Arlene Andrews-MacGuinness is accustomed to working with parents of “picky eaters”.

At her practice, Anew — Advanced Nutrition, Exercise and Wellness — she helps clients across their lifespan, from paediatrics to sports nutrition, weight management to chronic illness.

But the dietitian found a new perspective when she discovered her first child had special needs. Five-year-old Jonah has speech apraxia, an oral motor speech disorder. The family have been travelling to and from Boston for further assessment.

“Being on the other side of the healthcare equation has been a tremendous learning experience,” the mother-of-two said.

“I’ve been lucky that over the past two years I’ve had the opportunity to meet psychologists, occupational therapists, behaviour therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists — you name it.”

Mrs Andrews-MacGuinness said that a multidisciplinary approach was needed to tackle many of the island’s healthcare issues.

She has completed her certification in Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy an evidence-based approach to nutrition care.

“Integrative and Functional Nutrition therapy is a leading-edge, evidence-based, and comprehensive approach to patient care that focuses on identifying root causes and system imbalances to significantly improve patient health outcomes,” she explained.

As such, she is keen to start a round table of experts to better address her clients’ needs.

“That’s why I have a conference table in my office — not only to do group sessions with my clients but also to do group meetings with other healthcare professionals, so that you don’t have a parent that’s constantly repeating their story.”

Jonah’s difficulties have bolstered her interest in paediatrics. “Obviously, he’s been a big influence on me,” she said.

“When you go through something like that it increases your own empathy and compassion, which I think is important as a healthcare professional. I cover nutrition through the lifespan, but I am going to have an emphasis on paediatrics because early intervention is key — not only for kids with special needs but all children.”

A keen public speaker, Mrs Andrews-MacGuinness gave a presentation at Tomorrow’s Voices alongside two of their behaviour therapists on food parenting skills.

She enjoyed the collaboration.

“I’m really dedicated to getting off the ground a more integrated approach with other healthcare professionals,” she said.

“I’m a dietitian. A speech therapist may hear a parent speaking and may be able to pick up something about why that child is having issues with feeding.”

She said it was not just about looking at what we’re feeding our kids, but “how” and “why”.

“Do we really have a picky eater on our hands or is that something that’s going on in the house?” she asked. “With children, it is less about nutrition and more about feeding behaviour.

“By focusing on food parenting skills [we can] help families navigate the tricky aspects of feeding practices, set up structure and boundaries, allow choices and encourage autonomy with food and eating.

“If a child has special needs, you wouldn’t be able to cure that with some of these things, but it’s a matter of being able to decrease the behavioural challenges.

“They have so much potential if they get what they need early on.”

Mrs Andrews-MacGuinness has always focused on “community nutrition”. During the course of her 20-year career, she handled administrative dietetics at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and Mawi, then known as St Brendan’s; she worked with the national cricket and football teams and many of the island’s physiotherapists.

“We are one of the heaviest countries in the world,” she said.

“It’s very difficult to reverse that, so I think we need to start putting more of an emphasis in prevention.

“If you have a chronic disease, what you’re eating is important, but we have to look past the what and really look at behaviour modifications.

“I can speak for hours to somebody about what they should and shouldn’t be eating, but it’s helping them find the internal motivators that will spur them on to make the lifestyle changes.”

Her Lifesteps weight management programme addresses just that. She said her experience had been a lesson in establishing a strong relationship with your practitioners. Sessions are often held in the garden with “walk and talk” follow-ups at the nearby Botanical Gardens.

She is also a facilitator of Craving Change, Canada’s number one behavioural therapy programme for weight management.

“It’s not just about what you eat any more. I think we need to start digging deeper with people and giving them the skills to make the changes,” she said.

“As a Bermudian, I understand the barriers that we encounter trying to adhere to a healthy lifestyle [such as] the cost of food and a large population of people having to work more than one job to make ends meet.”

A member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, she said: “I’m seeing a lot of the stuff that they’re doing in the US and introducing it now in Bermuda.”

Her model focuses on IFMNT as well as intuitive and mindful eating — healing relationship with food and body image.

“We’re creating habits early. We’re not talking about breaking habits later on in life, which is 20 times harder to do.

“I look forward to being part of the solution as we move forward to reduce healthcare costs in Bermuda.”

• To learn more e-mail: anew.bda@gmail.com or visit: facebook.com/AnewAdvacedNutritionExerciseandWellness