Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Madoc, ON.

My approach to eating disorders is not about food, weight, or behavioral control. Eating disorders are an attempt to solve an unbearable internal problem — a response to disconnection, shame, trauma, and the collapse of self-worth. Beneath the surface is often a profound struggle with control, identity, and relational injury. Our work is not about monitoring behaviors but about healing the deeper fractures that make the eating disorder necessary. This is a process of restoring dignity, agency, and right relationship with self, body, and life itself.

Those suffering from eating disorders are not just dealing with how to most effectively manage their relationships to food. Rather, disorder eating is often a way individuals attempt to cope with difficult problems, interpersonal distress or regain a sense of control in their lives and inner experience. These illnesses impact a person’s sense of identity, worth, self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. There is help and hope, you too can recover and live a fulfilled life. Shauna can help you find new coping methods and transform patterns through CBT, DBT and interpersonal therapy.

Eating disorders are connected to the value that society puts on appearance. In North American and European cultures, the ideal is to be thin. Being overweight is obvious to the world and viewed by society as a shameful condition. This is a demoralizing position to be in. Eating disorders are predominantly an issue for women, who naturally go through changes in their weight. But this is also an issue for men, who can hurt just as deeply if they feel unworthy of love by virtue of their appearance. My approach is to help people feel good from the inside out. I recognize that weight issues can be the source of shame, bullying and marginalization. These are often the areas we work on in therapy.

Eating disorders can deeply affect emotional, physical, and social well-being, and recovery often requires both compassion and specialized care. In our work together, I provide a safe, non-judgmental space to explore the underlying emotional, relational, and cognitive patterns that contribute to disordered eating. My approach integrates evidence-based therapies such as CBT, EFT, and trauma-informed care, focusing on building a healthier relationship with food, body, and self. Together, we address negative self-image, develop effective coping strategies, and foster self-compassion. The goal is to support lasting change by restoring balance, strengthening self-worth, and helping you reconnect

I am a Psychotherapist and Addictions Counsellor who has struggled through an Eating Disorder and now my passion is to give back and help others. I understand that having been there myself the feelings of shame, guilt and despair. I have first-hand experience and through my experience along the way I created a way through. I want to help as many people as I can with what I have been able to accomplish myself and share it with others so they no longer have to suffer. I understand that everyone’s journey is unique and no two journeys are alike. I have the patience, compassion, understanding and empathy it takes for you to feel safe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

In my experience, self acceptance and self esteem lie at the core of almost every eating condition, even when anxiety feels like the primary motivation for your behavior. Having said that, I never make assumptions about why you do what you do and what is motivating the relationship you have with food. I work hard in our relationship to understand what it feels like to be you so that we can both learn what it will take to change your eating habits for the better and encourage natural and healthy associations with both food and your body.

Eating Disorders are never about food, they are about control. I treat those who are open to treatment and who have a strong support system in place. If this sounds like something that may interest you, feel free to reach out and start your healing journey today. You do not have to live your life suffering. It is possible to be healthy and to have positive self-image but it does take work.

Dr. Van Blyderveen has over seven years of experience working with clients who have struggled with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and body dissatisfaction. Treatment typically integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) approaches. Family Based Therapy (FBT) is offered for youth struggling with an eating disorder.

If you are struggling with an eating disorder we want to focus on what has brought you to your current eating and nutritional patterns and behaviours. I want to initially focus less about the foods you eat and the current behaviours surrounding your food intake, and more about what you are wanting to accomplish in doing so. Do you feel a need to control your environment? Do you feel anxious or out of control in other areas of your life? Are you wanting to push away or ignore some other important concerns? Let's explore. My primary focus is to help you feel good about yourself and your environment, and empower you to continue to create the changes within yourself that you want to make.

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.

Eating disorders are a symptom of distress and a subsequent need to manage that distress. Understanding the source of the distress can greatly help to alleviate the symptoms enough to learn new ways of coping that are not as compromising of the body, but rather move the individual toward a more balanced regard for self and a healthier lifestyle. Depending on the severity of the disorder it may well require co-operation and participation of other family members as well. This kind of support can often bring faster more permanent positive changes.

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

My approach to working with people who struggle with food issues, is looking at the issue as an expression of a need that can't (yet) be put into words. Because eating disorders can be quite harmful, a team approach is always recommended; a family doctor, perhaps a nutritionist and a therapist. Together we will look at your history of food and how food and body image was spoken about at home; there are often ties to early childhood here. Then, we'll find ways to help manage symptoms, which could look like finding other ways to express the need/feeling, instead of using restriction or bingeing. Eating disorders are quite isolating, and the hardest part can be admitting you need help.