Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Orillia, ON.

Body image is a real and present struggle for many women and this issue is rising in men as well. With the constant bombardment of food and beauty focused advertisements from all sources of media, it can such a struggle! I have worked with many types of addictive habits, eating disorders included. I can help you understand yourself better and provide you with some effective strategies to create new healthier habits, ones that create an inner peace, empowerment, and breaking the cycle!

Eating Disorders can be some of the most disheartening and frustrating mental health diagnoses to experience. ED's at their core aren't about food, but instead avoidance, anxiety, control, and trauma. Successful treatment relies on examining what you are trying to avoid and providing skills that allow for tolerance and emotional regulation. Recovery from your eating disorder IS possible!

Issues with eating are an understandable reaction to difficult or traumatic circumstances. The word disorder is faulty as it implies that it is a single person's disorder. However, the disorder is one of society. Due to limitations and restrictions of society, institutions, media, and groups, we have learned to restrict and or indulge ourselves in food. It is my goal to explore the emotional and cognitive roots of your issues with food as well as to figure out just how these limitations and restrictions of our society and/or families have affected you. In discovering the roots of the struggle, we can then collaboratively work towards health and healing.

“There are various ways that individuals with eating disorders describe “dealing with” painful feelings: They may numb them through starving, soothe or push them down with bingeing, or get rid of them through purging. This vicious cycle of fearing, avoiding, and feeling overwhelmed and incapacitated by feelings, to the point of having to stay ill or inflict self-harm to escape, makes Emotion-Focused Therapy a compelling approach to treating eating disorders. Emotion-Focused Therapy works directly with painful emotions, and views them as a source of information and meaning. Emotion, if paid attention to, can be like a beacon or a flashlight, leading us to what is important.

There are effective psychotherapy treatments for eating disorders to help you get back to normalized eating and feeling better. Eating disorder treatment requires specialized knowledge since it typically involves nutritional education and specialized treatment plans. Contact me if you're interested in learning more about the services I have to offer.

Disordered eating has served a purpose in your life. Together we will not only restore your healthy eating practices, we will determine the root cause of your eating disorder. This is essential to ensure we respect your emotional needs and enable you to maintain healthy eating patterns lifelong. I will provide us with the compassionate and supportive dynamic essential to your journey of creating the life experience you desire.

I work with your negative body image, from the inside out. "The negative image is understood as a dissociated and shame-based “part” of the personality in need of understanding and compassion, achieved via mindful awareness, “parts” dialogue and trauma processing. Our first step will be to create a healthy separation between the "observing" or aware Self and the part(s) absorbed in the eating disorder via mindful awareness. Once this separation between the "whole" self and part of self is established, the Gestalt polarity tradition (empty chairs) is utilized to develop understanding of the shame-based part. This leads to developing more love and compassion for yourself. You are enough!

Eating disorder recovery is a transformative journey towards a healthier relationship with food and yourself. Through a supportive and non-judgmental therapeutic process, we will work together to develop healthier habits, improve body image, explore emotional triggers, and restore your overall well-being. If you are on the path to eating disorders recovery, reach out today for a free consultation.