Body Image Counselling in Vancouver
Feel More At Home in Your Body
We know there’s a lot of talk about body positivity out there, but we are here say that you don't have to love your body to have a different relationship with it, at least not right away.
It can be hard to feel at home in your body when you're constantly thinking about how it looks, feels, or should be. Body image counselling can help you understand the experiences that have shaped how you feel in your body, pause cycles of criticism and self-consciousness, and begin relating to yourself differently.
For many people, maybe yourself included, it’s not really about your body alone. Underneath, there are often questions and fear related to safety, belonging, control, identity, or the feeling that your worth, or ability to loved, is all tied up in how you look. Somewhere along the line, your body ended up carrying the weight and responsibility for all of this.
Know you want support but not sure where to start?
Come take your shoes off, curl up with some tea and let’s make a plan. You’re not broken, you’re just wonderfully human, which can be complicated (and sometimes frustrating) to navigate.
Our Find a Counsellor form can guide you in connecting with a counsellor who is the right fit for you.
What it Can Feel Like to Struggle With Your Body Image
(Even though you likely already know)
Concerns with how your body looks can take up way more space than feels okay.
Having a challenging relationship with your body can include constantly comparing your body to your past self or others or what you want to look like, feeling self-conscious when you're around others, or having a hard time believing others when they celebrate or compliment how you look. Getting dressed, being photographed, looking in the mirror, or simply being aware of your body can bring up feelings that can take you fully out of the present moment, making it hard to get dressed, enjoy yourself, or just focus on being you.
There can also be a constant sense that your body needs to be different before you can feel comfortable, confident, attractive, worthy, or fully yourself. This can show up at many stages of life, including during dating, new relationships, post-partum or just in in day to day life.
Being at odds with your body and your body image can also be difficult to put words to. You might just know that you're tired of thinking about your body or fighting your body this much.
Where Body Image Can Come From
Worry about your body image rarely comes from you alone.
We all know that diet culture, weight loss drugs, comparison, social media, and the constant pressure to look a certain way can all shape how we see and feel about ourselves. What sometimes hides underneath the surface are much more personal experiences: comments from a parent that stayed with you or hearing a parents constant struggles with their own body, being criticized or compared growing up, an environment where your body was constantly evaluated, an illness or disability that changed your relationship with your body, or simply growing up in a body the world had opinions about. At times it didn’t even start with your body, but another experience of being othered, dismissed, or feeling not enough, which was then followed by value and worth being placed on your body, or sexuality alone.
For some people, body image is also connected to gender or sexual identity and what it means to be seen (or not seen) in a way that feels true to who you are.
You may understand intellectually that your worth isn't determined by your appearance and still struggle to have it land in a way that matters. Knowing something in your mind and feeling it in your body aren't always the same thing.
Connect With One of Our Counsellors Who Work With Body Image Challenges
Finding the right counsellor matters.
The following members of our team have availability for new clients and bring different personalities, experiences and therapeutic approaches to their work with body image.
Whether you’re already looking for a counsellor or therapist or aren’t sure yet what you need, we offer free 15-minute consultations so you can connect and ask questions first.
How Body Image Therapy Can Help
Therapy isn't about forcing yourself to love your body on command…. which can be another thing we end up feeling like we just can’t get right.
Instead, therapy that focuses on how you view your body can be a place to understand where the criticism, shame and judgment came from, notice the patterns that keep it going, and slowly begin to change our relationship with happens alongside the urge to judge, compare, fix, or reject yourself.
With our counsellors, this brave work may include looking at self-worth, perfectionism, attachment, trauma, identity, relationships, your experience of sexuality, or the ways you've learned to experience your body. There’s lots of space for feelings along the way as well; this is a hard topic for lots of us to poke around in. Some of our counsellors also bring somatic approaches into their work, recognizing that body image isn't only something we think about. It's something we can experience physically and emotionally, too.
Some of our counsellors also bring a fat liberation, health at every size or body nutrality lens to this work and question the assumption that thinness attractiveness and health, rather than helping you feel better about yourself while leaving those assumptions untouched. If this feels important or helpful to you, let us know when you reach out to connect!
The goal isn't always to reach towards a perfect relationship with your body. It might be something quieter: more room to be yourself, have a good relationship with your body itself, without needing to have your appearance taking up so darn much space in your life.
A Note on Disordered Eating
For many, body image and disordered eating can overlap.
Thoughts about out body image can intersect with thoughts and patterns about food, eating and weight, and sometimes become difficult to separate. For some these are patterns derive from body image itself, for others, our relationship with food (and sometimes our emotions) came first.
Many of our clients’ have a long term history of having their relationship with food directly impact how they feel about themselves, and vice versa, even if life itself looks a bit more manageable now.
Several of our counsellors work with disordered eating alongside body image concerns, and can help you explore the relationship between the two. This also includes binge eating and rigidity around food or eating habits.
If you're looking for specialized treatment for an eating disorder that requires a level of ongoing or multidisciplinary care beyond what counselling provides, your counsellor can also help you think through what additional support might be appropriate so that you can feel as supported as possible.
Meet Our Counsellors Who Work with Disordered Eating
Finding the right counsellor matters.
The following members of our team have availability for new clients and bring different personalities, experiences and therapeutic approaches to their work with disordered eating.
Whether you’re already looking for a therapist to support with disordered eating or aren’t sure yet what you need, we offer free 15-minute consultations so you can connect and ask questions first.
Frequently Asked Questions About Counselling for Body Image Challenges
-
No. You don't have to feel positive about your body, or even want to love it, to begin this work. We will start where ver you’re at, and if there’s anything that you know feels too campy or cheesy like positive affirmations please let us know! Some people love a body positive stance and its definitely not for everyone.
-
Not necessarily. Body image concerns and disordered eating can overlap, but they aren't the same thing. If food, eating, weight, or related patterns are part of what you're navigating, that's something you can bring into the conversation with your counsellor. Let us know when you reach out to connect with one of our counsellors or our admin team so we can make sure you’re connecting with someone who knows both.
-
Yes, of course. We offer online counselling across BC, including the Tri Cities, Burnaby and the wider Lower Mainland. If you're looking for body image therapy outside Vancouver, online sessions can make it possible to work with a New Tides counsellor from wherever you are in BC.
-
Most definitely not, unless that ends up being a goal that you decide that feels like it’s coming from the right place (ie. wanting to be able to move in ways that feels good etc.). Our approach isn't about helping you conform to a particular body ideal. It's about understanding your relationship with your body and exploring what might make that relationship feel different.
-
Yes. We know it can be harder to start any type of therapy if you have been struggling for a long time, but you don't need to have a clear beginning or a single reason for how you feel about your body. How you relate to your body and body image can be shaped by many experiences over time, and counselling can be a place to start making sense of those layers.
Find the Right Counsellor for You
Body image work can feel personal. The person you do it with matters.
Our counsellors bring different training, perspectives, and approaches to this work, such as body acceptance or fat liberation, some bring somatic or trauma-informed approaches, and some have particular experience with disordered eating or questions around identity and self-worth.
To learn more about how our counsellors work with body image and fat liberation, connect for a free consultation call with one of our counsellors.
RCC, She/Her
Esther supports clients with self-worth, relationships, attachment, childhood experiences, neurodivergence, family dynamics and burnout, creating space for clients to better understand themselves and the patterns shaping their lives. Esther also has a background as teacher and school counsellor and loves supporting teens, other educators, caregivers and those with BIPOC experiences or who have lived outside of Canada
Main Approaches:Somatic · Mindfulness · Attachment-Focused · IFS · Narrative · DBT · Emotion-Focused · AEDP