Soul Sisters United! Welcome to Episode 35!

4SoberChicks

Shelly-Anne Mckay is a compassionate and intuitive Food Addiction Coach with a Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation with the International Coaching Federation. After a 24-year struggle with alcohol and street drug addictions, she found sobriety and surprisingly discovered she struggled with ultra-processed food addiction. Her dedication to overcome and heal from this led to the creation of a Professional Food Addiction Coach Certification program. The program is certified by the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaches (NBHWC USA), the International Association for Professional Recovery Coaches (IAPRC USA), and Health Coach Alliance (HCA Canada). Shelly-Anne's mission is to educate wellness professionals to effectively support those struggling with food addiction, and to end the suffering many experience navigating their relationship with food.

She believes the path to recovery is highly individual. In March 2023, she founded Soul Sisters United, an online secure and private community platform making recovery accessible to women, particularly in underserved, remote, or unsafe communities. The platform offers a sisterhood of support with a team of compassionate, highly credentialed professionals, each dedicated to helping women live joyfully, healthily, and free from emotional eating and food addiction. As a recognized expert, Shelly-Anne has shared her insights on numerous podcasts and in magazines, covering topics like food addiction, mental health, and holistic wellness. She upholds the highest coaching standards globally, serving as the Director of Coach Credentialing and Certification with the International Association for Professional Recovery Coaches (IAPRC).

In this role, she trains and mentors hundreds of addiction recovery coaches globally, contributing to the highest standards in recovery coaching worldwide. With over three decades of experience in coaching, business, media, and communications, Shelly-Anne is also a mentor coach, speaker, and producer in film, television, and digital media. She co-founded a Boutique Holistic Wellness agency specializing in bespoke private coaching services, workshops, and retreats for organizations with a desire to support individuals in their care to prevent addiction and preserve mental health. Living the philosophy she preaches, Shelly-Anne is deeply committed to her personal recovery journey, demonstrating resilience, hope, and healing. She aims to help others heal from trauma and is open to innovative healing modalities.

Elena Garcia - I´ve always used food as a self-soothing mechanism. Childhood has its ups, but downs as well. Resorting to food after a rough patch with the family once or twice doesn´t sound that bad right? Multiply the number of rough patches across the years though, and I now understand why in my early 30s I got to wear 4x pants and could eat a whole family-size cheesecake by myself, sitting in my car in a parking lot to cope with work-related burnout.

After a stress breakdown, moving countries, and releasing some weight, I started prioritizing my own mental health. I got so intrigued about how it works that it led me to pursue a degree in Psychology. I learned how thoughts and emotions influence our decisions and conduct, from deciding what to eat for dinner to neglecting our body for years. I now hold a Masters in Clinicial Psychology and have a private practice as a Licenced Holistic Therapist. When I met Shelly-Anne, her idea of building a new relationship with food inspired me to embark on a journey to heal my mind and body: I became a Professional Food Addiction Coach, and with the knowledge and skills I aquired to help others, I was able to help myself as well. I released 155 pounds of stress and poor decisions, reclaiming my healthy body and experiencing the vitality I felt was missing, in a compassionate, mindful way. This personal journey further reinforced the importance of mental and physical well-being and inspired me to help others struggling with similar challenges.

Now, my passion as Vice President of Soul Sisters United is to build a supportive community for women, and create safe spaces for my clients to work on their own ways to heal. In these sacred spaces, we team up to address damaging paradigms and habits that might be affecting mental and physical health with a a goal to foster strategies for a thriving, joyful, and compassionate life.