Team
Team
Your Head and Hands Experience!
Imagine a team
combining the skills of a Professional Culinary Chef
and Professor and a Board Certified Clinical Psychologist.
We have combined our years of skills and experience to create a unique program.
We are not merely interested in weight loss, but in helping you rid yourself of excess pounds, creating better physical and psychological habits thereby:
- Improving your overall health
- Minimizing your negative health conditions
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Developing approaches to meal planning and eating that will carry on for years to come
- Working in collaboration with your trusted medical practitioner.
MaryElizabeth (MB) Hamel, CEC®, M.S.
Culinary Director
MaryElizabeth (MB) Hamel, CEC ®, M.S. is a classically trained Certified Executive Chef with experience in fine dining restaurants, premier Washington, DC, and Southern VA private chef events, and restaurant management. Also trained in Clinical Psychology, she shares her love of both fields in professional instruction with budding chefs as a Culinary and Hospitality Chef and Psychology Instructor in VA and Baltimore area Culinary and Holistic Nutrition Schools. Her private clients in the Washington, DC and Hampton Roads areas include a base of medical and nutritional rehabilitation patients, families, and individual professionals on the go.
Her team features an arsenal of the area’s most talented culinary, pastry, and beverage personalities. She is thrilled to bring her experience and dedication to whole foods eating, clean living, and her passion for local agriculture, to support your individual goals.
In her free time, Chef MB enjoys fostering and volunteering with dogs, community supported agriculture, and clean water initiatives. She resides with her family in Chesapeake, VA.
Stephen H. Hamel, Ph.D., ABPP
Board Certified Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Hamel is a Ph.D. Board Certified, licensed clinical psychologist in both Virginia and New Jersey.
Dr. Hamel holds the distinction of being Board Certified in counseling psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). This is a very special distinction as only 5% of eligible licensed psychologists are board certified! It denotes special competencies acquired through an organized sequence of formal education, training, and experience.
Dr. Hamel holds the distinction of being Board Certified in counseling psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). This is a very special distinction as only 5% of eligible licensed psychologists are board certified! It denotes special competencies acquired through an organized sequence of formal education, training, and experience.
Further, he holds two additional diplomates (which are additional certifications as a specialist by an examining board) in both Behavioral Medicine and Professional Counseling through the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Professional Counseling and Psychotherapy.
Dr. Hamel also has formal training in medicine and nursing and was part of a pilot program with the New Jersey Psychological Association that earned him a BSN in Nursing a license as a RN. This training gives him even greater insight into the physical as well as the mental world of individuals and insures that all areas of the patient's problems and well-being are explored.
Weight loss and management has been a special interest. In the late '80s he directed the psychological segment of a weight loss program made famous by Oprah Winfrey. Since then, he has continued to work with individuals and groups in this exciting but difficult area.
In his free time, Dr. Hamel enjoys volunteering with the Old Dominion Greyhound Animal Rescue, any and all beach activities, and vintage car shows. He currently resides in Norfolk, VA, with his wife and greyhound racing rescue pup, "Moo".
