Lauren Canonico, LCSW - Affirmative Therapy Collective

Affirmative therapy for all bodies

All of you is welcome here

Eating disorder treatment shouldn't be traumatizing

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Lauren Canonico, LCSW
Asher M. Seruya, LCSW
Sophie Kuhn Bedaña, LMSW
Lee Warwick, LMSW
Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW

Psychotherapist, Supervisor, Consultant, Adjunct Professor

Covid Conscious Therapist Directory link

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Affirmative Therapy Collective LCSW LLC

Body, Sex, Trauma, Neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapy

Eating disorder and trauma treatment done differently

80 University Pl, Suite 2G, New York, NY 10003

info@affirmativetherapycollective.com

(646) 504-1615

Quick Links

Individual Psychotherapy
Couples, Relationship, & Family Therapy
Group Psychotherapy
Supervision & Consultation
In-Person Clinicians
Therapeutic Approaches

Connect with us on Instagram

affirmativetherapycollective

🌈All of you is welcome here🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Body, Sex, Trauma, & LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy
🛋️ NYC
🖥️ NY, NJ, CO, CT, FL, MI, MN, PA, WI
New clients ⤵️

🏳️‍⚧️Coming Home to You now enrolling!!🏳️‍⚧️ We o

🏳️‍⚧️Coming Home to You now enrolling!!🏳️‍⚧️

We often discuss here the role that fapthobia and weight stigma play in eating disorders, body image distress, and chronic dieting. We mention it often because it is almost never absent from these experiences, and it is an aspect that is often not acknowledged by mainstream ED care.

All that being said, fatphobia is not the only reason we develop funky and fucked up relationships with food and our bodies. Sometimes, part of the reason we try to manipulate our bodies (which is almost always an aspect of EDs unless we’re talking about ARFID) is because by doing so, we think and/or feel that we will more closely align with our gender experience and, by extension, feel less distress around our gender presentation and/or less gender dysphoria more broadly.

One example: many folks who are interested in appearing more masculine decide to begin taking testosterone as a form of hormonal therapy. One common side effect of taking testosterone is weight gain, which for folks born with breasts can contribute to a larger breast presentation, which can in turn create gender dysphoria and distress. This can lead to individuals attempting to restrict to reduce the size of their bust in order to feel more in alignment with their gender, AKA engaging in disordered eating patterns.

It is crucial that eating disorder providers working with trans folks consider these intersectional aspects of trans experience to mitigate harm and truly offer gender affirming care that allows for different kinds of body image distress.

Interested in exploring your experience of gender and your relationship with food? Sophie is currently enrolling for a new cohort of her group, Coming Home to You! Head to the 🔗 in our bio or email us at info@affirmativetherapycollective.com 💌 to sign up or ask questions 🫂

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🏷️ #queertherapist #bodyimagehealing #genderexpression #genderaffirmingcare #eatingdisordersupport

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romant

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romantic, passionate, and usually centered around partnership or sexual connection. Ultimately, most of us are conditioned by media and other social sources to believe that romantic love is the most meaningful version of love.

To be clear, this is not to say that romance does not hold weight; it does. Romantic and sexual relationships are deeply fulfilling, but they are only one piece of a larger emotional landscape.

Love shows up in countless forms, all of which are vital to our wellbeing: familial love, love within friendships, and self-love. Community-based love, one that is often forgotten about, fosters belonging and collective resilience—a necessity given our current political climate. In times of stress or crisis, community support can be a powerful protective factor.

By broadening our definition of love, we allow ourselves to experience connection in ways that might surprise us. It encourages a more inclusive and compassionate understanding of human connection, and it allows us to recognize that love is not a limited resource but a diverse and evolving experience. When we give equal value to friendships, family, community, and ourselves, we craft a stronger foundation that can sustain us throughout life’s challenges.

- Lee

Interested in exploring your relationship with love? Want to expand what it means to give and receive genuine care? Lee is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
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🏷️ #beyondromanticlove #relationshiptherapist #friendshiplove #queertherapist #newyorktherapist

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wante

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wanted to take this moment to remind you that finding safety in your sexual and romantic experiences is your right as a sexually active human. And, it makes sex that much more fun.

Sex can be a complicated topic, and learning how to engage with it in a way that prioritizes safety, autonomy, and mutual pleasure isn’t easy. The culture we live in is a huge barrier, between gender roles and patriarchy and purity culture, there’s a lot to sort through.

For those of us with sexual trauma, there is an added layer of complexity. With the latest release of the Epstein files, we are once again reminded of the harm of sexual activity driven by power, control, and force.

But regardless of whether you have experienced sexual trauma or not, consent is supreme. And, yes, very sexy. Because to feel sexy, we have to feel safe. And we all deserve the kinds of sex lives that offer us that safety.

Interested in exploring your relationship with sex and intimacy? Sophie is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
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🏷️ #consentissexy #vulnerabilityisstrength #sextherapy #sextherapist #consentismandatory

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing,

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing, shrinking, optimizing, and controlling bodies—as if our worth resets with the calendar.

The phrase of “New year, new body” is common during this time. These kinds of New Year’s resolutions often present themselves as harmless self-improvement. But the truth? These resolutions are steeped in diet culture, healthism, and fatphobia. In other words, they’re anything but harmless.

This kind of messaging teach us that thinner, more disciplined, more productive bodies are better bodies; that control is a moral virtue.

Over time, this messaging injures our relationship with ourselves.

We learn to mistrust hunger, rest, softness, pleasure—anything that can’t be optimized or measured. Perfectionism slips in wearing a wellness costume, insisting that if we just try harder, plan better, buy the right products, we’ll finally feel okay in our skin.

And when that doesn’t work, the blame lands squarely on us—not the system that profits from our dissatisfaction.

This is where body image injury shows up: in the shame around taking up space, in the anxiety of being seen, in the relentless self-surveillance that replaces self-compassion.

Productivity culture backs this up, praising bodies only for what they can produce, endure, or overcome. Listening to your body becomes a problem if it interferes with goals.

So if this year you feel the urge to reject the “new body” narrative, fuck yea! That’s not resistance to growth—it is growth.

Your body doesn’t need fixing. It needs safety, respect, and maybe a little righteous anger on its behalf.

Looking to work with someone on body image injury in a space that creates safety for all kinds of bodies? Sophie has availability for individual clients!

Are you trans or gender non-conforming and interested in exploring the intersections of eating disorders within your trans identity? Sophie is currently enrolling the second co-hort of her group, COMING HOME TO YOU: Exploring Eating Disorder Recovery and Body Image Injury within the Trans Experience.
.
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🏷️ #BodyImageHealing #NewYearNewBody #dietculture #healthateverysize #fuckfatphobia

Follow on Instagram

Health At Every Size® and HAES® are registered trademarks of the Association for Size Diversity and Health and used with permission

Covid Conscious Therapist Directory link

Affirmative Therapy Collective LCSW LLC

Body, Sex, Trauma, Neurodivergent, and LGBTQ+ Affirmative Psychotherapy

Eating disorder and trauma treatment done differently

80 University Pl, Suite 2G, New York, NY 10003

info@affirmativetherapycollective.com

(646) 504-1615

Quick Links

Individual Psychotherapy
Couples, Relationship, & Family Therapy
Group Psychotherapy
Supervision & Consultation
In-Person Clinicians
Therapeutic Approaches

Connect with us on Instagram

affirmativetherapycollective

🌈All of you is welcome here🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Body, Sex, Trauma, & LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy
🛋️ NYC
🖥️ NY, NJ, CO, CT, FL, MI, MN, PA, WI
New clients ⤵️

🏳️‍⚧️Coming Home to You now enrolling!!🏳️‍⚧️ We o

🏳️‍⚧️Coming Home to You now enrolling!!🏳️‍⚧️

We often discuss here the role that fapthobia and weight stigma play in eating disorders, body image distress, and chronic dieting. We mention it often because it is almost never absent from these experiences, and it is an aspect that is often not acknowledged by mainstream ED care.

All that being said, fatphobia is not the only reason we develop funky and fucked up relationships with food and our bodies. Sometimes, part of the reason we try to manipulate our bodies (which is almost always an aspect of EDs unless we’re talking about ARFID) is because by doing so, we think and/or feel that we will more closely align with our gender experience and, by extension, feel less distress around our gender presentation and/or less gender dysphoria more broadly.

One example: many folks who are interested in appearing more masculine decide to begin taking testosterone as a form of hormonal therapy. One common side effect of taking testosterone is weight gain, which for folks born with breasts can contribute to a larger breast presentation, which can in turn create gender dysphoria and distress. This can lead to individuals attempting to restrict to reduce the size of their bust in order to feel more in alignment with their gender, AKA engaging in disordered eating patterns.

It is crucial that eating disorder providers working with trans folks consider these intersectional aspects of trans experience to mitigate harm and truly offer gender affirming care that allows for different kinds of body image distress.

Interested in exploring your experience of gender and your relationship with food? Sophie is currently enrolling for a new cohort of her group, Coming Home to You! Head to the 🔗 in our bio or email us at info@affirmativetherapycollective.com 💌 to sign up or ask questions 🫂

.
.
.
🏷️ #queertherapist #bodyimagehealing #genderexpression #genderaffirmingcare #eatingdisordersupport

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romant

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romantic, passionate, and usually centered around partnership or sexual connection. Ultimately, most of us are conditioned by media and other social sources to believe that romantic love is the most meaningful version of love.

To be clear, this is not to say that romance does not hold weight; it does. Romantic and sexual relationships are deeply fulfilling, but they are only one piece of a larger emotional landscape.

Love shows up in countless forms, all of which are vital to our wellbeing: familial love, love within friendships, and self-love. Community-based love, one that is often forgotten about, fosters belonging and collective resilience—a necessity given our current political climate. In times of stress or crisis, community support can be a powerful protective factor.

By broadening our definition of love, we allow ourselves to experience connection in ways that might surprise us. It encourages a more inclusive and compassionate understanding of human connection, and it allows us to recognize that love is not a limited resource but a diverse and evolving experience. When we give equal value to friendships, family, community, and ourselves, we craft a stronger foundation that can sustain us throughout life’s challenges.

- Lee

Interested in exploring your relationship with love? Want to expand what it means to give and receive genuine care? Lee is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
.
.
.
🏷️ #beyondromanticlove #relationshiptherapist #friendshiplove #queertherapist #newyorktherapist

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wante

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wanted to take this moment to remind you that finding safety in your sexual and romantic experiences is your right as a sexually active human. And, it makes sex that much more fun.

Sex can be a complicated topic, and learning how to engage with it in a way that prioritizes safety, autonomy, and mutual pleasure isn’t easy. The culture we live in is a huge barrier, between gender roles and patriarchy and purity culture, there’s a lot to sort through.

For those of us with sexual trauma, there is an added layer of complexity. With the latest release of the Epstein files, we are once again reminded of the harm of sexual activity driven by power, control, and force.

But regardless of whether you have experienced sexual trauma or not, consent is supreme. And, yes, very sexy. Because to feel sexy, we have to feel safe. And we all deserve the kinds of sex lives that offer us that safety.

Interested in exploring your relationship with sex and intimacy? Sophie is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
.
.
.
🏷️ #consentissexy #vulnerabilityisstrength #sextherapy #sextherapist #consentismandatory

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing,

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing, shrinking, optimizing, and controlling bodies—as if our worth resets with the calendar.

The phrase of “New year, new body” is common during this time. These kinds of New Year’s resolutions often present themselves as harmless self-improvement. But the truth? These resolutions are steeped in diet culture, healthism, and fatphobia. In other words, they’re anything but harmless.

This kind of messaging teach us that thinner, more disciplined, more productive bodies are better bodies; that control is a moral virtue.

Over time, this messaging injures our relationship with ourselves.

We learn to mistrust hunger, rest, softness, pleasure—anything that can’t be optimized or measured. Perfectionism slips in wearing a wellness costume, insisting that if we just try harder, plan better, buy the right products, we’ll finally feel okay in our skin.

And when that doesn’t work, the blame lands squarely on us—not the system that profits from our dissatisfaction.

This is where body image injury shows up: in the shame around taking up space, in the anxiety of being seen, in the relentless self-surveillance that replaces self-compassion.

Productivity culture backs this up, praising bodies only for what they can produce, endure, or overcome. Listening to your body becomes a problem if it interferes with goals.

So if this year you feel the urge to reject the “new body” narrative, fuck yea! That’s not resistance to growth—it is growth.

Your body doesn’t need fixing. It needs safety, respect, and maybe a little righteous anger on its behalf.

Looking to work with someone on body image injury in a space that creates safety for all kinds of bodies? Sophie has availability for individual clients!

Are you trans or gender non-conforming and interested in exploring the intersections of eating disorders within your trans identity? Sophie is currently enrolling the second co-hort of her group, COMING HOME TO YOU: Exploring Eating Disorder Recovery and Body Image Injury within the Trans Experience.
.
.
.
🏷️ #BodyImageHealing #NewYearNewBody #dietculture #healthateverysize #fuckfatphobia

Follow on Instagram

Health At Every Size® and HAES® are registered trademarks of the Association for Size Diversity and Health and used with permission