Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Lions Bay, BC.

I use the Internal Family Systems approach to eating disorders, which views disordered eating as the result of inner conflict among different "parts" of the self. Often, a "Critic" part drives restrictive behaviors, while "Exiled" parts carry painful emotions or past trauma that the eating disorder tries to suppress. I'll help you identify and understand these parts, fostering compassion and healing. The goal is to unburden the parts, heal the underlying trauma, and restore balance so that you can develop healthier coping strategies and a more loving relationship with food and body.

As an experienced therapist in the area of eating disorders, I have found that often the greatest healing occurs through re-connectiong with the body, developing a trusting and loving relationship with it, and discovering its wisdom. When one begins to trust that that far from being one's enemy, the body is one's constant friend and guide, one's whole experience of self can be transformed. One lives from one's own core rather than focusing on food, body image, and others' evaluations, and therefore one becomes more confident and life becomes richer and freer.

Eating disorders are complicated and complex. Having lived with an experience of a distorted body image, I have an understanding of some of the challenges of an eating disorder. To get the outcome clients want, I utilize the approaches of EMDR, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Neurofeedback (NFB). EMDR takes the charge out of rooted disturbances, allowing an individual to overcome challenging behaviours without needing to reason. With CBT, I am able to offer support while challenging distorted thoughts and dysfunctional behaviours. NFB trains the brain to self regulate, allowing optimal performance, effecting the thoughts, emotions and actions that keep an eating disorder alive.

Eating Disorders can impact someone as negatively as any type of serious addiction. However, unlike addiction treatment plans, food must continue to play a role in your life. My basic goal is to stop further development of any eating problem you may have, and assist you in returning to a healthy lifestyle. The most successful focus is on harm reduction as an overall principle in addressing eating disorders, with the end goal of moving towards complete recovery. I also typically want to establish effective coping skills to reduce the possibility of relapse and sustain the progress you make in therapy.

Issues related to food and body-image, eating or not eating, perfectionism, or overall fixation on appearance can flood your reality to the point where they consume you. These kinds of issues often arise to serve a function, or fulfill a purpose, in your inner, psychological world. They can be a way to cope, to try to heal hurt parts of yourself, to maintain control in uncontrollable situations. Sometimes, they can be related to adverse childhood experiences and developmental trauma—though all the jargon may not apply or do justice to your individual context. Together, we can find a way to manage your thoughts and behaviors and take steps to address anything that may be underlying them.

I am able to help clients dealing with anexoria, bulimia or binge eating. By helping clients look at how and why they use food for control, reward, stress management or to deal with other emotions they can begin to change their maladative relationship with food. With some in office techniques and some out of office homework clients can have radical change in their lives. Enjoying food is one of life pleasures.

Olivia has a passion for helping individuals struggling with eating disorders, providing support through a behavioral and trauma-informed approach. She helps clients uncover and address the underlying emotional and psychological factors contributing to their disorder while equipping them with practical strategies for recovery. Olivia’s compassionate and holistic approach focuses on creating a safe space for clients to explore their relationship with food and their bodies, empowering them to build healthier habits and a positive self-image. By integrating trauma-informed care with actionable tools, Olivia walks alongside her clients as they work toward healing, resilience, and lasting change.

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.

Eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia and even over-eating. Discovering the underlying emotions and beliefs is a key part of this therapy. Issues of control, self-esteem, self image and aloneness are often a part of what is behind this disorder. My goal is to help you uncover these, and then help you accurately define who you are, find new and healthy ways of coping and interacting in your world.

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.

You are struggling with binged eating. You wish to let go of your long-standing patterns of unhealthy eating habits. You know what to do, but have been unable to get the motivation to make the changes. Quyn can help you! EMDR helps you manage cravings of unhealthy foods by reducing their associated rewards in your brain. It also resolves certain traumas related to your associations with food and eating. Hypnotherapy helps you let go of certain beliefs in your unconscious mind about food, eating, and especially about yourself. You regain motivation and create new habits and patterns. As you enhance your self-worth, eating healthy becomes natural for you! You begin to have a healthy connection

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.

When it comes to working with clients who are experiencing disordered eating, the first thing to understand is that rarely is it about food itself, and it can affect anyone from all genders, ages, classes, and abilities. I personally understand the amount of stress and anxiety that can arise around eating and body image and want to work with you to pinpoint what is triggering for you about eating. My goal is to help you create and maintain a healthy relationship with food, not a fearful one. By using open, supportive, and non-judgemental dialogue, we can break down the shame and stigma of eating disorders together.