Your relationship with food and your body is deeply personal, and often shaped by far more than food itself.
For many people, struggles with eating, body image, or self-perception are connected to stress, trauma, identity, control, safety, or years of internalized messages about worth and appearance.
These experiences can feel exhausting, confusing, and isolating, especially when they are reinforced by cultural or social pressures.
At Orange Tree Psychotherapy, we provide eating disorder therapy and body image support for adults in Phoenix and throughout Arizona through both in-person sessions and telehealth. Our approach is compassionate, non-judgmental, and grounded in the belief that healing is not about achieving a specific body or appearance.
We also recognize that not everyone begins therapy in the same place, and we meet you where you are in your relationship with your body and food.
We also provide affirming care for LGBTQIA+ individuals, neurodivergent clients, and people navigating identity-related stress, trauma, or long-standing patterns of self-criticism.
What Struggles With Food and Body Image Can Look Like
Preoccupation with food, weight, or body size
Restricting, bingeing, or cycles of control and loss of control
Feeling guilt, shame, or anxiety around eating
Body dissatisfaction or distress about appearance
Comparing your body to others or feeling “not enough”
Using food or restriction to manage emotions or stress
Feeling disconnected from hunger, fullness, or body cues
Avoiding social situations involving food or body exposure
Eating differences related to neurodivergence or sensory needs, including ARFID
Navigating eating and body concerns alongside medical factors (such as bariatric surgery history or medications that affect appetite or weight, including GLP-1s)
Using compensatory behaviors such as laxatives or other methods in an attempt to manage weight or control
Many people also experience these struggles alongside anxiety, depression, trauma, or neurodivergence.
There is no single way eating or body image concerns show up. They may include:
Our Approach to Eating Disorders & Body Image Therapy
Our work is not focused on changing your body. It is focused on understanding your relationship with your body and helping you move toward a place of more safety, trust, and compassion with yourself.
We approach eating disorders and body image therapy through a trauma-informed and weight-inclusive lens. We do not support diet culture frameworks or weight-centered measures of health as indicators of worth or healing. At the same time, we recognize that some people come to therapy not yet feeling ready for this perspective, or still hoping for change in their body, and we approach this with openness and without judgment.
Instead, we support you in:
Understanding the emotional and psychological roots of eating patterns
Reducing shame and self-criticism
Reconnecting with internal cues like hunger, fullness, and satiety
Building more stable and compassionate coping strategies
Processing trauma or experiences that may be connected to control or safety
Developing a more neutral or peaceful relationship with your body over time
Healing is not linear, and it does not look the same for everyone.
HAES-Informed & Anti-Diet Care
We take a Health at Every Size (HAES)-informed and anti-diet approach to body image and eating disorder work.
This means we do not view body size as a measure of health, worth, or progress. Instead, we focus on supporting your mental, emotional, and relational well-being in a way that feels sustainable and respectful of your lived experience.
Who This Is For
Disordered eating patterns or eating disorders
Body image distress or body dissatisfaction
Chronic dieting or cycles of restriction and overeating
Emotional eating or using food for regulation
Trauma-related eating patterns
Identity-related body distress, including LGBTQIA+ experiences
Neurodivergence-related challenges with eating or body awareness
We work with individuals experiencing:
You do not need a formal diagnosis to seek support. If your relationship with food or your body feels painful, consuming, or distressing, therapy can be a place to begin making sense of it.
In-Person & Online Eating Disorders and Body Image Therapy in Arizona
We offer eating disorder and body image therapy in Phoenix, with in-person sessions available at our Midtown location. Telehealth therapy is also available for clients throughout Arizona.
What It’s Like to Work With Us
Our approach is steady, respectful, and non-judgmental. We move at a pace that prioritizes emotional safety and trust, especially when working with deeply rooted patterns around food and body image.
We understand that these struggles are often layered, complex, and connected to more than food alone.
Getting Started
If you are struggling with your relationship with food or your body, you do not have to navigate it alone or have everything figured out before reaching out.
You can take the next step in whatever way feels most comfortable:
We’re here when you’re ready.
Meet the Therapists Who Support This Work
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![A young woman with long, wavy brown hair and a big smile, standing outdoors in a park with trees and sunlight in the background, wearing a blue long-sleeve top.]()
Caitlin Rudgear, LPC (she/her)
Supporting self-worth, body image healing, and trauma recovery
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![A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a black blazer and a white blouse, sitting at a table, smiling at the camera with a lit candle in front of her and a sign that says 'You got this.']()
Winter Groeschl, LPC (she/they)
Compassionate support for anxiety, trauma, body image, and identity-related stress
