MSW Student Shares Passion for Eating Disorder Treatment
Growing up as a student-athlete, MSW student Kara Guinan was often surrounded by disordered eating. This concern led her to pursue a bachelor's degree in nutrition and exercise science at Keene State College in New Hampshire. While finishing her undergraduate coursework during the height of the pandemic, Guinan took an epidemiology class where she was introduced to different social, environmental, and biological factors that shape health outcomes.
After graduating with her undergraduate degree, she accepted her first job as a nutrition educator at Canopy Cove, an eating disorder treatment center in Tallahassee, Florida. "This experience shaped my passion for working with individuals with eating disorders," She expressed. "Eating disorders are not a choice, they are far more complex than food alone, and affect people of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds."
She knew she wanted her future work as a dietitian to go beyond nutrition counseling. She wanted to understand and address the underlying challenges that affect an individual's ability to achieve health and well-being. Guinan decided to pursue her Master of Social Work degree from the FSU College of Social Work in 2024. During her first class, Professor Rosalyn Deckerhoff shared a message that stayed with her throughout the program: "Social work chooses you." For Guinan, social work became the missing piece that connected her passion for nutrition with her commitment to helping individuals overcome challenges.
"Each course has discussed the importance of addressing the whole person and through a biopsychosocial lens," she stressed, "a perspective that remains central to how I approach treatment, including eating disorder treatment and recovery."
Throughout her coursework, Guinan has found additional opportunities to support individuals with eating disorders. In her Human Behavior and the Social Environment course, adjunct instructor Charlotte Austin assigned students to describe a population they care about, connect it to the Grand Challenges of Social Work, and craft a letter to the editor for a local newspaper. Guinan chose to focus on individuals with eating disorders, connecting the issue to the Grand Challenges of Ensuring Healthy Development for Youth and Closing the Health Gap. She decided to submit her letter, and an editor invited her to expand it, which was later published as an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat.
Even as a busy MSW student completing her coursework, Guinan continued supporting individuals with eating disorders through a virtual treatment program, providing direct support to clients in recovery. She is also a graduate assistant with the Florida Institute for Child Welfare. Beyond academics, Guinan enjoys distance running and sharing her passion for the sport through coaching and mentorship. She previously coached the Women's Cross Country Team at Tallahassee State College and was a mentor through the College of Social Work Arts and Athletics Program.
This summer, Guinan will complete her final internship at a local private practice that provides psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families. "I will graduate with my MSW and from there begin dietetic rotations with the FSU dietetic internship program," she shared. "I am stoked about my future and career! My overarching goal is to help reshape the way we approach health by integrating nutrition, mental health and physical activity into treatment and prevention for both physical and mental conditions."
Guinan also emphasizes the important role that families, caregivers and other support systems play in the recovery process. "I think one of the most meaningful ways to support someone with an eating disorder is by modeling a healthy, flexible, and nonrestrictive relationship with food and body image, which is not easy to do," she shared. "This might look like taking time for meals and snacks, eating consistently throughout the day, sharing family meals and refraining from negative food or body talk."
She also shared some examples of local, regional and national resources related to eating disorders:
Local (Tallahassee)
Regional/Virtual
- Monte Nido
- Within Health
- Eating Recovery Center
- Alsana
- Equip Health
- The Eating Disorder Trap Podcast
National Resources
- Life without Ed by Jenni Schaefer
- National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA)
- National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), free helpline at 1-888-375-7767
- Project Heal