BEING AND BECOMING COUNSELLING AND WELLNESS SERVICES

Body Image Therapy

Compassionate support that empowers you to reclaim a relationship with your body that is built on attunement, responsiveness, trust and respect.

Body Image Therapy can help you:

REDUCE BODY SHAME

LIVE A FULL LIFE

INCREASE WELL-BEING

Do you spiral into body shame?

You’re not alone — feeling negatively about your body is the norm. When you feel dissatisfied or unhappy with your body it’s easy to fall into self-criticism, self-judgment, and shame. You might find yourself continually comparing your body to other people’s bodies, constantly evaluating and criticizing your body, or avoiding activities because you worry other people will judge you and your body.

You don’t have to face this alone. We are here to support you in navigating the complexities of having a body in today’s world.

“And I said to my body, softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, 'I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’”

— Nayyirah Waheed

Your body isn’t the issue.

Body Image Therapy May Help When:

  • You feel obsessed or preoccupied with thoughts about your appearance and/or your body

  • Negative feelings about your body have the power to throw off your whole day

  • You avoid certain activities because of how you look or concerns about what others will think of your body

  • Thoughts or worries about your body make it difficult to be present and engaged with others

  • You avoid activities or people because of how you look (e.g., avoiding swimming because you don’t want to wear a bathing suit in public; avoiding having your photo taken; avoiding physical intimacy)

  • You constantly check and monitor your body through behaviours like weighing yourself or seeing how clothes fit

  • You continually compare yourself to others

  • You engage in unhealthy behaviours in an attempt to lose weight or change your body

  • You feel angry or frustrated with yourself when efforts to change your body “fail” or do not last

  • You feel immense shame or anxiety about the way you look

  • You try not to take up space in the world or your relationships in an effort to compensate for the size of your body

  • Your sense of self-worth is negatively impacted

  • You feel less than others whose bodies you consider better than your own

BODY IMAGE THERAPY IN BURNABY

What is Body Image Therapy and How Does it Work?

Negative body image and body shame can cause significant distress and suffering. It can impact how you feel about yourself, how you treat yourself, how you show up and interact with others, and what you allow or don’t allow yourself to do.

Body image therapy offers a non-judgmental and weight-inclusive space to begin to untangle and understand the complex relationship you have with your body and how it is impacting your life. You can learn strategies that support you in learning new ways of relating to yourself and begin the journey of reclaiming a life that isn’t hindered by negative feelings about your body.

You deserve to live a life that is full and vibrant. If body image and body shame are holding you back from living the life you want, Being and Becoming Counselling and Wellness Services is here to help.

Body Image Counselling

In the beginning stages of therapy, your therapist will help you understand your relationship with your body — how you came to be feel and think the way you do about your body and what perpetuates you feeling and thinking this way. Everyone’s body image issues make sense in light of their lived experience.

Working with you, and considering your goals, your therapist will then make a personalized plan to help you begin to shift your relationship with your body. The approach taken with each individual will vary, but body image counselling often involves:

  • Processing adverse and/or traumatic experiences that have shaped your relationship with your body

  • Supporting you to reinhabit your body

  • Supporting you to shift your focus to how you feel inside, rather than what you look like on the outside

  • Supporting you as you shift toward treating your body with the respect and kindness it deserves, no matter what it looks like

  • Shifting your internal self-talk and shifting your relationship to different parts of yourself (e.g., inner critic, inner body shamer)

  • Increasing your access to self-compassion

  • Releasing unhelpful beliefs

  • Working through internalized weight stigma

  • Redirecting anger to where it actually belongs — the systems and people who have made you feel you aren’t enough as you are

  • Moving through body grief

Be empowered to reclaim a relationship with your body that is based on respect, attunement, trust and responsiveness.

What you can expect to get out of Body Image Therapy

Each person’s journey to healing their relationship with their body is different, but in time you may notice that you have:

  • Decreased feelings of body shame

  • Decreased focus on your appearance

  • Improved self-worth

  • Greater capacity to deal with negative thoughts and feelings about your body when they are triggered

  • Greater self-compassion

  • Greater feelings of acceptance or neutrality toward your body

  • Better relationships and social connections

  • Greater willingness to engage in activities that interest you

  • Improved quality of life

Therapists Offering Body Image Therapy

  • Semhar Ghedela

    Canadian Certified Counsellor

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  • Dr. Margaret Brennan

    Registered Psychologist

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  • Many experiences can contribute to the development of body image issues . Our society has very clear messages about which bodies are valued and not valued and we are exposed to these messages on a daily basis from a young age. Many people have also had painful experiences with family members, friends, influential adults or peers who delivered harmful messages about their body specifically, or bodies in general. Oppression, trauma and bullying are also significant contributors to body image issues.

  • 90% of women and 50% of men are dissatisfied with their bodies.

  • While the desire to change your body in today’s society is certainly understandable, it is often not possible and attempts to change your body often make things worse.

  • Not everyone will come to love their body and that is okay. Coming to a place of acceptance and/or neutrality creates a powerful shift that enables you to treat your body with the respect and care it deserves and frees you from limiting your life unnecessarily.

The relationship you have with your body and how you feel about it are often the result of several factors. It is important to understand the following:

 Why Do People Develop Negative Body Image and what is the Solution?

“We can’t hate ourselves into versions of ourselves we love.”

— Lori Deschene

What if you live in a body that is subjected to discrimination and oppression?

Many bodies are valued less than other bodies in our society. This is evidenced by weight stigma and anti-fat bias, racism, ableism, patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia. At Being and Becoming Counselling and Wellness Services we firmly believe that ALL BODIES ARE GOOD BODIES but we also acknowledge that all bodies are not seen as good bodies out in the world.

If you have a body that is not valued, or is less valued, by our society, we will strive to support you in navigating this experience so that you do not have to go through it alone. We will strive to make space for the feelings you have about how your body is treated (e.g., processing grief, redirecting anger to where it really belongs — the systems that oppress you); help you learn to treat your body with the respect and care that it, and all bodies, deserve; help you begin to shift or let go of harmful beliefs about bodies that you may have internalized; and possibly work on implementing boundaries, when possible, that serve to protect you.