Scale Up Your Practice by Obesity Canada
Scale Up Your Practice by Obesity Canada
Podcast Description
Tune into Scale Up Your Practice, Obesity Canada’s podcast for healthcare professionals.
Hosted by Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan, each episode dives into practical, evidence-informed conversations about obesity care—covering topics like weight stigma, patient-centered approaches, and the connection between obesity and other health conditions.
You’ll hear expert perspectives, real-world experiences, and insights to help you provide better, more compassionate care.
Listen now and scale up your practice.
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast centers on various themes including obesity stigma, patient-centered care, and the relationship between obesity and other health conditions, with episodes discussing topics like weight stigma in healthcare, the Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines, and behavioral change in clinical practice.
Tune into Scale Up Your Practice, Obesity Canada’s podcast for healthcare professionals.
Hosted by Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan, each episode dives into practical, evidence-informed conversations about obesity care—covering topics like weight stigma, patient-centered approaches, and the connection between obesity and other health conditions.
You’ll hear expert perspectives, real-world experiences, and insights to help you provide better, more compassionate care.
Listen now and scale up your practice.
🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
🎙️This episode is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Eli Lilly Canada.
When conversations about obesity focus only on food, movement, or medications, something essential gets missed. Mental health is not an add-on in obesity care. It’s foundational.
In this episode of Scale Up Your Practice, we’re joined by Dr. Sanjeev Sockalingam, psychiatrist, researcher, Scientific Director of Obesity Canada, and co-author of the mental health chapter of the Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines.
We discuss how mental health intersects with obesity across the lifespan, and why addressing depression, anxiety, trauma, disordered eating, sleep, and weight bias is essential to providing compassionate, evidence-based care. Dr. Sockalingam shares practical insights clinicians can apply in everyday practice to strengthen patient relationships, reduce stigma, and support long-term health.
In this episode:
Why mental health matters in obesity care: How psychological health is both a driver and complication of obesity, and why it must be integrated into assessment and treatment.
Recognizing and reducing weight bias in care: Where stigma shows up in clinical conversations and systems, and how language and validation can reshape patient experience.
Practical strategies for real-world practice: Simple, time-efficient ways to screen for mental health concerns, address disordered eating, and support patients beyond lifestyle-only advice.
What treatment can and can’t do on its own: How medications may influence appetite and eating behaviours, and when additional psychological support is essential.
Additional Resources
Research: The Cost of Inaction in Treating Obesity: https://utm.guru/ujsc2
Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines: https://utm.guru/ujsc4
Learn more about the intersection of sleep & obesity in episode 13 with Dr. Michael Mak: https://utm.guru/ujsc5
Free courses:
Intro to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Behavioural Change in Obesity Care: https://utm.guru/ujsc6
Intro to Behavioural Change Counselling for Obesity: https://utm.guru/ujsc7
Exploring the Role of Mental Health & Psychological Interventions in Obesity Management: https://utm.guru/ujsc9
📣 Register for the Canadian Obesity Summit 2026
Obesity Canada’s flagship scientific congress returns March 25–29, 2026 in Montréal. Join researchers, healthcare professionals, policy leaders, and people with lived experience for five days of learning, collaboration, and community—centered on this year’s theme: obesity across the lifespan, connecting research to real-world care.
Registration is open now and tickets are already selling fast.
Register today:https://utm.guru/ujsc1
🎧 Season one finale
This episode marks the final episode of season one of Scale Up Your Practice. Thank you for listening and being part of this first season of the podcast. We’ll be back after a short break with season two in 2026, bringing more conversations to support compassionate, evidence-based obesity care.
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