Heal your relationship with food and your body.

Online Eating Disorder Treatment for Ontario Residents

Eating Disorder Therapists in Ottawa, ON, Hamilton, ON, Guelph, ON, Burlington, ON, and Toronto, ON

If you or someone you care about is struggling with an eating disorder, you’ve come to the right place! At the Ontario-Wide Psychology Clinic (OWPC), we provide online therapy to children, adolescents, and adults with the following eating disorders:

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by the restriction of intake that leads to significant weight loss and low body weight or in children and adolescents, weight that is lower than expected based on their growth curves. Individuals with anorexia can also have (1) an intense fear of gaining weight or they engage in behaviour that interferes with weight gain, (2) body image distortions, and (3) self-worth that is overly influenced by their weight or shape or an inability to recognize the seriousness of the weight loss/ low body weight.
Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating that are followed by compensatory behaviours designed to prevent weight gain such as purging, exercising, fasting, or taking laxatives or other medications. Individuals with bulimia have a self-worth that is overly influenced by their weight/shape.
OSFED (formerly referred to as EDNOS) is a category used to describe and eating difficulties that cause significant distress and/or impairment, but do not meet full diagnostic criteria for Anorexia, Bulimia, or Binge Eating Disorder. Some examples of presentations that are classified under OSFED include:
Atypical Anorexia Nervosa
Binge Eating Disorder (of low frequency and/or limited duration)
Bulimia Nervosa (of low frequency and/or limited duration)
ARFID is characterized as an eating or feeding difficulty (e.g., lack of interest in eating or food, avoidance based on sensory characteristics of food, concerns about aversive consequences of eating like choking, vomiting, or allergic reaction) that interfere with an individual’s ability to meet appropriate nutritional and/or energy needs such that there is at least 1 of the following:
Significant weight loss (or failure to achieve expected weight gain/growth in a child)
Significant nutritional deficiency
Need for oral nutritional supplements/enteral feeding
Marked interference with psychosocial functioning
Individuals with ARFID typically do not experience body image disturbances.

We also understand that eating disorders are often accompanied by other mental health difficulties like anxiety, depression, difficulties regulating emotions, or substance use and can also help you with these.

Therapy from the comfort of your home.

Our eating disorder therapists integrate various evidence-based therapies to provide you with a personalized approach to care and help you work towards recovery.

Depending on you or your child’s age and presenting concerns we may recommend one or more of the following:

DBT adapted for eating disorders

DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) skills can be helpful in addressing unhelpful behaviours, such as restricting, binging, and/or purging, and help you build a life without your ED. DBT skills help you improve the following areas of your life, which often underly some of the disordered eating behaviours.

Mindfulness
Distress tolerance
Emotion regulation
Interpersonal effectiveness

Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy-Enhanced
(CBT-E)

CBT-E is one of the most well-researched and evidence-based approaches for adults with eating disorders. It’s a specialized and “enhanced” version of cognitive behaviour therapy, which places emphasis on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, and has been found to be effective across various eating disorder diagnoses.

Family Based Treatment (FBT or FBT-TAY)

FBT is one of the most well-researched treatments for children and adolescents with eating disorders, especially for youth with Anorexia Nervosa. In FBT, we believe that parents/caregivers play a key role in restoring their child’s weight and reducing eating disorder behaviours. FBT has three phases (1) weight restoration, (2) learning to eat independently and flexibly and (3) healthy living and treatment of any other mental health difficulties. More information is available here: HHS Family Based Treatment Handout

CBT-AR (for ARFID)

There is a growing body of research to support the use of CBT-AR for individuals presenting with ARFID. Treatment varies depending on some of the factors contributing to low intake or selective eating (e.g., fear of an aversive consequence versus a sensory issue).