Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Southwold, ON.

A sense of self is easily interrupted by stress, change, and trauma. Maybe you feel like you have never really known yourself and have always been focused on others. Or, maybe, you feel like you have lost a sense of self due to big changes in your life. This could all be tied in with how you feel about your body, especially if it has gone through a change as well. We can offer support for this, including help for: • Body image concerns • Low self-esteem or self-worth • Questioning self-purpose and plan • People pleasing, rescuing and fixing • Chronic guilt, regret and shame

Eating disorders affect more people than is often reported in the media and men are not immune to them. Today's media sets up unrealistic expectations for what is considered "beautiful" or "handsome." Eating disorders can result if we buy into these ideals and engage in behaviours that promote this unrealistic image. There are many types of therapy that can be helpful for those experiencing eating disorders.

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 issues are more about "what's eating you!" Often our food-related issues are signalling that we need to pay attention not only to our body but what is bothering us on the inside. Getting to the inside can be challenging, as the protective layers of eating issues can be difficult to get through. Working with eating disorders requires patience as the progress often occurs at a slow pace.

While I do not offer support for eating disorders, at Psychotherapy Collective, we have other therapists who are well positioned to support you. Eating disorders are not really about food. They involve complex emotional issues that have significant impact on ones physical, emotional and social health. If you are preoccupied with your weight, focused on body image, size, or shape, compelled to perform specific rituals around food, obsessive about food, or deem foods as “safe” or “unsafe” to eat you may be engaging in disordered eating. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with a member of our team today https://www.psychotherapycollective.ca/our-team

EDs often require services from many care providers however psychotherapy is crucial. EDs mainly are management strategies for coping with high-stress induced by interference with a young person’s self-identity development. The 'culture' (home, social-peer) responsible is one emphasizing image-performance as the basis of one's value/lovability. Strong fear of external judgement, rejection, failure and inattention overwhelms the child's/young person's normal course of healthy growth. Particularly the ages/stages when social esteem-bonding is very important. My approach is to restore connection with one's core 'real' self, from the inside, fostering personal empowerment and sound self-care.

We may not need to learn how to eat - but eating in a balanced way can be quite the trick to learn! If compulsive eating (or avoiding it or overeating and 'getting rid' of it...) is a problem it would seem simple to change this. Sometimes that's true. But if it's not for you, you already know how it has a profound impact on your life. So, like many of our addictions (and I would say that we all have some form of addiction) to change such a pattern can feel impossible. In therapy the trick is to find how the particular 'routine' that you have works - both to help you as well as how it hinders your life. From there, we can plan ways to continue the 'good' yet move beyond what is 'problematic'.

Dealing with an eating disorder is difficult, made all the more difficult if the people you love do not know how to support you through this time. Working with someone trained in treating eating disorders, you will feel understood in a way that you might not have thought possible. There is no reason why you should be going through this alone. Reach out to get the support that you need.

While I do not offer support for eating disorders, at Psychotherapy Collective, we have other therapists who are well positioned to support you. Eating disorders are not really about food. They involve complex emotional issues that have significant impact on ones physical, emotional and social health. If you are preoccupied with your weight, focused on body image, size, or shape, compelled to perform specific rituals around food, obsessive about food, or deem foods as “safe” or “unsafe” to eat you may be engaging in disordered eating. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with a member of our team today https://www.psychotherapycollective.ca/our-team

Our struggles with food are rooted in several life events that remain unknown until you have a safe place to explore their impact. How we are raised, our initial relationship with food and how we manage our emotions are all intertwined with nutrition. Seeing food as purely for nourishment at times can be challenging with all the media's mixed messages about nutrition. Our need to control the food we intake takes over and we punish our bodies by over eating or under eating. We develop ways to harm ourselves through the use of food. Together we will explore your relationship with food and develop ways you can nourish your body and soul to embrace food as your happiness medecine.

Eating disorders can threaten physical health as well as mental health and may be associated with other disorders such as trauma, self esteem and body dysmorphia. I work from a comprehensive/holistic approach to eating disorders and often use the potent tool of hypnosis when working with these issues. I provided a safe and supportive environment in which to address these sensitive issues.