All exploration of body image and your relationship with food is couched in a weight-inclusive, Health at Every Size®-informed lens. We all deserve to feel at home in our bodies no matter what size we are. All people in all sized bodies deserve to feel that they can make food choices based on a combination of intuition, pleasure, and need.

We all have a relationship with food, and for some of us, it is a contentious one. Unlearning diet culture and (re)discovering intuitive eating in all of its complex facets are key aspects to exploring the role that food plays in your life. Together we will look for supportive interventions that allow your relationship with food to continue to grow in abundance and in accordance with your values.

Our therapists specialize in examining the relationship we have with our bodies, and how our perception of our bodies impacts our behavior, day-to-day functioning, and sense of self. We work with you to help you come to a place where your body isn’t your greatest enemy.

No matter your specific relationship with sexuality and romance, ATC therapists can support you in discovering more about your identity, your needs, and your boundaries in a sex-positive framework. Whether you identify as someone along the ace, aro, or allo spectrum, or you are someone who is rediscovering their sexuality after a trauma, ATC therapists are here to meet you where you’re at.

Exploring one’s relationship with their gender can be an expansive and deeply vulnerable journey. Whether you are looking to affirm your gender or to delve into the beginning stages of questioning your gender identity, ATC therapists are ready to help support you in locating your unique path.

Several of our therapists also offer free letters of support for those needing mental health services to access gender-affirming care. Check individual therapists’ pages to see if they provide this service.

Body image challenges sometimes present differently, and warrant different responses, when they intersect with gender identity and gender expression, particularly in queer and trans folks. Gender experiences, particularly dysphoria, can influence food and movement choices, and fear around body changes.

We can help you sort through the ways gender dysphoria and euphoria may impact your body image, self esteem and self confidence. By connecting with intuition and your  unique gender experience, at times using creative art, embodied, or somatic approaches, we can help you determine whether gender affirming care might support you in expanding your capacity for a neutral, healthy, respectful or even positive body image, and a fuller, less restricted life.

Queer relationships can offer immense joy and also are subject to unique pressures, including heteronormativity, issues surrounding coming out and family acceptance, codependency, and the uniqueness of family building.

An endocrine and hormonal disorder impacting up to 10% of women and AFAB folks, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS can seriously impact health and mental health, body image, and fertility. 

For cis women in particular, the physical effects of PCOS (excess body hair growth, scalp hair loss, cystic acne, dramatic weight changes) can contribute to mental health, body image disruptions, and in severe cases, gender dysphoria.

In part due to the influence of diet culture and fatphobia, and the frequency with which restrictive diets are recommended despite PCOS existing in bodies of all sizes, disordered eating and eating disorders are exceptionally common in people with PCOS.

Kink-affirming, sex-worker positive

We all work from a Health at Every Size approach, which means that we believe that all bodies, regardless of size, can be healthy and can work toward health by their own definitions. We see healthcare as a human right that does not need to be earned based on body size or holding health as a value or pursuit. We understand that all oppression is linked, particularly fat phobia and racism, and that eliminating oppression and acknowledging its impact are hugely important steps toward health.

We do not believe that health is a moral imperative or a requirement for respect from self or others. We do not recommend, advocate for or support intentional weight loss efforts, but do work with patients still pursuing weight loss, as we welcome folks in all stages of body acceptance, body image work, body grief, body and fat positivity, body dysmorphia and eating disorders. We carry and center a deep respect for our patients’ autonomy. While we will correct misinformation and acknowledge the impact of diet culture, fatphobia and anti-blackness that can accompany intentional weight loss, we never discourage patients from doing what feels right for them, but will explore and seek to understand the desire, both intrapsychically, interpersonally and sociopolitically.

Health at Every Size is an evidence based approach. Sources and myths about HAES are available here: https://asdah.org/haes/ HAES is a trademark held by ASDAH (the Association for Size Diversity and Health), used with permission.

Our Relational framework emphasizes the importance of the therapeutic relationship, as relationships are often the source of deep pain and offer deep opportunities for healing and growth. We are not distant, blank faced analysts, but instead are responsive, affirmative, and collaborative in our approach. We strive to offer our patients real feedback, often grounded in our subjectivity and experience of both you and your world.

Therapeutic work is ultimately ineffective if it is integrated into a shaming, judgemental framework that remains unchallenged. ATC therapists emphasize unconditional positive regard and trust that everything you do, you do for a reason.

Honoring behaviors and thought patterns as they are, with curiosity and self-compassion, allows us to move through them instead of getting stuck. Our team seeks to understand the function and utility of behaviors or systems of beleifs that are no longer serving you, and move you towards ways of being that are more in alignment with your present self, and the self you one day hope to be.