Specialist eating disorder therapist and psychotherapist supporting adults and young people in Lancashire and online across the UK
Effective, affordable, flexible and evidence-based help for eating and associated issues including disordered eating, bulimia, binge eating, anorexia, low self esteem, body image disturbance, perfectionism, shame and self-criticism, anxiety, trauma, depression and OCD.
Why work with me?
Because you deserve help NOW
- Even if you don’t feel as though you are suffering as much as others, that you’re not ill enough or that you should just be able to sort yourself out. I believe you deserve help.
- If self-criticism, shame, eating or body image are causing you distress you deserve help regardless of your body size.
Because I understand eating disorders
- Eating and associated issues aren’t just about food or weight. They’re also about how you relate to yourself, your emotions, other people and the world. So I will look beyond food and weight and help you do the same.
Because eating issues are complex and require specialist skills
- I bring my relevant training, qualifications, experience and self to offer you the help you deserve and to make it accessible and affordable.
- I can help you to make connections between eating issues and life experiences, personality traits and neurodivergence.
Because I am passionate about what I do and my clients
- I will work hard for you. I won't judge you. I won't give up on you.
How will we work together?
- To support a complete recovery I integrate, or weave together, the best recommended treatments so that therapy is personal, practical and deeply healing.
- I draw on the strengths of different models to tailor therapy to what you need at various stages and depending on your strengths and challenges.
- This means that I will work with what’s known to be effective, but am flexible enough to find out and address what else is going on and what works for you.
- I will help you to identify the patterns that are keeping you stuck, understand how they developed and make lasting change.
- We will look at the bigger picture to explore the factors that impact you and use proven strategies to help you address them. Or accept and work with them because some things we can’t change like our genetics and previous experiences. And some things we wouldn’t want to change because they make you uniquely you.
- To support you further, I also provide one free between session check-in via an app.
Understanding your story so far
We will do lifeline work to understand how your eating and associated difficulties developed and the things that they have helped you to cope with. We will curiously and compassionately identify the factors and events that made it more likely that you might develop unhelpful thinking patterns, beliefs and behaviours and what kicked them off. This will help us to figure out what’s keeping you stuck now and how we can best work on those areas together.
Nutritional
rehabilitation
If there is dietary chaos (bingeing, restricting, vomiting etc) part of the process will be to establish regular eating. I often ask clients to keep a record of food and related thoughts and behaviours which can be done via an app. To help motivate you, I will teach you about the effects of dietary chaos on the body, brain and emotions. I understand that this phase can be difficult and anxiety provoking and we will always work at a pace that is manageable for you. If helpful, I can offer support between sessions via an app.
Lasting psychological change
I will work alongside you to build the understanding, skills and strategies needed to manage life in a balanced and flexible way. This may include work on self-esteem, values, core beliefs, thinking styles, perfectionism and emotional regulation. The goal is to make the old patterns of behaviour and thinking redundant by strengthening your resources, resilience, identity and self-esteem. I will adapt the approach if you are neurodivergent.
What my clients say
"I contacted Linda after much deliberation as I had tried other counsellors/CBT online which hadn't helped me since i was a teenager (I'm currently 59) so I had almost given up hope of ever being helped. I'm not sure I thought I was worthy of being helped, or that I was asunwell as others who were more deserving of the help. I am so happy I made that first contact and to say I am very grateful to Linda really is an understatement."
"I have been seeing Linda now for one year and have had a wonderful experience. Linda is kind, calm and thoughtful and helps me to see and understand what is going on in my life and mind in a sensitive and respectful way. I have made a lot of progress with my disordered eating, whilst tackling other related and often deeply-rooted issues. Linda challenges me to push myself and try new and difficult things, but at my own pace and with respect for my personal choices and boundaries. I
would highly recommend Linda to anyone considering a counselling journey."
"Linda is such a great listener, has so much empathy and understanding and is so calming and easy to talk to. Working with Linda has changed my life and my outlook on life and continues to do so. I have come such a long way in the time we have worked together and i am now realising I am worthy of being happy and having a good/happy life."
"I’ve been having counselling for binge eating disorder for the past nine months, and it has truly been life-changing. When I first started, I wasn’t sure whether I deserved help or whether counselling would actually work for me. Taking that first step felt difficult, but I’m so glad I did. Linda has been consistently calm, supportive and understanding throughout. She creates a space where I feel safe to talk. She gently helps me explore experiences from my past and arrive at my own understanding.
I was also really surprised by how effective online counselling can be. Even though we meet remotely/online, it genuinely feels as though we’re sitting in the same room.
Over these months she has helped me to stop bingeing and begin to value myself as a person, something I struggled with for many years. I’m deeply grateful for her patience, kindness and guidance.
If you're unsure, like I was, just take the first step."
What I can help you with
Food distress
Eating anxiety
Body image worries
Binge eating
Dietary chaos
Feeling out of control
Guilt after eating
Fear of weight gain
Restrictive eating
Emotional eating
Strict food rules
Low self-esteem
Overthinking
Perfectionism
Shame and self-criticism
Trauma & PTSD
Compulsive exercise
Anorexia
Bulimia
Fees and availability
Sessions last 50 minutes and can be in person or online (or a mixture of both). I have access to dedicated therapy spaces across Lancashire in Preston, Chorley and Garstang or I can meet you online from my private home office. The fee therefore is £60 per session online and £70 in person, payable 24 hours in advance. This includes one check in per week through an app.
- I am available throughout the week and some evenings and I can do initial sessions in person on Saturdays. I don't insist that you stick to the same day or time each week, but we can do if you want to. I will be as flexible as I can to accommodate your needs and preferences.
- Therapy often takes time and for eating disorders, 20-40 sessions is usually recommended. However, for other issues or if you have only recently started to struggle, fewer sessions may be enough.
- There's no requirement to commit to a set number of sessions and we will review your progress together and adjust the pace as needed. Whilst it is recommended that the first sessions are weekly, we can then have fortnightly or even more spaced out sessions.
If you’d like to explore whether therapy with me feels like the right fit, I offer a free 20-minute phone or video call with no pressure or obligation. If I don’t think I’m the right person to help you, I will try to recommend other options.
Group therapy options
One of the recommended therapies that I use, CBT-E, has been adapted for delivery in group sessions. If you feel ready to make change, CBT-E in a group format could work for you. I am able to offer group sessions and you can book a free taster to find out more about the therapies and the packages I offer. Please contact me for more information and to book a taster session.
Worried about reaching out?
Reaching out is just a conversation. Talking to me doesn’t mean you’re committing to working on something right away. It’s simply a chance to explore what’s happening and find out what kind of support is available and might feel right for you. I won’t exert any pressure or chase you. You stay in control of your choices.