Eating Disorders
I work with people who are ready to change their thinking and end the eating disorder for good.
Heal Your Eating Disorder For Life
Eating disorders are often maintained by patterns in thinking, emotional response, identity, and how a person relates to themselves and others.
This work focuses on helping you change those patterns directly—especially how you think, respond, and engage with food and yourself.
It is an active process that builds on your existing capacity for change, strengthening more effective ways of thinking and responding so the eating disorder no longer serves a function.
If you are ready to move out of these patterns and make meaningful changes, this work can lead to lasting, sustainable recovery.
Her therapy technique is effective and powerful. I made a lot of progress really quickly working with Shelley. You can talk to her about anything without feeling judged. She is validating and has accurate insights into what you are going through and I find this has helped me to overcome and heal past wounds quickly and in a way that is not re-traumatizing but just helps you to let go of the past and move forward. I really don’t think I would be the person I am today without this therapy and her approach. Thank you so much Shelley! I am truly grateful.
Dealing With The Root Cause Of The Eating Disorder
I work collaboratively if needed, within a team, that is often made up of medical doctors, registered dieticians and families. Healing an eating disorder is about updating an old file system that is no longer working. Once we update the 2009 file system to 2019 we begin to become conscious in the here and now. Anxiety is often a bi-product of these pesky belief systems as well. Until you deal with the root cause of the anxiety or food “ trance”, it is difficult to break the triggers and automatic alerts your nervous system is giving off. Once we address these unconscious “rules” running the eating disorder, we can work with the sympathetic nervous system and rewire it for success. This way, the anxious thoughts no longer persist and the body finds a relaxed state which becomes it’s new normal.
I incorporate empirically based treatments into the healing process as needed with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, purging disorder, and other specified eating disorders, as well as treatment and education on the elements of food and body image. Sometimes anxiety, and or unresolved trauma is an underlying element that must be addressed as well. Our priority is to meet the client where they are at with their eating disorder, then facilitate the next level of healing, which is ultimately to live free with food, and the obsession with it .
Or call (604) 780-8839
Dealing With The Root Cause Of The Eating Disorder
Healing an eating disorder involves changing patterns that are no longer working—especially in how you think, respond, and relate to food and yourself.
These patterns can feel automatic and are often maintained by learned beliefs, emotional responses, and nervous system reactivity. As long as these remain unchanged, it can be difficult to shift triggers or interrupt behaviours. This work focuses on helping you identify and actively change these patterns—both cognitively and behaviourally—while also supporting your ability to regulate emotional and physiological responses. As this shifts, the system becomes less reactive, and new, more stable patterns can take hold.
I draw from evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and integrate additional strategies as needed to support lasting change across binge eating, bulimia, purging disorder, orthorexia, ARFID, and other specified eating disorders. Where relevant, we also address underlying anxiety or past experiences that may be contributing to the maintenance of these patterns.
The focus is always on helping you move out of the cycle of food-related behaviours and into a more stable, flexible, and sustainable way of relating to food and yourself.
Please note: I do not work with Anorexia Nervosa. This is for you if you:
- Are not struggling with Anorexia Nervosa
- Are ready to move away from restrictive eating patterns
- Are open to actively working with your thinking and behaviours
Problematic Eating
Not everyone struggling with food, body image, or weight has an eating disorder. Many experience what I refer to as problematic eating—patterns of eating that are driven by stress, emotion, or automatic responses rather than choice.
Problematic eating occurs when food becomes linked to emotional, cognitive, or situational triggers, making it difficult to eat in a consistent, regulated way. This can include emotional eating, binge eating, compulsive eating, or cycles of restriction and overeating.
Signs of Problematic Eating:
- Repeatedly planning to “do better” with food, but not following through
- Eating in response to stress, emotion, or triggers rather than hunger
- Feeling out of control or “on autopilot” around food
- Regret or self-criticism after eating
- Frequent dieting without lasting change
- Ongoing preoccupation with food, weight, or body
Food Gap Psychology® focuses on helping you change the patterns that drive these behaviours—particularly how you think, respond, and relate to food and yourself.
Using cognitive, emotional, and behavioural strategies, we work to separate eating from automatic reactions and build more stable, intentional patterns.
What Eating Disorders Do We TREAT?
Bulimia Nervosa
An eating disorder in which people have eating binges followed by some kind of behavior to compensate for overeating. People with bulimia report the eating binges as beyond their control, and are often in response to increased stress, or hunger as a result of severe restricting of food intake.Treatment for bulimia can be managed in weekly or bi-weekly outpatient CBT and Schema Therapy, and the course of treatment is usually shorter than that of anorexia.
Binge-Eating Disorder
Binge-eating disorder is an eating disorder characterized by eating binges that are difficult to control. It differs from both anorexia or bulimia in that with binge-eating disorder there is no behavior to compensate for the overeating, such as purging or excessive exercise. Treatment for binge-eating disorder can be managed in weekly or bi-weekly outpatient CBT and Schema Therapy.
Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
Eating disorder not otherwise specified, or EDNOS, is a diagnostic classification for individuals who do not fit into one of the aforementioned disorder types, but still have disordered eating behaviors. An example of this is someone with anorexia-like symptoms, but who is able to keep his/her weight just above the threshold for a diagnosis of anorexia. Eating disorder not otherwise specified is actually the most common diagnosis of people who seek treatment for disordered eating. In most cases treatment for EDNOS can be managed in weekly or bi-weekly outpatient CBT, and the treatment is variable, depending on the symptoms and chronicity of the disorder.
ARFID (Avoidant/ Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)
This eating disorder is characterized by an apparent lack of interest in food based on sensory characteristics such as texture, taste, or appearance. The patient refuses to eat because of this perception.
People afflicted with this disease do not appear to care about body shape or weight, although they often experience significant weight loss due to nutritional deficiency.
Problematic Eating/ Emotional Eating
We have many clients that fall in this category and in fact do not qualify for an eating disorder however struggle with food, body image, shape and weight in some way.
Access Food Freedom- an initial reading tool: Note this is not a stand alone tool for eating disorders, but best used in combination with therapy.
Processes Used
Clinical Hypnosis
Hypnosis, also referred to as hypnotherapy or hypnotic suggestion, is a trance-like state in which you have heightened focus and concentration. Hypnosis is usually done with the help of a therapist using verbal repetition and mental images. When you’re under hypnosis, you usually feel calm and relaxed, and are more open to suggestions. Hypnosis can be used to help you gain control over undesired behaviors or to help you cope better with eating behaviours and thought processes, anxiety or pain. It’s important to know that although you’re more open to suggestion during hypnosis, you don’t lose control over your behavior.
Cognitive restructuring
Cognitive restructuring helps people to identify unhelpful or distorted thinking patterns, and modify them with more reality-based or effective thinking. With eating disorders, this often focuses on targeting people’s unhelpful assumptions and beliefs about food, body image, and emotions.
Schema Therapy
The theory underlying schema-focused therapy presumes that when our basic childhood needs (such as needs for safety, acceptance, and love) are met inadequately, we develop unhealthy ways of interpreting and interacting with the world, which is called maladaptive early schemas.These schemas are often the basis of eating disorder behaviour and therefore addressing them both consciously and unconsciously can be fundamental in the recovery process.
Behavioral chain analysis
Chain analysis is a tool to help clients identify the factors maintaining behaviors they want to change. By identifying immediate factors contributing to their disorder, inventions are more easily designed to target the symptoms.
Emotion regulation strategies
Significant research has shown than many people with eating disorders use disordered eating behavior to manage difficult emotions. This is supported by the statistic that about 50% of people with an eating disorder also have clinical depression. By helping people regulate and better cope with intense emotions, CBT helps people reduce the urge to engage in problematic eating behavior.
Distress tolerance training
Because powerful urges are usually at the heart of eating disorders, distress tolerance training can help people better tolerate harmful urges. Distress tolerance involves helping people learn to experience urges without giving in to them. Mindfulness: People with eating disorders often spend a large amount of time ruminating about food and body image. This can increase with time, making it very difficult to change disordered eating behavior.
Mindfulness training
Mindfulness is a tool that can help people get out of their thoughts and connect to the present moment, disrupting the rumination cycle, and making healthy behavior possible. Generally because anorexia nervosa requires a higher level of treatment initially, we refer all individuals who have anorexia to intensive outpatient and residential programs. Bulimia and binge-eating disorder however, can be safely treated in weekly outpatient CBT therapy.