What if thoughts about food and your body have been running in the background of your life for so long that you have forgotten what it feels like when they are not there?
This is therapy for people who have been dismissed, discharged, or told their story was too complicated to hold. For teens who have stopped letting anyone in. For adults who have managed this quietly for years and cannot picture what life without it would feel like. For parents watching something happen to their child and not knowing how to reach them without making things worse.
At Embodied Therapy, we work with teens and adults navigating eating disorders who are ready to find a version of recovery that actually belongs to them — even when they are not sure what that looks like yet.
If you recognized yourself in any of these, you are in the right place.
Most people who reach out are still functioning on the outside. They go to school. They show up to work. They hold it together for everyone around them. From the outside, things may look fine.
On the inside, they are exhausted.
Therapy here is not about waiting until things fall apart. It is about recognizing when coping is costing you more than you want to keep paying. You do not need to prove how sick you are to deserve support. If your relationship with food and your body is getting in the way of how you want to live, that is enough.
An eating disorder is a mental health condition that changes how a person relates to food, eating, and their body. It is not a diet gone too far. It is not a phase. It is not vanity, attention-seeking, or a choice. Eating disorders are serious, complex conditions that involve the mind and the body together, and they affect people of every age, every body size, every gender, and every background.
Eating disorders are among the most medically serious mental health conditions. They are also among the most misunderstood. Most people do not seek treatment until years after symptoms begin — often because they do not believe they are sick enough to deserve it. That belief causes real harm. And it is wrong.
We work with all eating disorder presentations, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, OSFED, orthorexia, and disordered eating in people of all body sizes and genders.
Intense fear of weight gain, significant restriction of food intake, and a distorted relationship with body image. Anorexia is not always visible. It exists in bodies of every size, and the absence of a low body weight does not mean the absence of the illness.
Cycles of eating followed by behaviors to compensate, such as purging, restricting, fasting, or excessive exercise. Bulimia is often hidden and much harder to detect from the outside. Many people live with it for years without anyone knowing.
Recurring episodes of eating large amounts of food accompanied by a sense of loss of control and significant distress. BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States and one of the most undertreated.
Significant food avoidance or restriction that is not driven by body image concerns. ARFID is often connected to sensory sensitivity, fear of choking or vomiting, or very low interest in food. It is especially common in neurodivergent individuals and frequently missed or misunderstood by providers.
Clinically significant eating disorder symptoms that do not meet the full criteria for another diagnosis. Just as serious. Just as deserving of care. The label matters less than the suffering.
An obsessive focus on eating "correctly" or "cleanly" that begins to interfere with daily life, relationships, and wellbeing. Not yet an official diagnosis, but very real in its impact on the people navigating it.
Not every difficult relationship with food meets the criteria for a formal diagnosis. That does not mean it does not deserve attention. If food and your body are taking up more space than you want them to, that is worth exploring.
These are not a diagnostic checklist. The presence or absence of any one sign does not confirm or rule out an eating disorder. They are offered as a starting point for recognizing when something might be worth exploring further.
The eating disorder field has a long history of centering one image of what an eating disorder looks like. That image has always been narrow. The result is that many people go years without being recognized, referred, or taken seriously by providers who were trained to look for someone they are not.
This is not a personal failure. It is a systemic one.
LGBTQIA+ individuals experience eating disorders at significantly higher rates than the general population. Neurodivergent individuals — including autistic people and those with ADHD — are disproportionately affected, particularly by ARFID and restrictive eating. People in larger bodies are regularly dismissed by medical providers who treat weight loss as a health goal rather than a potential symptom. Men and masculine people are underrepresented in eating disorder research and treatment.
At Embodied Therapy, we see these realities as part of the clinical picture, not as complications. Our approach was built specifically for people who have been failed by systems too narrow to see them.
We do not have a finish line we are marching you toward.
Our approach is harm reduction first — which means you come into the room as a full person, not a collection of behaviors to be corrected. We take time to understand what the eating disorder has been doing for you before we ever talk about what it might look like to shift it.
From the beginning, we work together to build your own understanding of what recovery could mean. Not a definition handed down by a treatment program or a number on a scale. Yours.
Our approach is grounded in Health at Every Size principles. Your body size is not a measure of how sick you are or how much progress you are making. Diet culture, fatphobia, and the healthcare industry’s fixation on weight do not stay outside the therapy room — they are part of the conversation because they are part of the problem.
For teens specifically, we hold space for the reality that adolescence is already a lot. Eating disorders develop inside family systems, social pressure, identity questions, and nervous systems still figuring out how to regulate.
Approaches are chosen together based on what actually fits each person’s brain, nervous system, and life. There is no single method that works for everyone.
An evidence-based approach developed specifically for eating disorder treatment. CBT-E addresses the thought patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that keep the cycle going and builds flexibility where rigidity has taken over. Our goal is to hold hope when you feel hopeless and to gently grow your unique reasons for recovery not to move you through a rigid protocol.
*While we utilize evidence-based frameworks, we recognize that clinical research has historically and disproportionately prioritized certain identities. For us, this structure is a supportive starting place, never a strict requirement.
Works directly with the trauma that often lives underneath eating disorder behaviors. For many people, the eating disorder is not just about food. EMDR helps process the experiences that have been driving it.
Includes the body in the work, not just the thoughts. Helpful when the nervous system has been in survival mode for a long time and talk therapy alone does not feel like enough.
Explores the different parts of you with curiosity and without shame. Especially useful for understanding why part of you wants to recover and part of you is not ready — and why both of those things can be true at the same time.
Practical tools for managing big emotions so food does not have to carry that weight alone. Skills you can actually use, not a worksheet designed for someone else's life.
Helps you move toward the life you want even before everything feels resolved. You do not have to wait until you are "better" to start living.
Rebuilds trust with your body's cues and removes weight from the equation. Health at Every Size is not about ignoring health — it is about separating health from body size and moral worth.
No all-or-nothing expectations. Progress looks like steps that make things a little safer, not overnight change. You do not have to be fully ready to begin.
This may be a good fit if you are a teen or adult who:
This is also for parents and caregivers who are watching their teenager navigate something that feels bigger than what they know how to hold. You do not have to have the right words to reach out. If you want to learn more about parent support, read more here.
We see clients virtually. Our therapist is licensed in New Mexico, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Embodied Therapy was founded by Allison VanGordon (they/she), an LPCC-S and LPC who entered the eating disorder field while still in graduate school. They hold a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Food alongside a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, a combination they pursued specifically to understand how eating disorders affect the body and the mind together.
They are currently completing a PhD in General Psychology with a focus on marginalized communities and eating disorder treatment. They hold specialized training in CBT-E, FBT, and ARFID/CBTAR approaches, and provide clinical supervision to pre-licensed counselors in New Mexico.
Read more about Embodied Therapy here and read more about Allison here.
Yes. Eating disorders exist in every body size, weight, and shape. If thoughts about food and your body are interfering with daily life, that is reason enough for support. Body size is not a measure of how much someone is suffering or how much care they deserve.
No. You do not need a formal diagnosis, a referral, or proof that things are bad enough. If your teenager’s relationship with food or their body is affecting how they function, feel, or show up in their own life, that is enough reason to reach out.
No provider can require anyone to do anything. We work collaboratively alongside your dietitian and medical team to offer education about what current research says. The goal is always an informed, collaborative decision built together — not a number assigned from the outside.
It may be. Many people we work with come in having already been through programs, treatment centers, and multiple therapists. If previous care left you feeling unseen, over-pathologized, or like your case was simply too hard to hold, that history is exactly what we want to understand. The goal is to hold hope when you feel hopeless and continue to grow your reason for recovery.
Yes, and this intersection is a specific area of clinical focus. ADHD, autism, and eating disorders co-occur at high rates, and most standard treatment was not designed with neurodivergent brains in mind. We adapt the approach to fit the person — not the other way around.
Yes. Our therapist is a queer, gender non-conforming clinician. LGBTQIA+ individuals experience eating disorders at significantly higher rates than the general population, often connected to minority stress, body-based dysphoria, and identity. You will not need to spend session time explaining or defending who you are. That is already understood.
This is one of the most painful places a parent can be. We work with teens who are not fully on board yet, and with parents trying to figure out how to hold this without pushing their child further away. A consultation is a good place to start that conversation — even before your teen is ready.
An eating disorder is a formal clinical diagnosis with specific criteria. Disordered eating refers to patterns around food and body that cause real distress and interference in daily life, even when they do not meet the threshold for a diagnosis. Both are worth taking seriously. At Embodied Therapy, the label matters less than the impact.
The intake session is $250.
Ongoing individual therapy sessions range from $85 to $155, depending on need and availability.
Family and parent support sessions range from $105 to $175.
Sliding scale options are available. You can check your eligibility instantly below — no phone calls, no hassle.
Reaching out is the hardest part for most people. Whether you’re a teen who hasn’t found the words yet, an adult who has managed this quietly for years, or a parent who’s scared and getting mixed messages. You do not need to have it figured out before you contact us.
A free consultation is just a conversation. You ask questions. We ask questions. Together we figure out whether this feels like the right fit before anyone commits to anything.
