My work is grounded in three core principles: presence, connection, and curiosity.
- Presence because everything we experience is always happening in the present; everything else is memory or fears. So tuning into the present-moment-experience is the only way to change what we’re doing.
- Connection because all wounds are relational wounds – either because the injury was directly caused by another person, or because no person was there for you when you needed them, and that’s the injury.
- Curiosity because no one ever knows exactly what another person needs in order to heal and grow; but when we bring our curiosity to what’s happening – in the moment and in connection – the next right thing emerges organically.
You’ve spent decades building your current eating habits, so they’re not going to change overnight.
That’s why I work with client weekly for a minimum of 3 months in a Deep Dive, giving you space to acquire the foundational tools and practices you need to address all four domains of your addiction:
- social support system
- emotional health
- biological dependency
- behavioural habits
What does that look like specifically?
- Process the mind-body roots of your behaviours and clear them out for good (emotions).
- Learn & practice healthy emotional coping techniques & nervous system regulation so you have better ways to deal with stress and pain (habits & emotions).
- Eliminate some of the worst offenders from your diet, choosing “harm-reduction” versions that still satisfy your tastebuds but aren’t as biologically addictive (habits & biology).
- Add in fresh whole foods which will crowd out junk food, and help your body gradually adjust to a new way of eating (habits & biology).
- Start to build your own support system, drawing from local community and online groups. You’ll learn how to get the most from these relationships by being authentic without sacrificing belonging (social).
Since pressure leads to rebellion, I’ll never push you to make changes that aren’t right for you. Instead, you’ll set the pace and direction of the changes you want to make, with my guidance to keep you from getting stuck in the mud.
We go slow to go fast.
When you slow down and nurture your system with patience and caring, you create space for your own inner wisdom to organically emerge. This allows your higher self to guide the healing process in a way that’s exactly right, just for you.
My approach is deliberately patient and gentle. I believe high intensity growth work is harder to integrate, leads to “healing burnout,” and ultimately takes longer to achieve the same results.
Healing retreats, plant medicine, and immersive workshops definitely have their place—they can jump start the healing process and bring forward huge breakthroughs.
And, having attended dozens of holistic retreats and a few plant medicine ceremonies, I’ve realized it was the slow and gentle
I use these modalities:
- Focusing: Build capacity to feel your feelings without being overwhelmed. Untangle your “inner parts” to explore what’s really going on when you eat.
- Polyvagal Rebalancing: Learn to regulate your nervous system using healthy tools instead of food.
- Relateful Coaching: Get clear on the changes you want to make, and unpack the unconscious beliefs that get in the way.
- Guided Breathwork: Creates movement and releases energy in your system, allowing stuck places to be released without necessarily revisiting the traumas that caused them.
I teach from these evidence-based frameworks:
- Neurobiology of Craving: The dopamine system is a balance — when you push on your brain, it pushes back.
- Learning model of Addiction: Addiction is not a disease; it’s a learned behaviour, and you can learn new behaviours instead.
- Gut Microbiology: Your gut fauna hijack your craving system, and how to reset and increase diversity with food
- Food Industry: Big Tobacco took over the processed food industry in the 80’s, and how it still uses their tactics to deliberately make food products as addictive as possible
These lenses inform my worldview:
- Polyvagal Theory
- Nervous System Co-regulation
- Attachment Theory
- Integral Theory / Spiral Dynamics
- Tantric Philosophy
- Spirituality
Other Resources
In my wildest vision, I dream about hosting detox retreats in tropical places to get people through the withdrawal phase while building lifelong relationships, and developing an online support group with people practicing these skills. I have faith these will come in time; meanwhile I refer you to these resources:
- While not addiction-related, Relatefulness is an incredible resource for bringing together presence and connection. This group of humans and the practices we offer have been instrumental to my own emotional recovery. I’m a regular online facilitator there and I would love to see you in my sessions!
- Fresh Start Detox on Vancouver Island and TrueNorth Health Center in California both offer residential plant-based detox programs supported by medical professionals.
- Imperfect as they are, Twelve Steps and SMART Recovery offer support groups where you can find people who get what you’re going through. I attend my local AA meeting even though I’m not an alcoholic, because everyone there is so supportive and welcoming. But they also bring cookies and cake, so it’s a double-edge sword.