Eating Disorders Counseling

Many people deal with disordered eating, eating disorders or negative body image for years before getting help. They think “This isn’t that bad, I can stop whenever I want to”, “I’ll stop once I meet my goal weight”, or “I’m not as sick as other people, this just isn’t a big deal” and yet, often people can’t stop the behaviors they are using to cope with their feelings about food and their bodies. Or they feel sad, frustrated or empty even when the changes happen and they find those changes just aren’t enough. Their mind is driving them to do more, take it further, just do a bit more. The inner voice is never satisfied, never happy with how you look or what you did and is always demanding more. No matter how successful you may be in other areas of your life, you never quite feel good enough.

Eating disorders often serve some purpose in your life, even if that purpose is not initially clear. Sometimes it’s to feel a sense of control, to feel successful, to have a purpose, to be “the healthy one”, to get comfort or attention. No matter how the eating disorder serves you initially, most people find that eventually they feel they are having to serve the eating disorder and the negative thoughts that pervade their brain about their bodies and their worth. Work harder, go faster, do more until you are left exhausted, lonely, and sad.

We believe people can and do get better from eating disorders and can completely recover from the tyranny that food and weight can have over their lives. We believe everyone can learn to love themself and their body–at any size, shape or weight– and that we can all work to make peace with food. We work from two main approaches: Health at Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating. We focus on helping people develop a body neutral mentality. We believe you can learn to trust your body to take care of yourself and feed yourself appropriately and in a healthy way without restriction, guilt or shame.