True North Clinical Associates
Disordered Eating Therapy
Transform your relationship with food. In-person therapy for disordered eating in Naperville & Downers Grove, Illinois. Online therapy across Illinois.
Gain insight & develop effective strategies for recovery
Learn how to challenge urges & harmful behaviors
Reclaim a healthier relationship with food and yourself
"How do I learn to love my body?"
Disordered eating can distort your perception of yourself, making you feel disconnected from your body and its needs. Symptoms can include severe food restriction, excessive overeating, or purging behaviors, all of which can lead to a cycle of guilt, shame, and isolation.
At True North Clinical Associates, we guide you towards a healthier self-image, fostering a compassionate relationship with your body.
Disordered Eating Therapy in Naperville & Downers Grove
What is disordered eating?
People often focus on their weight, try diets, or occasionally overindulge. However, for some, this preoccupation can signal a serious issue. Eating disorders are life-threatening conditions affecting eating behaviors and can impact anyone. Eating disorders are often coping mechanisms for difficult emotions, affecting identity, self-worth, and self-esteem. Symptoms range from food restriction to binging or purging, with common types including Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder.
True North Clinical Associates
Types of Eating Disorders
Struggles with food and body image can manifest into disordered eating behaviors such as Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder.
Anorexia
Anorexia is a serious eating disorder where people obsess about their weight and the food they eat, often leading to extreme weight loss. Symptoms include severe calorie restriction, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image.
Bulimia
Bulimia involves cycles of binge eating followed by purging to avoid weight gain. People with Bulimia might use vomiting, laxatives, or excessive exercise as methods to purge, often feeling a loss of control during binges.
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder is characterized by regularly eating large amounts of food in a short period, often in secret, and feeling guilty or ashamed afterward. Unlike Bulimia, there’s no regular purging after the binges.
Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED)
OSFED includes eating disorders that don’t fit into the typical categories of Anorexia, Bulimia, or Binge Eating Disorder but still cause significant distress and impairment. Symptoms vary widely but can include a mix of restrictive eating, purging, and over-exercising.
Laxative Abuse
Laxative abuse involves the misuse of laxatives to lose weight or purge food from the body. This can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and long-term gastrointestinal issues.
Exercise Addiction
Exercise addiction is an unhealthy obsession with physical fitness and exercise, often to the detriment of one’s health and social life. Symptoms include feeling compelled to exercise even when injured or exhausted.
Disordered Eating
Disordered eating refers to a range of irregular eating behaviors that may not warrant a specific diagnosis but still cause distress or impairment. This can include frequent dieting, skipping meals, and obsessive thoughts about food.
True North Clinical Associates
Eating Disorder Treatment
Our approach to support eating disorders includes mindfulness, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral strategies. This can help clients develop healthier relationships with food and their bodies, guiding them toward lasting recovery.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment for eating disorders that focuses on identifying and changing distorted thinking patterns and behaviors. By addressing the underlying thoughts and emotions that drive disordered eating, CBT helps individuals develop healthier eating habits and improve their self-esteem. Through structured sessions, you learn practical skills to manage triggers and prevent relapse.
Recovery Record
Recovery Record is a mobile app designed to support individuals in their eating disorder recovery journey. It allows you to track meals, thoughts, and emotions, providing valuable insights into your eating patterns and behaviors. With features like meal logging, coping strategies, and progress tracking, Recovery Record helps you stay accountable and connected to your treatment plan, offering a practical tool to complement therapy sessions.
Fear Food Lists and Challenges
Fear food lists and challenges are therapeutic exercises designed to help individuals confront and overcome their fear of certain foods. By gradually exposing you to these feared foods in a controlled and supportive environment, these challenges reduce anxiety and normalize eating patterns. This technique helps build confidence and flexibility in your diet, fostering a healthier relationship with food.
Multidisciplinary Treatment Team Approach
A multidisciplinary treatment team approach involves collaboration among various healthcare professionals, including psychiatrists, registered dieticians, and therapists, to provide comprehensive care for eating disorder recovery. This integrated approach ensures that you receive holistic support addressing both the psychological and physical aspects of your condition. Through coordinated care, you benefit from personalized treatment plans that optimize your recovery process and overall well-being.
Healing Begins Here. Start Now. Be Guided.
Find Your True North
about us
Why Work With
True North
Clinical Associates?
At True North, we believe everyone can benefit from a little guidance to reach their desired destination.
Whether you know exactly what needs fixing or feel completely lost, deciding where to begin can be daunting. With day-to-day struggles consuming most of your energy, it can leave you wondering when things will get better; when you’ll feel like you’re on the right path. We’re here to help you reimagine your life on your terms.
“True North” is marked by a bright star, the celestial North Pole, guiding travelers directly upward. In our daily lives, True North represents the positive changes and growth we strive for to live more enjoyable and productive lives. Our practice embodies this ideology, reflecting that through positive changes, insight, communication, and new ways of relating to others, we can each find a personal direction that is both upward and true.
We provide therapy that is practical, evidence-based, and most importantly, achievable. Our expertise comes in an unexpectedly casual but reassuringly professional setting, with nothing but the highest hopes for your success.
NEXT STOP: BETTER AND BETTER.
At True North Clinical Associates, we pride ourselves on therapy that is:
Directly acknowledging issues does wonders to provide relief even before taking action. It’s crucial not to assume we understand our client's needs and wishes, but to express and clarify them directly.
We value diversity and the unique insights it brings to the therapeutic process. We provide a safe non-judgmental space where clients feel accepting energy once they engage with us.
Our approach is client-centered, meaning your needs are always our top priority. It’s all about you and ensuring that your therapy experience is tailored to meet your specific goals.
Your Guides
Meet Our Disordered Eating Therapists
Our Therapeutic Approach
YOUR GUIDE TO GROWTH
Our approach is designed to make life easier for you. By assisting you in making necessary adjustments and identifying your version of best living, we ensure that you achieve a fulfilling and balanced life.
Your journey begins with a comprehensive assessment where you can share your experiences and challenges related to disordered eating. Through psychoeducation, you’ll gain valuable insights into the nature of eating disorders, helping you understand the underlying factors and how they affect your life. This foundational step builds the knowledge and awareness needed to move forward.
In this phase, you’ll learn to challenge the negative thoughts, urges, and behaviors that drive disordered eating. Your therapist will guide you in developing adaptive coping skills to manage distress and replace harmful behaviors with healthier alternatives. This stage is about equipping you with practical tools and strategies to face challenges confidently.
Recovery is a journey, and lapses can happen. In this step, you’ll learn to manage lapses effectively to prevent full relapse. Your therapist will help you identify early warning signs and develop a robust relapse prevention plan. This proactive approach ensures that you stay on track and continue to build a healthier relationship with food and your body.
Therapy in naperville & Downers grove
Frequently Asked Questions About Disordered Eating Therapy
What do meetings look like?
Individual disordered eating therapy sessions involve a mix of weekly recaps of thoughts, urges for, and engagement in disordered eating behavior, as well as any moments of emotional dysregulation. These conversations also spur discussion about unhelpful beliefs about oneself or food, which allows us to discover where one’s beliefs/core values come from.
Who will be involved in treatment?
While we are more than willing to consult with other treatment team members and family members, it is important to note that one person will be the target of individual therapy. If additional therapy is needed (i.e., couples therapy, family therapy, etc.), we are happy to make a referral.
Will I be required to track my engagement in disordered eating behaviors and adherence to my meal plan?
We strongly encourage patients to utilize Recovery Record as a way to achieve treatment goals. Recovery Record allows a patient and clinician to work together on setting and achieving various treatment goals.
How do I handle lapses or a relapse?
We believe that lapses and relapse are a part of the recovery process. When lapses and relapse happen, we ask that you are honest about your struggles, so that we can help. At that time, we will do our best to help you re-establish your treatment goals, increase insight into why the lapse/relapse happened, and access coping skills to get back on track.
Will you work with my treatment team (i.e., Registered Dietitian, Psychiatrist, Surgeon, etc.)?
Absolutely! In order to navigate recovery for disordered eating behaviors, it is imperative that all members of a treatment team work together. I am more than happy to be in regular contact with any members of your treatment team that you desire.
How long will it take to feel better?
The treatment of disordered eating behaviors can be lifelong. It is likely that thoughts and urges to engage in disordered eating behaviors will come-and-go throughout your entire life, but with treatment, you can learn to identify and manage the urges. Generally speaking, people start to feel relief after the first session because they are able to talk openly about some of the challenges that they are facing. People who are “all in” on treatment generally see significant emotional and behavioral changes within the first couple of months.
True North Clinical Associates
Possible Outcomes of Disordered Eating Therapy
Every person and situation is unique, and as a result, we can’t guarantee any specific results or timeline. However, with commitment and consistency, you may notice that over time you will:
- Gain insights into the underlying factors driving the disorder.
- Develop a healthier and more balanced approach to eating.
- Reduce and eliminate destructive habits.
- Build a stronger sense of self-worth and confidence.
- Enhance connections with family, friends, and loved ones.
- Establish regular, healthy eating patterns.
- Discover a more accepting and appreciative view of yourself and your body.
True North Clinical Associates
LET’S DO THIS!
True North Clinical Associates offers in-person counseling from our Naperville & Downers Grove locations or online from anywhere in Illinois.
You can book a free 20-minute phone consultation using the button below. You can also send us a message or call us and we will get you scheduled.
- 1776 Legacy Cir STE 114, Naperville, IL 60563
- 5151 Mochel Dr STE 305, Downers Grove, IL 60515
- Online therapy sessions are offered across Illinois
True North Clinical Associates
Disordered Eating Therapy
Nourish your mind, heal your body.
