Eating Disorder Counselling

You might be here because

• Eating has become something you plan around rather than simply do
• You are eating in secret, or not eating and covering for it
• How you feel about your body decides how the day goes
• Someone close to you has raised it and you brushed it off
• You have recovered before and the patterns are returning

None of that has to apply exactly. People often arrive unable to name what is wrong, and that is a perfectly good place to start from.

What the work looks like

Counselling addresses the thoughts, feelings and history underneath the eating rather than the eating alone. Serious eating disorders need medical oversight as well, and where that is the case, therapy sits alongside your doctor or care team rather than replacing them. If specialist medical care is what you need, that will be said plainly.

Approaches most often used

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

  CBT is a short-term, goal-oriented, practical approach to problem-solving. I use it to change the patterns of thinking or behaviour sitting behind a difficulty, and so change the way you feel. It is used for everything from sleep problems and relationship difficulties to substance use, anxiety and depression.

  More on CBT →

• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy

  DBT is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy focused on teaching skills to manage stress, regulate emotions and improve relationships. It emphasises living in the present moment while building healthier ways of coping, so that life’s challenges become more navigable.

  More on DBT →

• Emotion Focused Family Therapy

  EFFT extends the same emotion-focused work to families, and treats parents and caregivers as the people best placed to help — not as the problem to be managed around. It builds practical skill in responding to a family member’s distress, and works directly with the blocks that get in the way of that: fear of making things worse, exhaustion, and self-blame.

  More on EFFT →

Further reading

• Before you book

  What actually happens in a first counselling session

  A first session is mostly you talking and me listening, with no obligation to tell the worst of it straight away. Here is what the hour is actually spent on, what I will ask, and what you are free not to answer.

• Before you book

  How to choose a counsellor in BC, and what the letters after the name mean

  In British Columbia, "counsellor" and "therapist" are not restricted titles — anyone may use them. "Registered Clinical Counsellor" is different, and carries a master’s degree, supervised clinical hours, a code of ethics and a complaints process behind it. Here is what to check before you book.