Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Oak Ridges, ON.

Eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, binge eating, and compulsive eating as well preoccupation with weight and shape are quite common in our culture and can be devastating and complex. Often there are severe consequences in terms of productivity, relationships and health. The good news is that it is possible to find our way out of an eating disorder. Whether through individual, family or group therapy, counsellors can assist us in changing our perceptions and behaviours and develop healthy self-esteem, communication, coping skills and emotional well being. (If we could have done it on our own... we would have by now.)

Living with disordered eating or body dissatisfaction can feel isolating and exhausting. Therapy offers a caring, non-judgmental space to rebuild your relationship with food and your body. Together, we’ll explore the thoughts and feelings behind eating struggles and develop healthier habits rooted in self-compassion. Many clients find renewed balance, confidence, and freedom from cycles of restriction and guilt.

In working with eating disorders, I take a compassionate, non-judgmental approach that focuses on understanding the emotional and psychological functions of eating patterns. Clients are supported in rebuilding trust with their bodies, exploring underlying emotional needs, and developing healthier coping strategies. The focus is on safety, stabilization, and gradual change rather than shame-based approaches. Clients often benefit from improved self-awareness, reduced distress around food and body image, and a more balanced and connected relationship with themselves.

I offer compassionate, evidence-based support for those struggling with eating disorders, focusing on healing both mind and body. Using approaches like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness, I help clients develop a healthier relationship with food, their bodies, and themselves. Together, we’ll address underlying emotional triggers, challenge harmful beliefs, and build coping skills to manage urges and anxiety. My goal is to create a safe, nonjudgmental space where you can reclaim balance, self-compassion, and a sense of control over your life and recovery journey.

Clients who seek eating disorder counseling and treatment can benefit in a variety of ways. Firstly, counseling can help clients to understand the underlying causes of their eating disorder, such as past trauma or negative self-talk. By addressing these underlying issues, clients can begin to develop healthier coping mechanisms and strategies for managing their symptoms. In addition, counseling can help clients to develop a healthier relationship with food and their body image. Clients can learn to identify and challenge negative thoughts and beliefs that may be contributing to their eating disorder, and they can develop more positive and self-affirming self-talk.

I am specialized in helping clients explore the root of their problems in order to develop new ways of coping and live healthy, fulfilling lives. Often our emotional concerns manifest externally in ways that may be initially useful for coping in the short term, but over time become chronic problematic behaviours, such as addictions or disordered eating. I use approaches such as mindfulness, interpersonal counselling (therapy through relationship), and CBT to explore the factors contributing to the underlying difficulties to promote healthy ways of managing difficult experiences, help clients gain a sense of control and improved self-esteem, and foster lasting growth and transformation.

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.

Eating disorders are often connected to deeper emotional pain, shame, or struggles with self-worth. In my work, I offer a compassionate and non-judgmental space where clients can explore their relationship with food, body, and emotions safely. Using a trauma-informed, Gestalt and somatic approach, we gently increase awareness of triggers, body sensations, and inner dialogue. I help clients build emotional regulation skills, self-compassion, and healthier coping strategies. We also explore relational patterns that may support disordered eating. Through this process, clients often develop a more stable sense of self and a more balanced relationship with their body and food.

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

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.

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!

I use a cognitive behavioural therapy approach to address disordered eating patterns. I work with clients to help them identify the thought patterns and behaviours that lead to disordered eating patterns. I encourage clients to monitor the habits that they have developed over time and once these habits have been identified we work together to challenge and change them.

While counselling clients with eating disorders, it is often discovered that the cause is from childhood and relationship challenges. While I suggest you have a doctor and nutritionist on your team, sessions with me can include a safe place for you to share thoughts and feelings and explore coping strategies. Topics such as body image, self-esteem, anxiety and anger, and depression can be explored in sessions to help you understand yourself and your eating disorder in your unique circumstances.