Eating Disorder & Body Image Support
Our relationship with food and our bodies can get in the way of our capacity to live a rich and meaningful life
My approach
I have a particular focus on supporting clients aged 16 and older navigating the full spectrum of eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and atypical or non-diagnostic presentations.
This might look like a difficult relationship with food or your body, distress about how you look or feel, or eating patterns that are affecting your quality of life. It might also mean you don't fit neatly into a diagnosis, but food, body, or eating still feel like they're taking up more space than they should.
My approach recognises that health is understood through a range of indicators, not weight or body size alone. This is a weight-inclusive, non-diet approach to eating disorder and body image therapy. Where medical stability is a relevant part of care, this is addressed collaboratively and with your treating team, always in a way that keeps dignity and trust central.
Trauma often intersects with eating disorders and body image, and I integrate trauma-informed and somatic approaches where this is helpful. I also bring a culturally responsive lens, recognising that relationships with food, body, and self are shaped differently across cultures and communities.
I offer both in-person eating disorder and body image therapy in Coffs Harbour and telehealth sessions across Australia.
What support looks like
Eating disorder and disordered eating therapy at Kapwa Psychology draws on CBT-E (Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), an evidence-based approach used across anorexia and the full spectrum of eating disorder presentations, including binge eating and restrictive eating patterns.
It is a structured approach that helps identify and shift the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that keep an eating disorder or disordered eating going. For older teens, this is delivered with active caregiver involvement and support.
Alongside this, I integrate somatic and relational approaches when useful, attending to what the body holds and how past and present relationships shape your relationship with food and body image. For some clients, particularly where trauma is part of the picture, EMDR may also form part of treatment.
Eating disorder recovery works best when it is collaborative. Alongside our work, you'll generally also need a GP and a dietitian on your treating team. I can support referrals to a treating team if needed. Telehealth sessions are available Australia-wide if this is suitable, with in-person appointments in Coffs Harbour.
Recovery is personal to you
Eating disorder recovery doesn't always mean never struggling again. For many people, it means the struggle stops being in charge. Food and body image no longer sit at the centre of everyday life, energy returns for the rest of life, and the relationship with yourself shifts.
Research on recovery consistently points to something beyond symptom reduction: a stronger, steadier sense of identity and a life with meaning that isn't built around appearance. This is often at the heart of the work.
What recovery looks like is different for everyone, and part of this work is figuring out what it means for you. Progress here is rarely linear, and that's expected. There's no requirement to have things figured out before starting.
Resources
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A simple, anonymous screening tool developed by the Inside Out Institute to help you figure out if you are showing signs of an eating disorder.
Complete it here.
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InsideOut eClinic - free online CBT for people experiencing binge eating behaviours
Butterfly Foundation - national eating disorder support
Reach out for support
Reaching out is often the hardest step, and you don’t have to be fully on board yet to find support helpful. I will meet you where you are.