My Story
I’m Siah Fried, a Parent & Family Wellness Coach who helps individuals and families Move FORWARD when society's checklist creates pressure, overwhelm, and unhealthy coping.
My work blends lived experience, academic research, and real-world observation across college and high school classrooms, athletics, health clinics, and family life. In my family, stress and anxiety were managed for at least three generations through behaviors along the eating disorder spectrum, ranging from anorexia and bulimia to disordered eating and body dysmorphia. These patterns weren’t about food; they were about coping. They were learned responses to pressure, perfectionism, and the belief that worth had to be earned.
When I began to see those same patterns emerging in my own child, I knew it had to stop. That moment became a turning point for our family. We replaced survival-based coping with healthier, sustainable tools, and today, we actively model those skills so future generations don’t inherit the same patterns. I just wish I had known to make these changes sooner.
As both a high school and college teacher, clinical health educator, and parent, I’ve watched the mental health epidemic unfold in real time, through my students, my children, and their peers. Hours spent on sports fields, stadiums, and in dance studios, alongside conversations with thousands of students, exposed patterns of pressure, overachievement, and unhealthy coping that were causing mental and physical anguish and impossible to ignore. Those experiences inspired me to dig deeper.
In 2015, I presented this research, Suburban Student Athletes: Driven to Overachieve, at the University of Toronto through the Society of Sport. That work continues to inform my coaching approach and is frequently referenced in my writing and books, shaping how I help clients understand the connection between achievement culture, stress, and mental health.
Today, it’s my mission to help others identify unhealthy coping patterns, whether they’re generational or adaptive behaviors that once helped you survive but no longer serve you. I work with parents, young adults, high-achieving individuals, athletes, and women (and men) navigating major life transitions to build healthier coping skills so life’s challenges don’t overwhelm them, but instead become opportunities for growth and resilience.
We can do better. And with the right tools, awareness, and support, we can move forward with clarity, confidence, and connection.
Read More
My passion for supporting individuals with their general eating habits and potential eating disorders comes from both professional expertise and personal experience.
I have witnessed the profound impact of eating disorders on many of my loved ones, which inspired me to specialize in this area and create positive tools to help others.
Whether you’re concerned about your child’s eating habits or they’ve been diagnosed with disordered eating, ARFID, body dysmorphia, anorexia, or bulimia, OR OTHER NEGATIVE COPING BEHAVIORS, I’m here to guide and support you as a parent and health coach through this challenging time.
I understand firsthand what is truly helpful in fostering healing and what can unintentionally cause harm.
As a health professor and educator, and NBC-HWC coach, who has worked with thousands of clients, parents, and students with various mental and physical health challenges, I have cared for multiple people, including family members, who have battled and beat an eating disorder and other mental and physical health diagnoses.
It is my students and three children who inspired me to become a family wellness coach specializing in eating disorders, body image, and other mental health challenges like ADHD, anxiety, and depression.
Due to the mental health epidemic, I saw that these are the areas many young students were struggling quietly with. I helped them and their parents through many of these challenging times. Whether you or your child’s struggle is with mental health or physical health, my job is to support you as you support yourself or your child through these challenges.
The 7-step evidence-based program I created, called Move FORWARD, allows us to focus on family values, personal strengths, and positive coping tools. Learning more about emotional intelligence, nervous system calming tools, as well as how to instill healthy habits to sleep well, nourish your body, and have balance in mind and body.
Find Out More About Move FORWARDProfessional Experience
- 30 years in the public health field in various settings from large hospitals to classrooms
- I have a breadth of experience educating diverse populations on a vast array of health topics from chronic disease management and prevention to resilience and mental health coaching.
- 17 years as a health, nutrition, and women’s health professor.
- 4 years as high school health teacher and health curriculum director
- I launched a study, “Suburban Student Athletes: Driven to Overachieve”, and presented it for Sport & Society Research Network at the University of Toronto.
My Education
My Education
- Master’s of Public Health
- Nationally Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC)
- Jai Parenting Institute Certified Parent Coach
- Mind Body Green Certified Health Coach
Ready to Help Your Family Move FORWARD?
Let’s uncover the roots of stress, nourish healthy coping, and build a home where everyone can thrive.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MOVE FORWARD