Nutrition and Mental Health Therapy in Colorado Springs

“Fuel your body, free your mind, find your joy.”

What you eat, how you move, and how you live can have a profound effect on how you feel, mentally and emotionally. At Solace Solutions Counseling and Evaluation, therapist Heidi Schnakenberg, LPC, combines her 20+ years of clinical experience with a deep passion for integrative health to help you understand the connection between your body and your mind.

If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, brain fog, low motivation, or emotional fatigue and you’ve tried traditional therapy without lasting results, this approach may be the missing piece. Through a combination of evidence-based therapy and nutritional lifestyle evaluation, Heidi helps clients in Colorado Springs feel better from the inside out.

How Nutrition Affects Anxiety and Depression

Most people are surprised to learn how directly what they eat influences how they feel emotionally. The gut and brain are in constant communication through what’s called the gut-brain axis. When your nutritional habits are out of balance, your mental health often reflects that.

Here are just a few examples of how food impacts your mental health:

• Sugar and depression: High sugar intake is linked to increased inflammation in the body, which can worsen depression symptoms and destabilize mood.
• Catecholamines and anxiety: Anxiety is often driven by an excess of stress hormones called catecholamines. Certain nutritional choices and lifestyle factors can push these into overdrive.
• Nutritional deficiencies: Low levels of key nutrients like magnesium, B vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids are associated with increased anxiety, poor sleep, and low mood.
• Exercise and brain chemistry: Physical activity naturally boosts serotonin and endorphins, two of the most important neurotransmitters for emotional wellbeing.

These aren’t complicated discoveries; but for many people, no one has ever connected these dots with them. That’s exactly what Heidi does.

Our Integrative Approach to Mental Health

Heidi’s approach is not about overhauling your life overnight. It starts with an honest, comprehensive look at your current nutritional habits, physical activity, supplement use, and lifestyle patterns, and then making simple, targeted changes that actually move the needle.

This integrative framework blends:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Identifies and reframes the thought patterns contributing to anxiety and depression.
• Solution Focused Therapy: Builds on your strengths and moves quickly toward practical, lasting change.
• Systems Theory: Looks at how your environment, relationships, and lifestyle systems interact and influence your wellbeing.
• Nutritional and lifestyle assessments: Comprehensive evaluations to track patterns in diet, sleep, exercise, and supplement use.
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Informed by training from Dr. Leslie Korn’s Integrative Health course, Heidi brings a holistic lens to every session.

Heidi has lived this transformation herself. After discovering how nutritional changes reduced her own anxiety and boosted her sense of joy, she made it her mission to offer this same path to her clients. This isn’t theory for her; it’s personal.

Who This Therapy Is For

This integrative nutrition and mental health approach is a good fit if you:

• Experience anxiety or depression that hasn’t fully responded to talk therapy alone
• Deal with brain fog, low motivation, or chronic fatigue
• Struggle with body composition or weight changes that are affecting your mood and energy

Want to understand how your daily habits are contributing to how you feel emotionally? Are you ready to make meaningful lifestyle changes with professional support? Prefer a holistic, whole-person approach to healing.

Services are available in English and in Spanish (en español) for bilingual clients in Colorado Springs and across Colorado via online counseling.

Meet Heidi Schnakenberg, LPC; Your Integrative Wellness Therapist

Heidi Schnakenberg has been a licensed therapist for over 20 years. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004, and her Master’s in Community Counseling from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs in 2010. She became a Licensed Professional Counselor in 2012 after passing the National Counselor Exam and completing 2,000+ hours of clinical experience.

After founding Solace Solutions Counseling and Evaluation in 2019, Heidi expanded her focus to include the powerful role that nutrition and exercise play in mental health. She completed a Complementary/Alternative Medicine and Integrative Health course under Dr. Leslie Korn and has since incorporated this knowledge into her clinical practice.

Heidi is bilingual and offers therapy in both English and Spanish. She is passionate about helping clients take practical, meaningful steps toward a life that feels better, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Does nutrition really affect mental health?

Yes, the research is clear. The gut and brain are deeply connected, and the foods you eat directly influence the neurotransmitters that regulate your mood, energy, and stress response. Nutritional changes alone won’t replace therapy, but combined with evidence-based counseling, they can significantly amplify results.

Is this a diet program or therapy?

This is therapy, not a diet plan. Heidi is a licensed professional counselor, not a nutritionist. The focus is on evaluating how your lifestyle habits are contributing to your emotional distress and making supportive changes alongside therapeutic work. She does not prescribe diets or replace medical care.

Do you offer online sessions?

Yes. Online counseling is available throughout Colorado, so you can access integrative mental health support from home. In-person sessions are also available in Colorado Springs.

Do you offer sessions in Spanish?

Yes. Heidi is bilingual and can provide all services in both English and Spanish (Terapia en Español).

How do I get started?

The easiest first step is to schedule an intake call with our intake coordinator. They’ll answer your questions and match you with the right therapist for your needs. You can also reach us directly at (719) 625-0472 or email hello@solacecounseling.care.

Ready to Fuel Your Body and Free Your Mind?

You don’t have to keep feeling stuck. Whether you’re battling anxiety, depression, or just a persistent sense that something is off, there’s more that can be done. Heidi would love to help you explore how nutrition and lifestyle changes, combined with proven therapeutic techniques, can help you finally feel like yourself again.

Call us today at (719) 625-0472 or schedule your intake call online to take your first step toward a brighter future.

Serving Colorado Springs and all of Colorado via online counseling.