Eating Disorder Specialist in Denver, CO
Finding support for your relationship with food, your body, and yourself can feel incredibly daunting. Whether you’re struggling with an eating disorder, noticing patterns of disordered eating, or feeling exhausted by constant thoughts about food or your body, you deserve a space to explore what’s really going on beneath the surface.
While eating disorders often involve challenges around food, eating, or body image, they’re rarely just about appearance or food. At their core, eating disorders can be a coping mechanism; A response to emotional pain, stress, trauma, or experiences that feel overwhelming. They can show up in many different ways, including restricting food, binge eating, purging, excessive exercise, or a strong focus on “clean” or “healthy” eating.
These patterns often develop gradually, and may serve in roles that might help you feel more in control, less anxious, or more grounded. Eating disorders may also be linked to trauma, perfectionism, or environments where value is placed on productivity or appearance. Everyone’s story is unique, and there is no single path that leads to an eating disorder.
Recovery is possible, and often involves exploring the emotional roots of the eating disorder, learning new ways to cope, and reconnecting with parts of yourself that may have been pushed aside.
Disordered Eating & Body Image
You don’t have to meet the criteria for an eating disorder to be struggling with food or your body. Many people find themselves caught in patterns of disordered eating, such as skipping meals, eating past fullness, obsessing over what they “should” or “shouldn’t” eat, or feeling guilt after eating. These patterns can be quiet and easily overlooked, especially in a culture that often normalizes restriction, overexercising, and constant body dissatisfaction.
If you’ve been questioning your relationship with food, feeling out of sync with your body, or finding it hard to eat in a way that feels intuitive, it can be hard to know where to start. You may notice food taking up more mental space than you'd like, or that your mood is impacted by how you feel in your body on a given day. Often times, these challenges show up gradually, especially during times of stress, transition, or after years of internalized messages about what bodies are "supposed" to look like.
Healing your relationship with food and body image is possible, even if you've lived with these patterns for a long time. I offer a compassionate space to explore the beliefs and experiences that have shaped how you relate to food, movement, and your body. Together, we can work toward a more connected relationship with yourself and others, and find more space away from thoughts around food and your body.
My work with eating disorders and disordered eating is rooted in the belief that we must understand what is at the core of your eating disorder to know what you need in recovery.
I draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help clients explore the different “parts” of themselves that may have conflicting feelings about recovery. For example, the part that wants to feel free around food, and the part that feels the need to stay in control. Or, the part that longs for rest, and the part that pushes through. IFS offers a non-pathologizing way to understand these inner conflicts, helping clients shift from self-judgment, guilt, and shame, to self-compassion and self-trust. Over time, this work can restore a sense of trust in your body and deepen your connection to who you are beyond your eating disorder.
I also integrate Narrative therapy, which invites space to explore the stories you’ve been told—or have come to believe—about food, your body, identity, and worth. By externalizing your eating disorder and examining different messages around your body, you can begin to rewrite these narratives in ways that feel more authentic, empowering, and aligned with your values.
I offer a flexible, relational, and values-based approach, tailored to each person’s unique experience. I am formally trained as both an eating disorder and trauma therapist, and am currently working towards my Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) Certification. Based on your needs, I also help create collaborative care teams, such as with dietitians, psychiatrists, medical doctors, and family therapists. Having worked in the eating disorder field for nearly a decade, I know how intense recovery can be at all stages. Whether you’re just starting out or transitioning out of a program, I will meet you where you are.