Shelby Burns, MD, RD, LDN

Shelby Burns is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist specializing in women’s mental health and the nutritional support of hormonal and reproductive life transitions. At Psychiatry for Women, Shelby works closely with the psychiatric team to support women across the perinatal period, postpartum, perimenopause, and midlife, where shifts in hormones, metabolism, and mental health often intersect.

A defining feature of Shelby’s role at Psychiatry for Women is her close collaboration with the clinical team. She participates in regular interdisciplinary case discussions and weekly team meetings, allowing nutrition care to be thoughtfully integrated with psychiatric treatment. This collaborative approach ensures that nutrition recommendations align with each patient’s mental health goals, medication plan, and lived experience.

Shelby’s work focuses on helping women use nutrition as a stabilizing and supportive tool during times of hormonal change, psychiatric treatment, and life stress. Her approach is evidence-based, compassionate, and practical—emphasizing consistency, nourishment, and flexibility rather than rigid rules or dieting. She helps patients navigate appetite changes, body image shifts, and metabolic concerns, including those that arise in the context of psychiatric medications or GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Grounded in a non-diet, whole-person philosophy, Shelby supports women in building a more peaceful relationship with food while honoring the realities of busy lives, caregiving, and evolving bodies. She believes deeply that all foods can fit, and that sustainable mental and physical health comes from balance, self-compassion, and realistic support.

At Psychiatry for Women, Shelby’s goal is to help patients feel informed, supported, and empowered—using nutrition as one integrated part of comprehensive, women-centered psychiatric care.