I work with women who have a wide range of issues with food, eating, and their bodies. Some share they are emotional eaters while others struggle with disordered eating and an eating disorder. All of it feels significant to me. When clients reach out to me they are afraid that their struggle is won’t be enough to warrant help. I start to notice the common themes that show up in my sessions regardless of where my client is on the disordered eating spectrum.
A common fear is present with my clients when it comes to eating disorder therapy. “My body can’t be trusted”, they tell me. They fear that if they start eating they will never stop. They will never stop eating, and their body will never stop gaining weight. They are terrified to start this experience because they have learned to believe that their body has to be controlled. They can’t trust its hunger and fulness cues.
The truth about eating disorder therapy
Do you want to know the truth? Maybe for a while, your body will send you signals to eat more often than you’re used to. You might gain weight, and that might be scary. Neither you nor I get to decide what your body does to heal. You might not trust your body, and your body might struggle to trust you back. After not having access to the food it needs, and having repeated a diet and weight loss cycle more times than it wants to then it might rebel. Remember part of healing is learning to gain the trust back of your body that has kept you alive since your heart started beating when you were only a few weeks old.
Eating disorder therapy is worth it
What you learn about yourself in the process of eating disorder therapy will change your life. You deserve eating disorder treatment. You will learn to trust your body again. Your body will stop sending you the signals to keep eating when it knows you’re not going to withhold food again. Your body doesn’t know when it’s just a diet versus when you are actually starving. The fears you might be feeling now won’t always be fears. You’ll learn to be comfortable with your body and with food. This is not how it will always be.
Start working with an Eating Disorder Therapist in Utah
You don’t have to keep struggling with your body and with food. You don’t have to feel anxious about what you eat and be terrified that you’ll gain weight. Eating disorder therapy can help. This Utah Counseling Practice has an eating disorder therapist specializing in eating disorder therapy. To begin counseling follow the steps below:
Meet with a Utah therapist
Begin eating disorder recovery
Online Eating Disorder Therapy in Utah
It’s important for you to have access to eating disorder treatment, and unfortunately, many people living all throughout Utah, don’t have access to a therapist who specializes in treating eating disorders. This is why I offer online therapy in Utah. Online eating disorder therapy lets you meet with a therapist that knows exactly how to help you without you having to travel long distances. It’s convenient and just as effective as in-person therapy.
Online therapy allows me to work with clients all over the state of Utah. This means if you are located in St. George, Cedar City, Salt Lake City, Logan, Heber City, and more I can help you.
Other mental health services offered at Maple Canyon Therapy
Eating disorder therapy isn’t the only mental health service provided by this Utah Counseling Clinic. Other mental health services provided by Maple Canyon Therapy include binge eating disorder treatment, anxiety therapy, EMDR therapy, and birth trauma therapy.
About the Author
Ashlee Hunt is a licensed clinical social worker and founder of Maple Canyon Therapy in Utah. Ashlee has a bachelor of science in Psychology and a bachelor of science in family life and human development from Southern Utah University. She earned her masters in social work from Utah State University. Ashlee has been working with women with eating disorders since 2013 and knew right away that this is the population she wanted to work with. She loves helping women learn to use self-compassion and to be kind to their bodies. Ashlee believes there is much more to eating disorder recovery than just learning to eat without anxiety. Outside of therapy, Ashlee enjoys spending time outside with her husband and dogs.