Join us as Julie Ohana L.M.S.W., talks fostering mindfulness and communication through the culinary arts.
Step into our conversation kitchen where the art of baking transforms into a therapeutic masterpiece, proving that the heart can heal where the hands are busy. We'll share tales of how social media has baked a wider network of culinary therapy enthusiasts, fostering a melting pot of collaboration. Julie's story will unfold, showcasing the weaved patterns of personalized therapy sessions, the mindful rhythms of stirring and kneading, and the sheer delight that comes from the alchemy of turning simple ingredients into a feast that feeds more than just our bodies.
Lastly, we serve you a slice of the profound impact that culinary art therapy can have, as we recount stories that leave a lingering taste of hope and resilience. From tales of a child finding confidence through the craft of cooking to the empowering nature of organizations like Cake Therapy, this episode is a testament to the limitless potential within us all to find healing and connection through the culinary arts. Tune in and be inspired as we explore the savory side of therapy, one recipe at a time.
Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Share the episodes and let's chat in the comments.
Support the Cake Therapy Foundation:
1. Cake Therapy - Cake Therapy (thecaketherapyfoundation.org)
2 Buy Me A Coffee : The Cake Therapy Foundation (buymeacoffee.com)
3. Buy The Book: Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life https://a.co/d/76dZ5T0
Follow Sugarspoon Desserts on all social media platforms @sugarspoondesserts
Join us as Julie Ohana L.M.S.W., talks fostering mindfulness and communication through the culinary arts.
Step into our conversation kitchen where the art of baking transforms into a therapeutic masterpiece, proving that the heart can heal where the hands are busy. We'll share tales of how social media has baked a wider network of culinary therapy enthusiasts, fostering a melting pot of collaboration. Julie's story will unfold, showcasing the weaved patterns of personalized therapy sessions, the mindful rhythms of stirring and kneading, and the sheer delight that comes from the alchemy of turning simple ingredients into a feast that feeds more than just our bodies.
Lastly, we serve you a slice of the profound impact that culinary art therapy can have, as we recount stories that leave a lingering taste of hope and resilience. From tales of a child finding confidence through the craft of cooking to the empowering nature of organizations like Cake Therapy, this episode is a testament to the limitless potential within us all to find healing and connection through the culinary arts. Tune in and be inspired as we explore the savory side of therapy, one recipe at a time.
Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Share the episodes and let's chat in the comments.
Support the Cake Therapy Foundation:
1. Cake Therapy - Cake Therapy (thecaketherapyfoundation.org)
2 Buy Me A Coffee : The Cake Therapy Foundation (buymeacoffee.com)
3. Buy The Book: Cake Therapy: How Baking Changed My Life https://a.co/d/76dZ5T0
Follow Sugarspoon Desserts on all social media platforms @sugarspoondesserts
Welcome to the Cake Therapy podcast a slice of joy and healing, with your host, Dr Altricia Foster. This is a heartwarming and uplifting space that celebrates the transformative power of baking therapy. The conversations will be a delightful blend of inspirational stories, expert insights and practical baking tips. Each episode will take listeners on a journey of self-discovery, emotional healing and connection through the therapeutic art of baking. There's something here for everyone, so lock in and let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone, welcome back to the Cake Therapy podcast, your slice of joy and healing. So today we have, like, an exciting guest, someone who's a favorite of mine in the culinary art field. Three years ago I stumbled upon Julie's website and I've been a fan. I watched Julie cook. You know her Instagram feed is to die for. So who is Julie? You know Julie is. She's earned her BA in counseling from SUNY Empire State College in 2001. She is a social worker and she's had the honor and privilege of sharing her skills with a number of people across the US and across the world. Her culinary, her form of therapy, is blended with food and love and passion, and I'm really excited to have her here today. So welcome Julie.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It is such a joy to be here with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. So tell us a little bit more about who Julie is. I've been dying, you know. I've been dying to know who you are, so share with our listeners and with me, of course, who's Julie yeah, so it's really.
Speaker 3:you know, I wish I had some like crazy exciting story to tell, but really it all started for me as a young girl sitting. I can picture myself sitting in one of those like little tight plastic, like toddler chairs that was perched in front of the oven in my parents, my home, my mom's kitchen.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And watching. I don't even know what was in the oven, but just sitting there with my mom and my sister next to me and having this experience in the kitchen, that was just really like you said. It's all about wrapped up in love and right from a very young age just knew that something magical could happen in the kitchen and so much of those experiences that you know we spend cooking and gathering and connecting with people all around food really did foster so many wonderful benefits to for ourselves and for that I knew there was something there. So when I was in graduate school flash forward now about you know 20 some years we had to write a master's thesis and we could write a topic on whatever we wanted. Yeah, I don't even think I ever considered anything else other than writing about how cooking can be therapeutic. So that's what I did and doing research back then.
Speaker 3:This was. This was about 25 years ago, no, about 20 years ago. The topic was the research. Capabilities were very different and it was very it was. It was a struggle to find really good research, but what I did find is that lots of people and organizations were doing this kind of work. They just weren't calling it what I was calling it Okay. So it was really about making the connection and showing people the power of cooking, and that's where it all began.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you mentioned family. Tell me a little bit more about your family background. Do you have children, Like you know? Do you cook with them? Yeah, tell me a little bit more about you.
Speaker 3:So I grew up, I have one older sister and my parents and grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and of course I think, like many families, so many of our holidays and our rituals are centered around food and meals. So that was really ingrained in me and so much a part of my culture, my Jewish culture, about those, those food memories. And when I got married to my wonderful husband, who also loves to cook and he's a wonderful cook, and we have two kids, we have a 11 and a half year old son, who is quite the food chemist, and my 13 year old daughter, who's more of the baker. They love being in the kitchen and I think they you know we've tried to instill in them right here, where all the magic happens that the kitchen is a place for people to gather and to connect and express their feelings and express connection and you know, good or bad, it's a place where it can all be shared. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So you did mention that you are of the Jewish faith and I wanted to pause on that knowledge to find out, like how are you doing? Is your family okay? Do you still have family members in Israel? Like, how are you doing in this moment? How is everything going?
Speaker 3:I appreciate that a lot. My I lived in Israel for a number of years and I do have Israeli citizenship and my husband is Israeli. My mother-in-law, brother-in-law, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins are in Israel. They are alive, they are energized. It's terrifying times and, as a people, we are struggling and I definitely you know, I'm sure you see on my Instagram page, which was a very conscious thought Do I share that with the world or not? And I think important. I am a deep believer in being authentic, be authentically ourselves, and so much of that is wrapped up in my culture and my religion and my faith. So that's how we're showing our feelings, good or bad, coming through in the kitchen and our comfort food, our need for comfort food right now, and just hoping for peace for everyone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, what I do notice and I can appreciate about you, julie, is you know the science and the importance of what food does, and I noticed that how you've been bringing everyone together on your feet, your feet, around food. You're using food as the tool that you know you're so familiar with to really go through and deal with, like, what's going on. So kudos to you, man. Like you've empowered a lot of us foodies to really tap into what's there and the power of what you know baking or cooking can do for them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know I say this in sessions all the time that there's so much in this world that we cannot control right. We don't have the power and the control over so much. And that really is one of the benefits of being in the kitchen is that we do have that sense of control, we do have a sense of ownership, and I think in times like these that are just so many people are just feeling so powerless. Yeah, and it can help alleviate some of that by feeling like there is some sense of control in our lives. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, for me it's. I've been getting to know you from the electronic side of things and what I've found out is that Julie has been like really owning and fostering this dream of the culinary arts, you know, since she was a child. I read somewhere that you were managing the kitchen at your summer camp. Girl, tell me about that experience and share with our listeners, right so?
Speaker 3:yeah, I grew up going to the summer camp. That actually is the same camp where my kids go now, which is amazing and definitely a home away from home, and I spent a couple of summers as a counselor, you know, being in a bunk with younger kids, which was wonderful.
Speaker 1:But at that time.
Speaker 3:I felt most comfortable in the kitchen, so that's how I was able to pitch in and show my support and help of this place that I love so much was by managing the kitchen, which was great, and I'm laughing because I actually spent a week there this past summer volunteering helping them in the kitchen. And I just laugh because the way that you know it works as a 45 year old versus doing it as an 18 and a 19 year old was very different, right, um, but it was fun. It was fun. It was hard work, it's exhausting, but there, to me, there's no better way to show your love than by nurturing people, by feeding them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so growing up for you, where you you were, you know your family, really fellowship around food. As a teenager, or even a preteen, were you actively in the kitchen. I was, as you were, in the kitchen, what was, what was like baking, doing for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question. I think back, I think I was in high school, probably early high school, so maybe I was 14-ish. I remember coming home from school and you know everybody talks about like kids come home from school and they're just starving and they just want a snack. And for me, yes, they came home starving and wanted that snack, but for me it was actually more about preparing the food. And it was later in life that I realized, you know, when we come home from a long day, it's really important to have that time to decompress. Yeah, and that's what I was doing.
Speaker 3:I took to the kitchen. I remember chopping vegetables and making salads and making, you know, mixtures of vegetables and cream cheese and puff pastry. It was about the process to be created, that process of unwinding and decompressing and being able to kind of be reflective of the day. That was so that I could move forward and recharge and continue on with my day. So I very much remember doing that at that age and I'm sure at the time I don't know, I don't know that I realized what I was doing. I thought I was getting my own snack, yeah, but it really was. Later, when I looked back and I realized oh, that's what I was doing.
Speaker 2:That's what was going on, yeah, and it's important, I believe to be to find a space in your day where you can actually decompress, even as a child, right, because there's got to be some transition from just going going through the rigorous, I would say, class schedule, coming home and then unwinding and to be able to do other things.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That energy has to go somewhere for kids and for adults. Even now, you know, I most of the time I do most of my sessions virtually, so I work from home and one of my favorite parts about my job is I go from sessions to having a break and I'll prep dinner for my family or myself lunch, and I really that that ability to kind of use both sides of my brain to go from the professional to the personal and do that decompressing and that recharging for myself, in my vision is just it's one of the things that I I appreciate the most throughout my day and you know what I could tell because, like, when I browse your, your Instagram timeline, the food is just so colorful but I could tell you're actually doing something that you really love.
Speaker 2:And you had mentioned earlier about being authentic and your authenticity shows. It shows on your page, it shows how you do your food, you present your food and it shows that cooking is an integral part of who you are. So kudos to you for doing that. And, yeah, and I thought about, I thought about you and you know the work you do as I was writing my book and as I was leaning into the cake therapy because, as I was leaning into cake therapy, I was like, who else is doing this?
Speaker 2:What is the science saying? Like, and and that's when I stumbled on you, right, and yeah, it really, it really did send me to you because I knew that I understood the power of what baking was doing for me, that it was healing me in the moments when I was doing it. I wanted to know if the science was saying the same thing. You know what I'm feeling is science saying that this is occurring. So I was really happy about that. And then, leading into this podcast and the release of my book, I definitely thought that I needed to shine the light and alternative forms of therapy. You know, in my case it was baking, mind you. You know I'm not a therapist, but through the cake therapy foundation and the interactions with other therapists and licensing professions, you know I did figure out that baking could truly be a medium of therapy. So tell me about how you, how you decided to incorporate this work into what Julie does as a therapist.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's so interesting because for many years I kind of kept it separate. You know, it was something I do talk therapy and I do culinary art therapy and they definitely have moments where they are separate. A lot of group sessions with culinary art therapy, which is group work in general, is very different and I love it so much. But now as I'm working I'm realizing that there's so many ways, there's so many techniques from culinary art therapy to integrate it even into talk therapy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:People are. This is how the world is evolving, which is so exciting to me. People want, they're craving, they're open to alternative approaches, they want the ability to do things in a unique way that works for them. You know, therapy, like so many other professions and approaches in life, can't be cookie cutter. It can't be no pun intended. Yeah, it really is not supposed to be like a one size fits all. People are all different and we all have different needs. Yeah, it's really about figuring out what are the tools that I can use from culinary art therapy and integrate it into my practice on a regular basis.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, so writing a master's thesis around. You know the therapeutic value of cooking, you know, no doubt, I think kind of gave you a blueprint, you know, to see how this was definitely going to work. And as you were emerging these things, what, at what point? At what point did you realize that, wow, this is really transforming my patient's lives? Like, when did you get that?
Speaker 3:aha, it did not happen during the writing of my thesis. Yeah, because back then I felt very alone in this field. I felt like I was kind of the crazy one and, you know, were people going to look at me crazy and think like this is so out there. You know what are you talking about and it really it has been an evolution since that point 20 years ago. Those is just so different and people are so much more open-minded and we're also so, you know, we're able to connect more. That's how we wouldn't have met 20 years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And that is definitely. I will give social media that credit, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That is definitely one of the pluses, and there, really, there are a group of us that really do similar work and that want to collaborate and want to grow this field and want to, you know, share it with the world and get it all out there so that more people can be positively impacted.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, because I do see a lot of alignment with cake therapy, culinary art therapy. So I'm really excited about some future collaboration of us in the kitchen in the future. Girls, I'm definitely looking forward to something like that. You once wrote that culinary art therapy is a delicious therapeutic experience. You know you mentioned that there was a reverence to the process of preparing food from scratch, cooking it on and then all enjoying it. Everyone's enjoying that food. So there's reverence, there's community, there's kingshift and that sounds like the perfect backdrop for exploring, releasing and healing. You call them powerful experiences. Walk us through working with a client or a group for a session.
Speaker 3:So every session looks a little bit different because, like I said, we're all different, we all have different needs, but the framework of how I do my sessions tends to be somewhat similar.
Speaker 3:So, I always start with a questionnaire that I give my client, just for me to get to know who's coming to me, what are their goals for themselves, what are their needs, what are their food preferences, what are their favorite flavors? Do they have any allergies? Do they have any food inversions? What's the relationship with food been like? You know, when it's coming from a place of trauma, that's looking very different than someone that's coming from a place of a positive experience. It's very different. And it's not to say they both aren't powerful, they just. I need to be sensitive and come into the session differently, to approach those two things differently. So I gather as much information as I can. Once I have all that information, then I make a suggestion of a menu or a recipe that will be cooking in the session. I always want my clients to say yes or no to they're in charge and then we cook. Sometimes I'm cooking along with my clients. Sometimes I'm not cooking, but I'm guiding them, I'm coaching them, I'm being the therapist.
Speaker 3:I'm focused in my mindset of discussion and questions and allowing them to really learn from the experience and learn from the things that are coming up during the presentation, and then there's always a summary discussion of what was this like, what did you learn, what did you realize, what did you feel, and then, ideally, the client is then getting to enjoy their meal, whether that we're eating together or they're bringing it to a loved one, family members, friends, whatever it might be. But there's definitely that last piece of the experience is being able to enjoy the fruits of someone's hard work with people in their lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all about the accomplishment and the height, the pleasure that you get from having achieved that mindfulness Exactly, tell me for listeners, because we have listeners who are really entrenched in the cake community, because I own a premier baking company I'm joking, I own cake, sugar spoon desserts as well. So for some of our listeners who aren't aware of the term mindfulness, what is mindfulness, julie?
Speaker 3:So this is how I explain it. P I think most people are familiar with the idea of Meditation, right, you pick picture somebody doing a yoga class and they're sitting there. You know, legs cross their arms out, doing their breathing, count whatever they're doing and they're being present in the moment, and that that meditation Is a form of mindfulness. Now, if you're like me and you have a hard time Sitting still, yeah.
Speaker 3:I can't do yoga, it's just like I I'm going, going, going. It's very hard to just Physically remain that, still to be present in that experience of mindfulness. Mm-hmm. Well, for me, I practice that by chopping vegetables, by kneading dough.
Speaker 3:By doing these repetitive motions, just like you would be whether you're counting or you're focusing on your breath. It allows the person to really be present in the moment, paying attention to the here and now and Leaving yesterday in the past and leaving tomorrow in the future and really focusing on today. That that is, to me, how I define mindfulness.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool. So in in in your sessions, like of cooking and you know being Intentional about being mindful in this space, it tends to engage one's senses. You mentioned also that it supports one's brain development, like food in itself. How, how does this happen, you know?
Speaker 3:There's so many the. You know, executive functioning is definitely getting a workout when you're in the kitchen Because you are, you're engaging so many senses, so many, so many things that you have to do. You know, when you picture you're working with the sharp knife, right, there's a safety element here that you have to be present in that moment because you don't want to get hurt, you don't want to cut yourself. So you have to be paying attention, you have to be mindful of your, your finger placement, how you're holding that knife, focusing, looking at what you're doing and really again throwing yourself into those moments, while also kind of thinking about, okay, what you know, what does this recipe take? What are the ingredients? Do I need? Do I need to preheat my oven and my mixing? What's coming up next? So it's that really good balance of right brain, left brain, senses and your brain just gets a workout.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, just sitting here and like listening to you describe how one's brain is being developed, you know, through the whole process of being in the kitchen, I I started thinking about like the stigma that's around traditional forms of therapy. Right, and Especially in places in the Caribbean, like where I'm from, where people tend to think that going to therapy means that they're mentally impaired or like it stains them, it stains their family. Do you think that combining like maybe talk there with with other modalities and Providing people with you know, alternatives altogether would get them, you know, working through some of these stuff?
Speaker 3:I sure do, I really do, and it's sad. I think you're right that there definitely are still lots of places in this world and lots of communities where there is still, unfortunately, a Stigma about therapy, that something is wrong with you if you're in the. But here's the thing we all have to eat, we all right, and chances are there's probably very few people that are going out to eat every single meal every single day. Do that? Yeah, what chances are people are doing some kind of food preparation, mm-hmm. So there definitely is less stigma there because it's if you're thinking about what you're doing. There's no stigma about cooking Mm-hmm. So if we can work in, you know, some therapeutic elements to that cooking process, I definitely think it provides a lower barrier for people to give it a try Because you're cooking.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and who doesn't like food? Right, doesn't like food. I think food is the one thing that we all have in common here. Like everyone likes to eat Things that are good, and people in general, even my kids, they like being in the kitchen making making their own food, and I see on my notes You're my producer, sent over like one of your favorite codes are one of the codes You've said in the parcels when a person has the ability to relax and engage in something creative, fun and expiring and inspiring, that, the ability to feel freer, more vulnerable, honest and ready to be connected or connect with the world and just yeah.
Speaker 3:So now that I compare that to for anybody who has kids, specifically like teenage kids, If you've ever been in the car.
Speaker 3:You're driving your Teenager sitting next to you. There's something magical that kind of happens that the teenager will feel a little bit more comfortable and able to open up, and I think that's because it's less intimidating. You're not sitting face-to-face, needing to make eye contact, having the pressure of knowing that all eyes are on you. There's kind of that side distraction of being in the car and driving. Yeah, the same thing when you're in the kitchen, when you know, yes, you're, you're working with me, you have a therapist right there, but you're kind of doing your thing, you're focused on what you're doing. You don't necessarily have to be looking at the eye or in the eye or feeling like you're being watched quite as closely, mm-hmm. That really does allow people to Feel a greater sense of comfort, which then allows them to want to open up more. Yeah, and the talking just kind of freeze, you know, flows a little bit freer.
Speaker 2:So do you think that the talking you know being freer? Is it coming from a Of you know, an association with food and memory? Like? What do you think is driving that conversation?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's probably a little bit different for everybody based on their past experiences. And then if you are, if you're like me and you're coming to a session with a really strong Positive past experience with food and cooking, yes, I think those positive memories Definitely evoke more positive feelings and it makes it easier for some people. It's just that pressure of like the less eye contact, the focusing on another movement. I think it's a little bit different for everybody and that's another benefit of it is that there's different parts that work in different ways for different based on what they, what they need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, because, like I, when I started baking I tell people the story all the time is like I started baking in the eighth month of my second pregnancy Just because I couldn't travel for work anymore, but then what I found from that is that all the repressed feelings that I had, yeah, for decades, yeah, they started to come up and emerge through this baking. I often wonder, like, is it me sitting still that caused all of this to happen? Or, like, what was it about this whole big process that brought me?
Speaker 3:to my knees. Yeah, it's a great question and I hope, scientifically it's one will have more evidence-based information one day. You know they. They say that the sense of smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. Yeah, and for me I think part of it being in the kitchen, especially with baking, when you know the aromas and the smells are just all over the place, I think that does cause a stir in memories and thoughts to come forward. Yeah, it's fascinating, it is a little process.
Speaker 2:It really is a beautiful process because I'm telling you, when, once I started baking, I started healing, right, no one got. That's what it happened. You know all of any form of childhood trauma that I experienced, yeah, I healed from because I actually baked. You know what? What stood out to me a lot in your work is that you've had, you had, many years of experiences working with adolescents and their parents, and when I read that I thought, hmm, you know, this kind of is working magic for me and my mom in the kitchen just baking. You know, and and that's why you know, when I started, when I thought about my nonprofit, the kick therapy foundation, and how I'm targeting just systems impacted girls Do you get to work a lot, you know, with the cross-section of impacted individuals in your practice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think so and I think you know, like you mentioned there, cooking is something that really does allow a place for people of all ages. All generations of you know such a Cultural like. It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, but cooking appeals and there's a need for everyone. Yeah, there is something really powerful when you do bring those different generations into the kitchen together, work on something together. It's, it really is a fantastic experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and not only is it fantastic, it's healing right, and it's healing from generational trauma, it's teaching women and girls how to communicate with their parents. There is a foundation and fundamental part of this that is really in improving communication, culinary therapy, and you know how it impacts families. Yes, talk to me a little bit more about how. What do you see? You know when? What emerges from this space? When Right.
Speaker 3:So, as we know, every family has, everybody plays their role, right, we all have our role, that we are in our family, whether it's the siblings, the parents. Everybody kind of takes on this unspoken Title, role, position in the family and the ability for those roles to shine through in the kitchen. It never ceases to amaze me, but you're able to address them, I think, in a very different way In the kitchen versus outside of the kitchen. Part of that is because you know that you're actually seeing it in action, which is, you're not talking in theory, you're not talking about something that happened in the past or Just in generalities. You're actually seeing it in real lifetime. And even though cooking and being in the kitchen is so important and it's so great, really when you think about it and I'm sure you've experienced this when you're baking Something doesn't turn out.
Speaker 3:It doesn't work out, it does it's not what you wanted it to be or what you anticipated it to be. The world's not gonna come to a crash and halt, right? And I think for so many families when you're talking how to roll, play out and you give them the opportunity To let them play out and and know that the stakes are low, that if things don't come out the way you want them to, it's okay. Yeah, we can learn from those failures or we can actually see the potential for things to work out when you don't think they will. Yeah, I remember working with a family years ago and there was a little boy in the family who was really kind of tapped as like the problem child and watching him in the kitchen with his family where he wanted to do things a certain way and nobody was really letting him because there's no way that he would be able to come up with something on his own that would be successful. And I stepped in and I said to the family hold on a second, he's not following the recipe, he's not. He's not doing it according to what the directions are. But let's let him try what. You know, what's the worst case if this, if this dessert doesn't turn out the way the recipe says? Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:And he, we did it his way. And the parents were kind of like, oh, okay, we'll go with it he did. To their credit, they were able to kind of pull it in and relinquish some of that control over to their, to their child. Yeah, he did it his way and it was amazing. It was. It was a success and for the, the, the power and the you know the degree of confidence that this helped this little boy feel and for his parents to see like he's capable. He can do things. Mm-hmm, it was huge and it was all about baking. Making this like no bake dessert.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you know, this is like a really perfect segue, I believe too or listeners who are girls you know who, the Cake Therapy Foundation, who would potentially impact, or who you know the foundation has impacted. Talk to them, julie, about where they are now and the potential of foundations such as, you know, cake therapy or even culinary art therapy or other traditional, the power that lies in that and how it will take them from where they are to where you know, we know and see you know they can be.
Speaker 3:Right. There are so many lessons and tools that can be learned in the kitchen that I think everybody hopefully has access to. You know, you don't need. This isn't about becoming a, you know, a James Beard Award winning chef. That's great, that's wonderful, but this isn't about that. This is about learning the skills and the tools to help yourself and to become the strong, powerful women that everybody should have the capability of being. Yeah, and I think being able to have that in the kitchen, being able to grow your confidence, being able to know that you can do something that helps nurture and takes care of not only yourself but people that you choose, that you love, is huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thank you for that message. So last week we interviewed Dee Dee Trotter I'm not sure if you're familiar. She's the Olympic, she's a gold medal winning Olympian who now bakes, and she had a similar message you know as yours. And what I want is this is the purpose of the Cake Therapy podcast is to bring like-minded or unlike-minded individuals who've tapped into their inner art you know the inner artists within them to be able to come and say talk therapy is important, but then alternative forms exist and we want you to use those tools so that you can be, you know, better individuals or contributing individuals to the community, absolutely. So what's in the works for Cake Therapy, culinary Art Therapy and Julie.
Speaker 3:So every day is something new. You know, I am constantly. This is a progression for me too. You know, my practice is always evolving. I think it's so important for us as humans to constantly be evolving and learning and growing and practicing. So I am doing that as well and I learn. You know, every time I get to have conversations with other great people, I learn as well, and I wrote a curriculum that I offer to other practitioners in the field who want to do this kind of work. Yeah, so I'm continuing to get that out into the world. Maybe a book might be in the future one day, we will see. Yeah, okay, but it's just. It's always about, you know, being able to help as many people as I can, however I can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I know at the top of the conversation you had mentioned about a community of like-minded individuals getting together and you know, being intentional about spreading the word, but not just only the word. What are the, what is the message that you're sending to individuals you know, such as myself, who want to do this work? Yeah, just leave a tad bit of encouragement for other individuals who see this and want to get into this space.
Speaker 3:Just know that they're. You know, unlike when I got started and I thought I was the only crazy person with this out there idea, there's a lot of us. There are a lot of us throughout all places of the world, which has been so exciting to be able to meet people, and it's growing. It's gonna only get bigger and better and I welcome and encourage everyone who wants to be a part of it to know that there's a place for you. Yeah, this, hopefully, you know, meant years from now, hopefully not that long for now, but one day this will become a known, you know, recognized field that only more people will be excited about and be positively impacted from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what excites me too about you know these groups or individuals such as yourself. It authenticates my own personal experience. That's right. I have like come into with food and the importance of that engagement. So I'm really excited, like you, about the future of you know the future of food, how it compliments talk, therapy and how it potentially changes other people's lives going forward. So tell us the listeners I know where to find you. Of course, tell our listeners how they can find you.
Speaker 3:Sure. So definitely find me on Instagram at culinary art therapy, Facebook too, and of course, you know, feel free my website, email me. My website is wwwcolonaryarttherapycom and my email is culinaryarttherapy at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and make sure you sign up for a session with Julie, like she does virtual sessions, you know, so you can get your virtual appointments in. What I want you to, you know, follow Julie as well on social media, like she had mentioned, her handles on Facebook. And also I'm asking you to support the Cake Therapy Foundation. You can go to buy me a coffee and support or our podcast there and our foundation to keep helping girls and individuals with like minds, like Julie and I, who believe that there's power in baking and cooking. I want to thank you so much, julie, for sharing your expertise and we're gonna have Julie back. She is the expert in this space.
Speaker 3:No way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so thank you so much, julie, for joining us. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure. It was a pleasure to have you and I'm honored that you said. You've said yes to us, of course, yeah. So thank you for joining the Cake Therapy podcast. Your slice of joy and healing is Mrs Julie Ohana from Culinary Art Therapy, so thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to the Cake Therapy podcast. Your support means the world to us. Let us know what you thought about today's episode in the comment section. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and if you found the conversation helpful, please share it with a friend. Also, follow Sugar Spoon Desserts on all social media platforms. We invite you to support Cake Therapy and the work we do with our foundation by clicking on the buy me a coffee link in the description or by visiting the Cake Therapy website and making a donation. All your support will go towards the Cake Therapy Foundation and the work we are doing to help women and girls. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next episode.