Weight Management therapy.

Our therapists work with clients struggling with issues around food, eating, disordered eating, and body image. Clients come with their own individuals challenges around food such as:

• emotional eating

• binge eating

• restrictive eating

• anorexia

• bulimia

• subclinical eating disorders

• weight concerns

• body image issues

• preoccupation with body size, food intake, and/or appearance

• compulsive behaviours such as over-exercising to control weight

• depression and anxiety around eating, food, and/or weight or body image

Your first session(s) will be for intake and assessment. Your therapist will go over your specific concerns and issues that are bringing you to therapy and will help you to share the outcomes and goals you are seeking from therapy - even if you may not be quite sure what those are to start!

Depending on your particular needs, your therapist will likely ask questions and do a lot of listening to learn more about you and to determine how they can best support you to meet your goals.

Specific assessments may be given to help both you and your therapist to really understand what is going on and using that information, your therapist will come up with a treatment plan and their recommendations for the best types of therapy to support you.

You will find yourself in a safe, non-judgemental and compassionate space. Please know that you are not alone and we work with many clients who likely have the same or similar struggles to what you’re facing.

Our intention is to give you a caring and comfortable forum to share your stories, learn more about who you are and to develop the skills that can help you make the choices that will support your health goals - for both physical and mental health.

Common therapies used to treat the issues which bring clients to this type of therapy include:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Best for: Emotional eating, binge eating, habitual overeating.

Core idea: Thoughts → Feelings → Behaviours.
CBT helps identify distorted thinking patterns (“I’ve already messed up, so I might as well eat more”) and replace them with healthier ones.

Key tools:

• Food and thought diaries (track triggers and emotions)

• Cognitive restructuring (challenging “all-or-nothing” or shame-based thinking)

• Behavioural experiments (e.g., slowing down meals, mindful portions)

• Problem-solving training

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

Best for: Emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, binge eating tied to strong emotions.

Core idea: Balance acceptance and change — learn to tolerate distress and regulate emotions without food.

Key tools:

• Mindfulness (increasing awareness before eating)

• Distress tolerance (soothing or distracting without food)

• Emotion regulation (understanding and naming emotions)

• Interpersonal effectiveness (reducing shame, improving boundaries)

DBT skills groups specifically for “DBT for Eating Disorders” are evidence-based and highly effective.

Mindfulness

Best for: Mindless or stress-based eating.

Core idea: Slow down, tune in, and eat with full awareness of hunger, fullness, taste, and satisfaction.

Key tools:

• Mindful meal practice (using all 5 senses)

• Hunger/fullness scale (1–10)

• Body scan before eating

• Identifying emotional vs physical hunger

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Best for: Chronic dieting, body image distress, shame around eating.

Core idea: Build acceptance of urges and feelings, while acting in alignment with values (e.g., health, self-care).

Key tools:

• Urge surfing (observing cravings without acting)

• Values exploration (why healthy eating matters to you)

• Defusion (seeing thoughts as thoughts, not truths)

• Self-compassion exercises

Internal Family Systems (IFS) & Parts Work

Best for: Eating driven by inner conflict, trauma, or self-soothing parts.

Core idea: Different “parts” of you have roles — one may use food to protect or comfort you. Healing involves compassionately understanding those parts.

Key tools:

• Mapping parts (e.g., “the comforter,” “the critic,” “the restrictor”)

• Befriending the part that overeats

• Self-led compassion dialogues

EMDR (Eye movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

While EMDR was developed for trauma (PTSD), it’s now widely used for “non-trauma” targets that involve emotional dysregulation or maladaptive coping, like binge eating or emotional overeating.

Overeating often isn’t about food — it’s about soothing or numbing difficult emotions that the nervous system can’t tolerate.

EMDR helps the brain reprocess the underlying emotional pain or learned associations that drive that behaviour.

Most extended health plans in Ontario cover psychotherapy services conducted by a registered psychotherapist, social worker, or psychologist.

Many of the clients we see struggling with body image issues are young adolescents - tweens and teens. Providing young people with education and support around healthy eating can begin at any age and your child’s therapist will tailor their treatment to be age-appropriate.

We encourage you to schedule a free consult call with one of our trained therapists They can explain the process, answer your questions, and help you decide if this type of therapy would be a good fit for your needs.