Eating Disorder Therapy
You may have never before tried therapy for an eating disorder. Or, you might have been in therapy before and are coming back with a fresh view on recovery. As part of working together, I work wth you to
-Understand your hopes for yourself in recovery
-Understand what you want to change in your relationship with food and body
-Explore your fears about change
-Explore strengths that you already have that can support you in the change process.
We explore ways to start reconnecting to your identity outside of the eating disorder. We explore what is becoming more important to you than staying "trapped" in the eating disorder. Knowing your "why" in the recovery journey can help you navigate the fears that can come with change.
Eating disorder recovery is not a straight line. I work with you through the ambivalence that can come up in recovery. Sometimes there are steps forward into more of a recovery mindset and sometimes there are steps back into the safety of the eating disorder. I work with you to pace the process of recovery.
Eating disorder therapy requires more than talk therapy. Eating disorder recovery requires a more active approach in therapy to influence change. In working with clients as an eating disorder therapist, I utilize various approaches to help support the recovery processs including:
*Internal Family Systems (IFS): This approach can help you "create space" between your self and the eating disorder "part of self". It can help you to start to work with the eating disorder part of self differently. The eating disorder has served a purpose in your life, and we work to better understand how this part of self has helped you in your life. We work find other ways to get your needs met so the eating disorder does not have to be an active participant in your life anymore.
*Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): DBT is based on the principles of mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT is an evidenced based treatment that can actively aid the recovery process. DBT creates skills that can help build more intentionality in life, allow for more regulation of emotion, allow for more emotional tolerance of distress, and create better confidence/boundaries/and navigation of relationships.
*EMDR Therapy: EMDR can help clear trauma from the body so that you can free yourself from the roots of trauma that might have influenced the creation and maintainence of the eating disorder. EMDR is not a therapy we "jump into', particuarly when an eating disorder is very active. I work with you to get to a space in your recovery process where you are ready for trauma healing. I also find that EMDR therapy can be effective in helping improve body image and one's view of self.
*Acceptance and Committment Therapy (ACT): ACT helps improve psychological flexibility. Eating disorders operate with a more rigid mindset, and flexible thinking is an important component of moving into more of a recovery mindset. ACT can help you separate from thoughts and move away from seeing them as absolute truths. ACT can help you become more curious about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences without trying to suppress or avoid them. ACT helps you bring more awareness to values that are important to you and take steps toward a more committed practice of living in alignment with your values.
"When the world whispers...
‘Give up'...
Hope whispers...
‘Try one more time’.”
– Anonymous –
In my work as an eating disorder therapist, I work with people who are diagnosed with an eating disorder as well as people who do not meet criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis like Anorexia or Bulimia but who recognize and want to change unhelpful and rigid patterns in their relationship with food and body. As an eating disorder therapist, I work with you to:
-Improve your flexibility of thought around food and body so that you can live with more freedom and peace of mind.
-Improve body acceptance. You might not always love your body, but if you can give it more grace and compassion, you will tend to treat it better.
-Shift away from actively engaging with the part of self that is using food for comfort, restriction, safety or emotion regulation and find other ways to get human needs met.
-Improve your view of self and work to move away from the unhelpful and critical parts of self-working to live more from a place of clarity, calm, courage, and connectedness.
-Increase your ability to listen to your body and "tune in" so that you can better care for its limitations and take care of its needs.
As an eating disorder therapist in Denver, Charleston, Scottsdale, and the USVI, I bring a well-rounded approach to eating disorder therapy. I encourage a treatment team and will welcome collaboration with anyone involved in your recovery process such as family, a dietitian, or medical providers. I have worked at the Intensive Outpatient level of care in Arizona as both a therapist and clinical director and have found this experience invaluable to being able to support the recovery journey of people in my outpatient practice.
Eating Disorder Recovery Affirmations:
-I am perfectly imperfect.
-I can chose flexibility.
-I can give myself some grace.
-I am worth enjoying my life.
-I can be kind to my body.
-I can have courage to be uncomfortable in my body and still treat it well.
-I will find freedom from my eating disorder.