Where We Get Curious
About The Things
Unseen
A TRAUMA-INFORMED, NUTRITION-ROOTED APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH
If you're here, you're likely searching for something deeper. Something that’s effective and makes sense. Answers.
Maybe you’ve landed yourself here because you haven’t responded to traditional psychiatric medication or you’ve struggled with the side effects of meds. You’re tired of blanketed treatments and the trial and error of polypharmacy and desire an individualized, targeted nutrition-focused treatment.
Or perhaps, Innermost is your first stop. You’ve been given a diagnosis and you need support but are not wanting medication at this time. You desire a deeper understanding and a treatment option that doesn’t merely manage the symptoms but uncovers the driving contributors and works towards balancing what has been imbalanced with nutrition and supplementation.
Or you’ve never been diagnosed and don’t care to be. You know your struggles and don’t need a DSM label to validate what you already know exists. You’ve tried to navigate potential hormonal imbalances or nutrient deficiencies on your own. You’ve seen your doctor. Drawn the labs. You’ve been told “everything looks good” all while feeling less than good. You feel exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious, defeated, and you need direction.
Or maybe you're the parent of a child struggling in their mental health journey. You’re heartbroken, exhausted, and desperately looking for something that can support them both now and in the long-term.
At Innermost, we believe that your
symptoms are signals, not failures.
They are invitations to go deeper.
WE GET CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT’S BENEATH THE SURFACE,
your innermost story.
Together, we’ll explore the ways that stress, toxins, nutrient deficiencies, digestive dysfunction, inflammation, or infections might be working against your brain’s ability to function and heal.
Using functional testing, we investigate
Hidden Dysfunctions
the
Root Causes
and
IS THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM PROPERLY BREAKING DOWN FOOD AND ABSORBING ADEQUATE NUTRIENTS SO THE BRAIN CAN FUNCTION OPTIMALLY?
IS THE LIVER SUPPORTED TO ELIMINATE HEAVY METALS AND OTHER VARIOUS TOXINS?
IS THERE A DEFICIENCY IN ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS, IRON, FOLATE, OR OTHER B-VITAMINS??
ARE MINERAL IMBALANCES CONTRIBUTING TO HORMONAL IMBALANCES?
ARE THERE UNDERLYING FOOD ALLERGIES, SENSITIVITIES, OR INFECTIONS AT WORK?
:
AN EVIDENCE-BASED, PERSONALIZED APPROACH TO
Mental Wellness
Contrary to the DSM, you are not just a checklist of symptoms with a diagnostic label. Mental health is far more complex, shaped by a web of nutritional and biochemical factors.
If cycling through multiple psychiatric medications hasn’t worked for you, it doesn’t mean you’re broken- it could simply mean you have unique imbalances that are contributing to your symptoms.
Imbalances that need uncovered through lab work and a compassionate and curious practitioner to ask the right questions to help you connect the dots.
Nutrition deficiencies can wreak havoc on every organ in the body.
Your brain is not exempt.
The gut and the brain are besties, deeply connected, constantly talking, and sharing secrets. Therefore what you eat— or don’t eat—directly affects the health of your brain and the status of your mental health. Nutrition plays a critical role in mental health and resilience by supporting a healthy gut microbiome, balancing blood sugar, regulating hormones, and decreasing inflammation. Adequate levels of key nutrients are essential for optimal executive function, cognitive function, emotional regulation, neurotransmitter synthesis, and a healthy stress response.
MEET YOUR PRACTITIONER
Hi, I’m Staci Villa!
Registered Dietitian,
specializing in integrative and functional
and a recovered windbag of worry.
mental health nutrition
My own battles with unprocessed trauma, anxiety, ADHD, intrusive thoughts, and IBS weren’t “just in my head”—they were rooted in deeper imbalances in my body, fractures in my story, and mangled beliefs about myself. And the more I tried to ignore my symptoms, gaslight (no pun intended), or purely berate myself without addressing the why, the more sick and stuck I became.
I was a typical millennial raised on a steady diet of processed foods and unprocessed emotions. I had no idea this toxic combo was fueling my gut issues and mental health struggles. It wasn’t until I started tuning into every part of myself—my emotions, thoughts, identity, and unique nutritional needs—that real change began.
Mental illness isn’t
just in your head.
Through my own journey and walking alongside many others in theirs, I have found mental illness to be a very personal and invisible kind of suffering that has had so much stigma and misunderstanding attached to it. At Innermost, my mission is to dismantle the stigma associated with mental illness and instead shed light on the metabolic and nutritional factors that contribute to brain dysfunction. At Innermost, I take an integrative, nutrition-rooted approach to mental health care, uncovering what’s often missed in traditional treatment.
Understanding the biochemical root causes is key to finding relief from the symptoms and the stigma. I’ll guide you in piecing the innermost puzzle, connecting the dots between your mental state, gut-health, nutrition, and lived experience. By understanding the deep and overlooked connections between your inner chemistry and your inner thoughts, together we will begin to untangle the innermost web that has kept you sick and stuck.