Embodied Recovery for Eating Disorders
A trauma-informed, relationally oriented, and neurobiologically supported approach to the treatment of eating disorders
The body is not the problem. It is the answer.
As someone who struggled with disordered eating, I’m acutely aware that traditional recovery approaches can be unhelpful at best and retraumatizing at worst. So often treatment either arises from or gives rise to fear. When therapy is boiled down to increasing or decreasing caloric intake, or offering superficial mindfulness techniques, it falls short of recognizing that there is so much more going on beneath the surface.
I’m a graduate of the Embodied Recovery Institute and have studied directly with Paula Scatoloni, LCSW, CEDS, SEP, and Rachel Lewis-Marlow, MS, EdS, LPC, LMBT. The Embodied Recovery approach includes all the layers of a person–as an experience of embodiment rather than just the absence or reduction of eating disorder symptoms.
Eating disorders don’t exist in a vacuum, so it’s necessary to explore trauma histories, attachment styles, defensive strategies, and nervous system regulation. We will work towards supporting the body as a resource through establishing a felt sense of safety. Then we can welcome curiosity and somatic exploration as we work with the body, rather than fighting against it and treating it as an obstacle.