapy in mental health care? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with Dr. Deanna Kelly about Live It, Launch It!, a training program designed to help clinicians learn ketogenic therapy by experiencing it themselves.

Dr. Kelly explains why evidence-based treatments can still take years to reach everyday clinical practice, especially when providers don't feel confident using them. To address that gap, her team recruited clinicians for a program that combined ketogenic therapy education with four weeks of personally following a ketogenic diet and published it as a study: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1913325/full

Clinicians started with very low confidence in their ability to use ketogenic therapy. With education alone, those scores improved substantially, and actually living the diet pushed confidence even higher. Participants also reported improvements in mental and physical health, along with an average weight loss of about five pounds.

They cover:

• Why clinician confidence can limit adoption of new treatments
• How Live It, Launch It! was designed
• Why experiential learning added more than education alone
• How clinicians learned to troubleshoot ketosis in real time
• What participants reported about mood, brain fog, anxiety, and physical health
• Why group support helped clinicians understand how differently people respond
• What side effects and challenges came up during the four weeks
• How this model could be scaled across residency programs and health systems
• Why the next step is measuring whether clinicians actually use ketogenic therapy more often with patients

For Dr. Kelly, the goal is to help clinicians move from knowing about ketogenic therapy to feeling prepared to discuss it and use it in practice as the evidence continues to grow.

📖 Want to learn more about metabolic psychiatry? Check out our blog “Metabolic Psychiatry: A New Lens on Mental Health” to explore how researchers and clinicians are examining the connection between metabolism and mental health: metabolicmind.org/resources/library/blog/stories/metabolic-psychiatry-a-new-lens-on-mental-health/

🔎 Have questions about how to apply metabolic therapies effectively? Submit them at metabolicmind.org/questions to be featured in a future Metabolic Mailbag episode.

#KetogenicTherapy #MetabolicPsychiatry #MetabolicMind #LiveItLaunchIt

Expert Featured:

Dr. Deanna L. Kelly PharmD, BCPP

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanna-l-kelly-pharmd-bcpp-3a8b299b/
• https://www.instagram.com/dr.deanna.kelly/
• https://x.com/ProfDeannaK

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1913325/full

Free CME Clinician Trainings:

Are you a clinician who would like to learn more about the science behind these therapies and how to implement them in practice? Earn CME with our growing library of courses from some of the top experts in the field including Dr. Chris Palmer, Dr. Georgia Ede, Dr. Matthew Bernstein, Dr. Mariela Glandt, Dr. Deanna Kelly, Dr. Julie Milder, Dr. Zoltan Sarnyai, and Dr. Bret Scher with more coming soon.

Our courses have been made FREE by grants from Baszucki Group, so we can spread these powerful therapies as widely as possible. Earn CME/CNE credits:

https://www.metabolicmind.org/for-clinicians/trainings-courses/?utm_medium=organic-social&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=cme-yt

Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.

Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/

About us:

Metabolic Mind is a non-profit initiative of Baszucki Group working to transform the study and treatment of mental disorders by exploring the connection between metabolism and brain health. We leverage the science of metabolic psychiatry and personal stories to offer education, community, and hope to people struggling with mental health challenges and those who care for them.

Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.