Struggling with negative thoughts about your body? You’re not alone - there is support available.

I’m an Integrative therapist and I work online with a range of body image and eating problems. I’ve spent many years working in eating disorder services and learning about body image, partly due to my own lived experience in the past. I’m passionate about helping others tackle their body image concerns, so I work online offering body image therapy for anyone in the UK.

​This post will explain what body image therapy is, what it can involve, and how it can help you feel more at ease in your own skin.

This is a personal piece about how I went from being someone with very low self-esteem and self-worth, to a counsellor specialising in body image and eating disorders. I hope it may help others who may want to train to be counsellors, or for those struggling with self-esteem and body image problems, or for anyone who might just be interested in reading the journey.
 
I grew up in the Midlands in the Eighties and Nineties, what I would think of now as working class but I never considered that back then. From as young as I can remember, I didn’t like myself very much. I hated my body, and I knew I had to try and make myself thin to be loveable. I was a very quiet, shy child who found it difficult to speak up. A lot of people were very mean to me, both other kids and adults. I didn’t think I was particularly good at anything and didn’t think I was worthy of love.

Writing can be a powerful tool for exploring and processing emotions. As a writer and counsellor, I have experienced for myself how writing can be deeply therapeutic. We pour parts of ourselves into our words, even sometimes without realising it. Looking back, I can see that my early fiction writing was a way of processing my feelings and experiences, as well as my journalling. Writing blogs helped (and continues to help) explore themes like trauma, social inequalities, eating disorders, and body acceptance, which are central to my work.

Below are some suggested writing exercises that may help build self-compassion and improve body image. Some of these exercises are more structured than others, so do whichever ones feel right for you. The key is to write in a way that feels good or helpful, without any writing rules or pressures.

People struggle with eating in many different ways, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to recovery and healing. I'd like to offer some insights into what healing your relationship with food might look like, based on my experience as an eating disorder counsellor but also from my own lived experience. This is just my perspective and some common themes I’ve noticed in practice. The most important thing is that you find the right path to explore these issues in a way that feels right for you, at your own pace.
​

It’s that time of year again - the endless barrage of adverts: diet products, gym memberships, expensive supplements, weight loss drugs and injectables and more. And let’s not forget the “psychological approaches” to weight loss - the ones that say “we’re-definitely-not-a-diet” when they most definitely are! The New Year comes loaded with expectations: to be better, fitter, healthier, more successful… and, of course, to BUY MORE STUFF. Businesses selling diet culture don’t care about your health, they care about making money.

So here’s your friendly reminder: you don’t have to listen to any rules, “shoulds” or “musts” about your body in the New Year. Sometimes, the stress of trying to “improve” does more harm than good. Perhaps the aim can just be to show ourselves a little more kindness and compassion this year.