Eating Disorders

I work with individuals who suffer with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, or other forms of dysregulated eating and body dysmorphia. Eating disorders are often birthed within traumatic experiences where we block intolerable feelings of fear and shame with obsessions around eating and body size/weight. I am a body positive therapist, and I help my clients learn to listen to and respect their body's wisdom. Learning to trust the body and learning self-compassion are keys to healing.

We provide support for those struggling with body image and with food. Whether you experience urges to restrict calories, use over-exercising or other strategies to over-compensate for calories eaten, or struggle with feelings of guilt and shame around loss of control eating, at Bricolage, we believe a healthy relationship with your body and with food is possible for everyone. As a (HAES) aligned practice, we understand that scale numbers are not inherently reflective of a person's health.

I have a history of working with clients with eating disorders, and find that body positivity is an integral part of any body belief.

I use a blend of evidence-based approaches to help people break free from Binge Eating Disorder, disordered eating, and body image issues such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder. As a HAES-aligned therapist, I support body diversity and utilize weight-neutral, evidence-based approaches including Intuitive Eating, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), & Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Eating disorders can feel hopeless, but they aren’t. Whether this is your first time seeking help, or your umpteenth time, I believe everyone can recover. There are many reasons eating disorders are invited into your life. Whether it’s perfectionism, judgment, loneliness, self-improvement, health, family issues…Just as there are many reasons why a person develops an eating disorder, the way you recover will be just as unique.

Eating disorders are gnarly beasts that over-take more than just the eating parts of our lives. Any person, regardless of body size, can have any eating disorder. Rooted in the principles of Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating I can help you begin or maintain recovery. When necessary I will collaborate with your clinical team, or help you find the appropriate level of care.

I spent the first 2 years post graduate school really focusing in on my specialty training in eating disorders, and I continue to learn more with each client. These experiences are often misunderstood, and can have origins in trauma, oppression, and difficulty in family dynamics.

Food is one of the earliest ways we humans experience nurturance and interaction with a caring adult. food takes on many meanings about relationships, needs, control, and the value of self. The development of an eating disorder signals a problem in one or several of these areas; it arises as an attempt to solve this problem, by drawing attention to the problem, by pulling the family together to address symptoms of the eating disorder; or expressing/repressing feelings related to current problem.

I am a certified eating disorder therapist and supervisor. I have spent the majority of my career treating clients with eating disorders. This is a life passion of mine and I have found great purpose in walking with clients in their recovery journey.

Recovery is a spiral, not a destination. Treating EDs only cognitively fragments us further from healing. My fusion: Embodied CBT, addresses the underlying trauma, including the Inner Critic (fight part). After my own recovery, I studied Somatic Psychology because of the clear benefits to recovery. Getting out of the mirror and back into the body is how I help people across ED diagnoses get their lives back.

I am a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) through iaedp (International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals) and have been working specifically in the eating disorder field since 2017, but have experience beyond that. I have over a year and half experience in eating disorder treatment at the partial hospitalization/intensive outpatient levels of care and then joined a primarily eating disorder focused private practice.

At The Couch Therapy, we are a therapy practice that offers health at every size (HAES) therapy for eating disorders or disordered eating. We believe in a gentle approach to helping those struggling with disordered eating. When working with a HAES aligned therapist, you can expect to sit in a safe space to process the timeline of your relationship with food, process significant moments in life that influenced your beliefs, and remind you to release the petri dish of shame you’ve been holding.

I help those struggling with disordered eating develop a healthier relationship with food, exercise, and with their own bodies. While I know it feels hopeless, I believe that through therapy, I can help you find freedom from the compulsive thoughts and behaviors that fuel your disordered eating. I help you better understand all the factors that contribute to complicated relationships with food, exercise, and your body. Along with this understanding, I work to give you tools.

As a nutritionist and mental health provider, I am able to provide integrative care to folks who are struggling with various forms of disordered eating. This can include restriction, bingeing, compensatory behaviors, and other symptoms that impact our relationship with food. My hope is to explore this relationship with you and find a path forward that feels less rigid and in support of your individual health needs. I am an intuitive eating provider who acknowledges the impacts of diet-culture.

For the last 3 years I have been working in a hospital setting treating children and adolescents with Eating Disorders. I received training in Family Based Treatment (FBT) and Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT). Having a child with an Eating Disorder is incredibly stressful and terrifying and can create crisis in the family system. I enjoyed working with the patients and providing caregivers with the skills and tools they need to support their child through recovery.

I have worked a great deal with disordered eating and often-related body image concerns. It fits wonderfully within the therapy approach I utilize most (Coherence Therapy).

We take a body-centered approach to treating eating disorders, viewing recovery as an additive process of bringing in regulation resources. We are trained in the Embodied Recovery for Eating Disorders model. http://www.embodiedrecovery.org

As a nutritionist and mental health provider, I am able to provide integrative care to folks who are struggling with various forms of disordered eating. This can include restriction, bingeing, compensatory behaviors, and other symptoms that impact our relationship with food. My hope is to explore this relationship with you and find a path forward that feels less rigid and in support of your individual health needs. I am an intuitive eating provider who acknowledges the impacts of diet-culture.

During my master's program, I spent much time writing papers and researching eating disorders. EDs are a major concern for the adolescent and emerging adult communities. I completed my capstone project/presentation on EDs in order to spread awareness and knowledge to other young counseling professionals on the risk factors for these populations as well as ways in which to best treat these disorders within these two populations.