Eating Disorders &
Body Image

Recovery from eating disorders

Many people have a difficult relationship with food and their body. Let's face it, our societal obsession with weight and body shape has a lot to answer for!  

Disordered eating can involve feeling out of control around food. There can be repeated cycles of bingeing followed by dieting, so-called 'clean' or 'healthy' eating, or other restrictive food rules. This leads people to lose touch with the body's natural hunger and fullness signals.

 

Food, weight and body shape can become the central focus of life, with fulfilment, meaning and connection left by the wayside. Rather than respecting our body, we can scrutinise, criticise and fixate on its appearance. Instead of bringing nourishment and pleasure, food can become a source of misery, guilt and shame.

 

It's important to recognise that these symptoms can be warning signs of an eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious illnesses.  Eating Disorders Victoria (EDV) and The Butterfly Foundation provide excellent information about these conditions.  

Please know that complete recovery from an eating disorder is possible.

 

Treatment approach

Anna is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) with more than 10 years of experience treating adults with eating disorders in both individual and group therapy settings.

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Anna's passion for assisting people struggling with food and body image led to seven years of work with Body Positive Australia in Melbourne, co-facilitating the fabulous RIPE (Recovery is Possible for Everyone) group therapy program, for women struggling with binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa

A verified provider member of Size Inclusive Health Australia, Anna is a size-inclusive practitioner, meaning that she appreciates the natural diversity of body shapes and does not pathologise larger bodies.  Weight stigma and weight bias do great harm in our society, particularly in healthcare.  Anna offers a non-dieting and weight-neutral approach, underpinned by Health at Every Size® (HAES®) principles, which focus on health and wellbeing rather than numbers on a scale or the size of your waistband.

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Anna specialises in Telehealth treatment of adults struggling with:

• body image dissatisfaction and negative body image

• disordered eating

• orthorexia (fixation on 'healthy', 'pure' or 'clean' eating)

• binge eating disorder 

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Anna has extensive training in evidence-based treatments including enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders (CBT-E), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and emotion-focused therapy (EFT). 

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Difficulties in dealing with and expressing emotions often underlie the struggle with food and body image.  Some people may feel shut off and disconnected from their emotional life, while others may feel overwhelmed and swamped by difficult emotional experiences. EFT is a powerful evidence-based approach that helps people identify, express and manage their emotions. Read more. 

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Changing your relationship with food and body

During our time working together, we will unpack the issues underlying your relationship with food and your body (heads up - food isn’t really the problem...and neither is your body).  But treatment isn’t just about talking. I will offer you practical day-to-day strategies to help you understand what you can do differently to start the healing process.  

Working together, we can bring balance and peace to your relationship with food and your body.  Remember, stable, long-term and complete recovery is possible!