Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Whittier, CA.

What has you struggling with your relationship with food? Is it perfection, loneliness, or constantly giving to others? Whatever struggles have allowed an eating disorder take over your life, let's break through those struggles together. I utilize mindfulness, positive psychology, and cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques to help you gain back control from the eating-disorder and make way for a healthy, happier relationship with food.

I work with a variety of eating disorders and work at treating both the behavior initially and the issues that are underneath the eating disorder. I am an expert at treating trauma and often trauma or traumatic relationships are at the heart of an eating disorder. Eating disorders typically are related to self-soothing or trying to gain control in areas where one doesn't feel he/she has control. Contact me for more information and assistance with an eating disorder. We are specialists in a variety of different areas and are able to offer help not only for the client with this issue bu also couple or family support. Experts in helping women & teens! Trauma experts too!

Using Acceptance Commitment Therapy, an empirically based treatment for eating disorders, we help clients to create relationships with their bodies. Working closely with your physician and a nutritionist, we can help you to effectively manage the relationship between your mind, emotions, and body. We recognize that each client is unique. Our approach is not a cookie-cutter approach. We will work with you to customize a treatment plan that targets outcomes that you choose and that you can feel good about achieving. Intentional change is the key to success. We offer guidance and support for you to incorporate new patterns of functioning that work. We often see results within several sessions

I view an eating disorder as a coping strategy (tool), and therapy is a place for you to replace this "tool" with one that is helpful rather than harmful. You and I would work together to find new ways of coping with uncomfortable feelings and situations. We would figure out what your triggers are and how to live with upsetting experiences. We might also discover that control has a lot to do with what's going on, and its roots might stem from how you were treated by your parents and other family members. So, we would also find ways for you to not only feel but actually BE more in control of your life.

With over 16 years of clinical experience, I provide a comprehensive assessment of eating disorder/body image issues in order to determine the best course of treatment. Initial interviews focus on gathering a full history of symptoms, including any/all preoccupations with weight and appearance. We will work with your physician to screen for any medical complications, as well as refer you to a dietician if you need more structure with your nutritional intake. The goal is to improve the relationship you have with food and your body, so that you can move forward with life and create lasting change.

Unresolved issues from your past can lead to more serious disorders such as an eating disorder. We will go beyond the symptom of the eating disorder to treat the underlying cause and unresolved psychological trauma that brought you to experience it in the first place. This will help you restore your sense of control and reduce the poweful hold that any painful memories have on you as well as getting to a place where you have a better relationship with food.

If you are over or under eating you are very likely to have had a painful trauma and will benefit from learning to face this difficult experience. Dare to share and ease the blame and shame. You will learn to use your body's signals to ease the pain through relaxation techniques, meditative skills and hypnosis. Find out how hidden beliefs and rules limit your progress.

I am a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS). During graduate school I trained in an eating disorder research clinic and I specialize in providing evidence-based treatment for eating disorders in adults and adolescents. For adults with eating disorders, I provide cognitive behavioral therapy which is well-proven in research, especially for the treatment of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. For adolescents with anorexia or bulimia, the treatment of choice is Maudsley Family Based therapy (FBT) in which the support of the whole family is enlisted to help in treatment. I am one of the few therapists in LA County certified in FBT.

An eating disorder can take a full, exciting and creative life and cripple it with shame and confusion. So many with eating disorders struggle alone with the pressure to figure out what is happening and what they can do to change and heal. Therapy can provide a transformational place where healing is possible. You can learn to directly challenge the critical inner voice of your eating disorder and begin accepting yourself, imperfections and all. Call me today for a free phone consultation and take that first step toward freedom.

I believe forming a healthy self-image requires change and healing on several layers. Constructive and healthy behavioral changes need to be implemented, as well as understanding the underlying factors that are contributing to the disorder. Only focusing on the behavior may result in temporary change, but the true healing will not be complete until the deeper issues are addressed. Too often those struggling with eating disorders do so alone, with no one aware of what they are fighting with. Therapy is a safe place to explore and process through the painful and private layers of intense self-criticism, as well as find support for the day to day (and sometimes moment to moment) hurdles.

I believe that an eating disorder does not define a person. Treating the eating disorder is only part of my treatment which is truly aimed and healing and lifting up the person struggling. Finding the right person to help you is a lot to do with chemistry. Please call me at (949) 288-3123 if you have any questions at all. I want your therapy journey to be as successful as possible.

Do you stuff your feelings? Do you eat because if feels good and it seems to calm you down if you're sad, angry, overwhelmed, stressed, bored, nervous, etc? I prefer the phrase Disordered Eating because you don't have a problem with eating. You are eating to cope with life and comfort yourself. I get it. I have been there. You are not alone. Let's figure out new ways to cope with life. Let's do it together. Call me at 714-432-9856.

Eating disorders are most often a reaction to other life events. Often clients feel like life is so chaotic that eating habits are the only aspect of life that they can control. Eating disorders are also often linked to anxiety and low self-esteem. In order to treat eating disorders, I would help clients to build a more positive body image, create and implement a healthy eating plan, and build support in the family system.