Conversations with Eating Disorders Counselling
The way we work together starts with you. Your experience, your needs, and your pace.
Eating struggles are not one-size-fits-all, and neither is support. Our work is collaborative. We take time to understand what has been happening, what feels stuck, and what feels frightening to let go of. You bring your knowledge of yourself. I bring clinical training and a steady space where we can explore safely.
I draw on person-centred therapy and Schema Therapy for Eating Disorders. This means we look at both what is happening day to day and the deeper emotional patterns underneath. The beliefs, fears, and unmet needs that often sit quietly beneath eating struggles.
Rather than seeing the eating disorder as something to fight, we approach it with curiosity. Many eating patterns begin as ways of coping. Together, we explore how those strategies may once have helped, and how they might now be limiting you.
Over time, the focus shifts toward strengthening your own voice and building new ways of meeting your needs that feel more sustainable and less harmful.
For those supporting someone with eating struggles, we can also explore how to recognise when you are responding to fear or protection rather than to the person you know and love. Learning how to communicate in ways that reduce shame and escalation can make a meaningful difference, while also helping you stay grounded yourself.
Managing expectations-your expertise, my support
My work is grounded in both professional training and lived experience. Eating struggles show up differently for everyone, in thoughts, behaviours, the body, and the deeper emotional patterns underneath.
You are the expert in your own experience.
I am careful about the word “expert.” Therapy is not a set of instructions or a straightforward cure. Recovery is rarely linear, and there is no single method that works for everyone.
The work we do together can take time. Eating patterns are often rooted in long-standing emotional experiences and coping strategies. Change involves gently understanding and processing these over time, not forcing them to disappear.
Therapy requires commitment and trust. There may be moments of progress and moments that feel stuck. That does not mean it is not working. It means you are engaging with something meaningful.
What I offer is a steady, compassionate understanding of eating disorders and the internal world they create. I bring professional knowledge and lived insight, not to direct you, but to walk alongside you as we explore what recovery looks like in your life.
Safety and Physical Health,
I don’t have a criteria in terms of diagnosis — anyone struggling with disordered eating is welcome. What I do require is that your physical health is monitored by a GP or another appropriate health professional.
This serves several important purposes:
- Your safety comes first. Eating disorders can carry hidden physical risks, and regular monitoring ensures these are taken seriously.
- It allows me to focus fully on you. I can concentrate on your experience, thoughts, and emotions without being distracted by concerns about your physical health.
- It creates a safe space for your eating disorder to relax. Because I am not weighing you, demanding you eat in a certain way, or policing your body, you can feel that I am on your side. I sit in the chaos alongside you, exploring what these coping mechanisms are really trying to protect you from.
To make this possible and to practice safely within my professional scope, working with your GP (or another appropriate professional) is essential. If this feels daunting or scary, we can work through it together — I can support you in reaching out to your GP if you’d like.
In short, therapy with me isn’t about controlling your body or numbers on a scale. It’s about understanding your relationship with your eating patterns, your body, and the coping strategies you’ve developed — while keeping you safe and supported every step of the way.