About me
I’m Karen Fry, an Accredited Practising Dietitian in Newcastle NSW, with over 25 years’ experience working across public health and private practice.
I support adolescents and adults who are navigating eating concerns, body image distress, chronic dieting, eating disorders, and complex health conditions, using a non-diet, weight-neutral approach grounded in evidence, care, and respect.
My work brings together medical nutrition expertise with a deep understanding of how eating is shaped by biology, psychology, lived experience, and environment.
How I work
Nutrition is a science — but eating is a behaviour.
In my practice, nutrition care blends:
Evidence-based nutrition science
Counselling and behaviour-change support
Trauma-informed, compassionate care
I aim to create a safe, non-judgemental space where clients can step out of shame and into care. Rather than prescribing rigid plans or food rules, I work collaboratively with clients to support nourishment, flexibility, and long-term wellbeing.
Experience and professional development
Over more than two decades of practice, I have undertaken extensive professional development in areas that support ethical, effective nutrition care, including:
Eating disorder treatment and recovery
Health at Every Size® (HAES®) and non-diet approaches
Trauma-informed care
Intuitive Eating
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Motivational interviewing and health coaching
Polyvagal theory and nervous-system-informed practice
Mindfulness meditation teaching
I also participate in regular clinical supervision with a PACFA-accredited supervisor. This is a deliberate investment I make because I believe it leads to safer, more thoughtful care for the people I work with.
My clinical background
I began my career as a Renal Dietitian at John Hunter Hospital, working alongside nephrologists and multidisciplinary teams to support people with kidney disease, dialysis, and transplantation. During this time, I also coordinated a world-first systematic review for the Guidelines for the Nutritional Management of Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients.
In private practice, my work has continued to evolve. While I retain a strong grounding in medical nutrition — including renal disease, diabetes, and gut health — over the past 10–15 years my practice has increasingly focused on non-diet care for weight concern, eating disorders, and disordered eating.
Across all settings, my approach remains the same: evidence-based, weight-neutral care that prioritises nourishment, safety, and quality of life.
What guides my work
My practice is guided by a few core principles:
All bodies deserve respect, care, and dignity
Health is not defined by weight or BMI
You don’t need to love your body to care for it
Nourishment is foundational to physical and mental wellbeing
With support, it is possible to rebuild trust with food and the body
These principles shape how I practise, how I communicate, and how I support people through complex and often vulnerable experiences.
