When people ask how we chose the name Cultivating Courage, the answer goes far beyond branding into the core of our mission as clinicians here to support our clients. The idea of courage is at the center of how we think about growth, healing, and the therapeutic process. One of the phrases we often return […]
Family therapy and eating disorder recovery goes hand in hand. When a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, it’s easy to feel helpless, frustrated, or even shut out. Families often carry the invisible weight of watching someone they love suffer. They may also carry guilt, confusion, or even blame. That’s why family therapy
Let’s explore how art and eating disorder recovery goes together. Eating disorders try to silence you. They disconnect you from your body, drown out your inner voice, and convince you that control is your only safety. But healing starts the moment you speak up—and sometimes, that voice comes not in words, but in color, texture,
Locus of control (LOC) is a theory coined by Julian B. Rotter in 1954. The need for this construct came about when Rotter wanted to better capture or understand personality and how humans learn. Rotter meant for locus of control to be more of a continuum, despite the use of either-or language. So what is
You are constantly bombarded with advertising trying to sell you on something, especially diets. A popular and ever-growing subset of advertising is taken up by diet companies. Altogether, the weight-loss and diet industry (gyms, food plans, medications, coaches, etc) was calculated to be a 75 billion dollar industry in 2023, up 15% from 2022.* Unfortunately,
We are our own worst critics. This is a saying you have probably come across before. An important follow-up question to ask yourself is, how does being critical impact my self-esteem and body image? We all struggle with confidence and can be overly critical about our bodies at times. It can be hard to befriend
Let’s talk about body love and acceptance. An article was published years ago that brought truth to light about how messages about a body’s worth is contagious. In the article, a daughter found a photo of her mother in a bathing suit and thinks that her mother looks beautiful. The daughter goes on to recount
We have entered the time of year where holiday gatherings are happening frequently and having a healthy relationship with food an be challenging. Spending time with family, specifically, can add additional stress to your relationship with food. We all initially learn how to nourish our bodies from our family or origin. These food practices are
I love watching art restoration videos as a form of self-care. I also find these videos can be an accurate metaphor for therapy. Just as an art conservator is working to restore the art, so is a therapist working with the client to end masking and reveal the authentic self. One video particularly spoke to
Often I find that talking about higher levels of care for eating disorder treatment with a client can evoke fear. Consequently, most of that fear seems to come from the unknown. Different levels of care exist to be able to provide the unique support someone is needing in their journey to recovery. As providers, we
