About Annette Pasternak

Annette Pasternak is a certified holistic health coach
specializing in skin picking.

I am my own success story, and today, I am dedicated to helping other women finally break free of skin picking, hair pulling, and other body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs).

While others work with these types of compulsive behaviors, I actually specialize in them.

My unique, step-by-step programs combine my knowledge of nutrition, body-mind-spirit techniques, my personal experience in overcoming skin picking, and my process of coaching, rather than therapy.

Why My Clients Prefer to Work with Me

Medical and mental health professionals who know how to effectively treat BFRBs are few and far between. So depending where you live, you may not have access to any at all.

My clients say they feel more comfortable working with me than with anyone they have tried (unsuccessfully) to work with in the past. With the support of my coaching, they transform their lives, going from a place of feeling hopeless and out-of-control to feeling positive and free, having stopped or drastically reduced their problem behaviors.

I coach using Skype video calling, so I can connect with my clients in the comfort of their own homes, anywhere in the world.

Why I Specialize in Skin Picking

Before breaking free, I also used to be stuck in the vicious cycle of this compulsive behavior.

I picked my skin a little when I was in high school, but no big deal. Like many of my clients, college was when it became persistent and a bit of a problem.

I felt ashamed when people noticed scabs on the backs of my arms under short sleeves, and ashamed as I sneaked out of the bathroom quickly so nobody would see the fingernail marks and redness on my face. But the consequences weren’t bad enough yet to do anything about the picking.

It got worse throughout my twenties and most of my thirties. I was continually stressed and put a ton of pressure on myself to succeed, even though most of the time I didn’t even enjoy what I was trying to succeed at!

Periodically, I would seek out help. I tried psychotherapy three times unsuccessfully. None of the therapists knew how to help me.
I also tried hypnosis three times with no success.

I have a healthy skepticism about pharmaceuticals and their side effects, but a few months after leaving my job as a college professor, I was so anxious and was picking so badly that I tried them. They helped mellow (numb) me out for the five months that I took them, but didn’t do much to stop the picking.

It seemed it would be up to me if I wanted to ever
get rid of the picking problem.

I read all manner of self-help books, from spiritual to practical. (And I believe spiritual can also be practical.) I learned a lot, and put some of it into practice with good results.

But ultimately, I backslid.

How I Finally Found the Freedom to Stop

Then came the three game changers in my success at conquering my own picking and understanding how to help others:

I stumbled upon the key to having the peace of mind that had always eluded me, and that makes all transformation possible.
I found a group who could finally support me in the critical steps of my journey to stop picking.
I discovered the important role nutrition played, not only in helping me stop picking, but also in boosting my energy level and gaining freedom from pain.

Today, I am free from the compulsive cycle of picking, covering up/hiding, and feeling badly about myself – something that dominated a huge part of my brain for so many years.

I can wear whatever I want now, and at age 43 I look better in a bathing suit than I ever did in my 20s and 30s.

But what is most important is how happy and healthy I am, and how much satisfaction I get from guiding others, like you, to stop picking.

I read the emails my clients send me, with sentences like,

“You have given me back the gift of hope”

“I am so amazed at how far I have come”

“I finally feel free”

And I know all my suffering in the past gives me the ability to meet clients in the state they are at when we first meet, and show them the way up and out.

BOOK

Skin Picking:
the freedom to finally stop

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By Annette Pasternak, Ph.D.

Buy on Amazon

I did it, they did it, and I know you can do it too.

As I continue coaching, I am always learning more. You are my people and it is my sincerest prayer to serve you in the best way I can. I believe this intention leads me to study whatever will help you, and to tune into my intuition so I know in the moment what is the best thing to ask, say or do.

Skin picking is a persistent challenging problem and for most of us, a variety of approaches are needed to recover from it.

I pull from a more diverse group of tools than anyone in this field and simplify them so we speak the same language and I give you what you need. My toolbox includes:

Coaching
NLP and timeline therapy
Yoga (including the deeper practices of breathwork, philosophy, meditation)
Functional Diagnostic Nutrition
Brain Gym®, EFT, and Touch for Health (even without touch!)

Learn How You, Too, Can Work With Me

Fun facts about me:

I’m from New Yawk and I used tuh tawk like this.
I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry. I used to brew large quantities of trypsinogen, the enzyme precursor I genetically engineered and expressed in yeast. Depending on what nutrients we gave them, the cultures smelled like bread or beer.

Like many in Los Angeles, I have written a screenplay and performed improv.
When I taught at Santa Monica College, my students would write some variation of “she’s really funny” on their student evaluations more often than “she’s a really good teacher”.
Since 2009, I volunteer as a yoga teacher on Saturday mornings, where I teach a relaxing class with very few instances of cracking jokes.

My Favorite Things:

The Sound of Music (yes, this is one of my favorite things! ♪)
My work, coaching you!
My cat Cookie and my sweetheart Nick (in that order because Cookie has seniority and frankly, she’s cuter ;-) ).
Lying on the ground. On the beach or on the grass under a tall tree. Face up or face down.
Dancing. Any style. Though I have yet to get the hang of samba.
Reading. I read a lot for my work, but I also love memoir (people and their stories fascinate me), and occasionally fluffy fun fiction.
Gardening, but I’m still wiggy about creepy crawlies.

Annette Pasternak Dancing — Gotta Dance!