Josie Munroe, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, EMDR Therapist

When your attempts to feel better about yourself or to calm your nervous system lead to obsessing about what you eat or what you weigh, you're left depleted, disconnected, and frustrated. Small missteps lead to huge feelings of failure and inadequacy. Your family and friends see you as "the strong one," and assume you've got it all together, but honestly, you feel on the edge of losing it. You want to be spontaneous and intuitive with your food, experiencing real satisfaction (not the fleeting kind that comes from "following the rules"). You want to befriend your body, respect, and appreciate it...maybe for the very first time. You want to release perfectionism and self-doubt, and honor your sensitive nature. I'm here to help. I'm a trauma-informed therapist who specializes in working with highly sensitive people coping with difficult relationships with food and their bodies. I believe that full recovery from the captivity of chronic dieting and eating challenges is absolutely possible. I believe your sensitivity is a gift, and I believe that you can move from just surviving to truly thriving.

When it comes to eating disorders, part of the problem is that they work - at least until they don't. More often than not, they develop as really useful coping skills. So ambivalence about recovery is not only normal but expected. You don't have to be ready to give up your eating disorder to begin therapy. I understand that not every part of you may want to recover. Even if this is the case, you are still deserving of a respectful and empowering therapeutic relationship.

A troubled relationship with food and our bodies is just the tip of the iceberg. What really fuels disordered eating and body hatred is much more complicated. Certain temperament traits make some individuals more vulnerable to the F'ed up messages in our society about "good bodies" and the "right way" to eat. Combine these traits with difficult life experiences and low self-esteem and it's a wonder anyone comes away unscathed. I've been through the darkness of an eating disorder and the self-hate and anxiety that accompanied it. It's my passion to help others move toward healing. It is a difficult path to walk, but you don't have to do it alone. You were never meant to.