About Us
Our Team
Susan Testa, MS, RDN, LDN
STN SPE Owner
Approved CNS® Supervisor
Licensed in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida
susantestanutrition@gmail.com
Brenda Ballared, MS
CNS Candidate
Program Coordinator
stncoordinator@gmail.com
Erin Edmands, MS,
CNS Candidate
Marketing Outreach
stnmarketingoutreach@gmail.com
Suchi Madan MS, CNS
Licensed in Maryland
Community Nutrition Outreach
stncommunityoutreach@gmail.com
Kim Foss, MS, CNS
CNS Exam Prep Facilitator
stnexamprep@gmail.com
Our Mission
To provide flexible and affordable high-standard supervision while identifying the unique educational needs of those CNS candidates seeking clinical practice experience and mentorship, empowering them with the knowledge, confidence, and experience to create a personal and meaningful learning journey.
Our Learning Objectives
Develop Clinical Competency
Provide CNS candidates with hands-on clinical experience that strengthens their ability to perform:
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Nutrition assessment and interpretation
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Root cause analysis
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Evidence-based intervention planning
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Monitoring and follow-up care
Apply Academic Knowledge to Real Client Care
Bridge the gap between classroom education and real-world clinical application through supervised client encounters and case-based experiences.
Build Professional Clinical Skills
Develop skills in:
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Communication and rapport building
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Motivational interviewing
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Professional documentation
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Clinical reasoning and decision-making
Meet BCNS Competency Requirements
Ensure candidates gain supervised experiences aligned with the competencies required by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists for CNS credentialing.
Strengthen Ethical & Professional Practice
Promote understanding and application of:
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Scope of practice
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HIPAA compliance
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Professional ethics
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Appropriate referrals and collaboration
Increase Confidence in Client Care
Support the transition from student to practitioner by helping candidates become more comfortable leading client sessions, developing recommendations, and managing follow-up care.
Provide Diverse Clinical Exposure
Expose candidates to a variety of:
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Health conditions
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Client populations
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Clinical scenarios
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Educational and observational experiences
Foster Mentorship & Professional Growth
Provide ongoing supervisor guidance, feedback, and mentorship to support clinical development and professional identity formation.
Encourage Independent Clinical Thinking
Help candidates learn how to:
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Analyze complex cases
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Identify patterns
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Develop individualized nutrition strategies
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Think critically and independently
Prepare Candidates for Future Practice
Equip candidates with the practical skills, confidence, and experience necessary for:
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Independent practice
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Integrative and functional nutrition care
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Interdisciplinary collaboration
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CNS board examination readiness
What the CNS Credential Means
The Certified Nutrition Specialist® credential (CNS®) is the most advanced certification for personalized nutrition practitioners. Certified Nutrition Specialists practice science-based personalized nutrition therapy to power people to health. They are spearheading the transformation from population-based to personalized nutrition, and from disease care to authentic health care."
American Nutrition Association. 2024. Become a CNS. American Nutrition Association. https://www.theana.org/certify/become-a-cns/
The Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists (BCNS)
The BCNS is dedicated to establishing and enforcing the competencies and standards required for the supervised practice experience of CNS candidates, oversee the certification and recertification processes, ensuring adherence to the highest ethical standards. By awarding the CNS credentials, we recognize individuals who meet these criteria.
The Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists. 2024.BCNS Certifications. Handbook 2024-2025. The Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists.
Our Core Principles
Strive for Educational Excellence through providing the most clinically relevant, evidence based and practice-informed integrative and functional nutrition available and adhering to the BCNS educational standards.
Focus on Compassion & Candidate-Centered Approach that creates a safe and healing space and strives to relate to CNS Candidates with grace, kindness and acceptance, emanating from the attitude of unconditional love as life’s most powerful healer. Provide a community setting to promote routine connections throughout the Candidates experience
Include an Integrative & Personalized Approach to provide comprehensive clinical training that provides safe and effective personalized functional nutrition care, that is collaborative and interdisciplinary and utilizes other evidence based therapies.
Discern an Individual's Uniqueness that recognizes each CNS Candidate has individual needs due to their personal lifestyles and responsibilities, therefore training and education needs to be tailored.
Promote Optimal Wholeness to empower self-care by supporting habits that help the CNS Candidate to be the best in mind, body, and spirit.
Commit to Conscious Communication through thoughtful dialogue that is embedded in reflective listening and timely responsiveness.
Support Diversity to individual-centered supervised training and education opportunities without regard to race, gender, identity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or religion.
Teach by Example by influencing the CNS candidate through our own example, lifestyle choices and learning experiences.
