Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Anmore, BC.

Eating Disorders can seem like the only solution to emotional pain for many people. Eating Disorders rarely have anything to do with food itself, so it is important to truly identify the root issues involved. Often these actions are a result of some trauma in a persons life. I offer EMDR, which specifically addresses the trauma and helps the person suffering come to a peace about what happened. Eating disorders are also hard on supporting family and friends. Watching a loved one struggle with these disorders can bring about feelings of helplessness and despair as well. I would be honoured to help the family and friends of those suffering Eating Disorders come to some inner peace.

It is my hope that individual therapy will benefit clients who may currently be participating in community-based support groups and group therapy, giving them the opportunity to explore in more depth the underlying issues related to their challenges with food. Clients will benefit from exploring relationship issues with significant people in their lives. They will learn to identify inner and situational triggers that may have resulted in harmful patterns and choices in the past. They will benefit from identifying negative and debilitating thought patterns, and will develop self-affirming beliefs to move them to greater confidence and self-acceptance.

Eating disorders are often related to trauma, and they are often also related to not feeling in control due to ongoing traumatic events and stress. This is because trauma is not always caused by a major single incident but can instead be can caused by smaller but daily or regularly-experienced trauma such as what might occur within family dynamics or bullying at school. Because they are commonly rooted in trauma and because they can be hard to treat with just talk therapy, EMDR Therapy is an option which can effectively address these devastating conditions and the suffering attached. If you would like further information about this, I encourage you to contact me.

Many forms or disordered eating are related to emotional eating. Somewhere along the line you have learned to soothe stress and overwhelm using food. Whether you're a binger or grazer, you are most likely familiar with feeling either in deprivation mode (you're dieting or restricting) or failure mode. Failure mode, feeling helpless and powerless in your attempts to control your eating behaviour can lead to bulimia, food addiction and binge eating. As an addictions counsellor I have specialized in Eating Disorders. Using a blend of cognitive behavioural therapy and somatic psychotherapy, I will help you change your eating patterns, stop disordered eating and develop a relapse prevention plan.

In helping the clients who struggle with Eating disorder, I benefit from concepts and tasks from internal Family Systems approach . I assist clients explore the different parts of themselves, including those parts that may be driving disordered eating behaviors (e.g., a part that uses food to soothe emotional pain). Through IFS, clients learn to identify and understand these parts, rather than being controlled by them. In addition , Clients with eating disorders often experience internal conflicts, such as feeling simultaneously driven to restrict food and to binge. Clients encouraged to access these conflicting parts, engage with them compassionately.

Our approach to helping clients who are dealing with an eating disorder and require treatment and counselling is to work both with the family and with the individual dealing with this stressor. We work collaboratively with the client and use Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) and Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help manage the eating disorder. We come from a strength-based and collaborative approach.

If you’ve struggled with disordered eating, you are all too familiar with compulsive behavior, obsessive thoughts and a disconnect from the body. You may also have a constant need for control while at the same time feeling a frightening and exhausting loss of all control. Please know that none of this is your choice, but rather is a state of stress and overwhelm while you do your best to feel better. I have nothing but compassion for the distress that comes with food-related challenges, and you have my commitment to help you care for the difficult underlying emotions involved. Together, we will create a safe space to move towards healing and a safe relationship with food and the body.

Having an eating disorder often leads to different emotions such as sadness, anger, shame and confusion. Having an eating disorder means you are probably also struggling with other mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. That is why it is really important to work with a therapist who can not only help you with symptoms of your eating disorder, but also help you with traumas and emotional difficulties that have led to your symptoms. When working with eating disorders, my goal is to help my clients understand their eating disorder from a compassionate perspective and also heal the deeper wounds that might lie underneath their eating patterns.

I will help you to understand the underlying reasons which cause your eating disorder. It's easy to fall into an unhealthy pattern, I can help you to free yourself from the chains of food and create a positive body image. It may seem hopeless at times, but you will learn new strategies and goals to restore a balance between mind, body, and exercise. I understand the complicated relationship we all have with food in the modern world. CBT (Cognitive behavior therapy) is an cornerstone of my treatment plan for eating disorders.

Eating disorders are difficult because food is such an integral part of our survival and it can be a source of comfort as well as nourishment. We learn our relationship to food as young children and unconscious messages may continue to play a part in our eating habits as we grow older. Strong emotions often play a part as well since "emotional eating" is an attempt to keep our emotional balance. To develop a healthy relationship with food we need to take stock of all the elements of our lives and our culture to find a way to relate differently. You may be overlooking your strengths and be in need of a new perspective to assist in this process. Help is here - you don't need to do this alone.

EMDR can be highly effective in addressing the root causes of eating disorders by targeting the distressing memories, beliefs, and experiences that contribute to negative body image, shame, or a sense of loss of control. Many eating disorders develop as ways to cope with trauma, emotional pain, or unmet needs. EMDR helps the brain reprocess these underlying experiences so they no longer hold the same emotional charge. As clients integrate these memories, they often experience reduced urges and self-criticism, greater body acceptance, and a more compassionate relationship with themselves and food.

Eating disorders affect all ages, all walks of life and both men and women. They can become both a burden and a block to living a healthy, happy life. I work carefully with an informed treatment approach that is holistic and tailored to you. We will work together to reduce the power the eating disorder has in your life, improve you overall health and self-perception and strategize a healthy way out of the difficult maze you are trapped in. Contact me to start making changes today.