When your relationship with food, exercise, or your body starts to feel consuming, rigid, or out of control, it can shrink your life fast. Eating concerns aren’t just “about food” – they’re often connected to anxiety, trauma, perfectionism, identity, family dynamics, oppression, and the ways our bodies have learned to cope.

At Banyan Tree Counseling & Wellness, we provide compassionate, evidence-informed therapy for eating disorders and disordered eating. Our goal is to help you build safety and trust with your body, strengthen coping skills, and move toward a more flexible, nourishing relationship with food and self.


You don't have to "look sick" to deserve support


​Many people delay getting help because they don’t feel “bad enough,” aren’t underweight, or assume they should be able to handle it alone. Eating disorders and disordered eating show up across body sizes, genders, races, cultures, sexual orientations, and ages. If food, body image, or control is taking up too much of your mental and emotional space, therapy can help.

What we help with

You might consider reaching out if you’re experiencing:
  • Frequent dieting, food rules, or feeling guilt/shame after eating
  • Binge eating or feeling out of control around food
  • Purging behaviors (vomiting, laxatives/diuretics, compensatory exercise
  • Restriction or skipping meals, "forgetting" to eat, or fear of eating enough
  • Intense body checking, comparison, or body avoidance
  • Anxiety around eating in front of others or eating certain foods
  • Feeling preoccupied with weight, shape, calories, or "clean/healthy" eating
  • Over-exercise, compulsive movement, or distress when you can't work out
  • Emotional eating that leave you feeling numb, panicked, or ashamed
  • Recovery support after a higher level of care (PHP/IOP/residential/inpatient)​

What sessions can look like

Early work often focuses on stabilization and understanding pattern
  • Identifying triggers, functions of behaviors, and cycles (restriction → binge → shame → restriction, etc.)
  • Strengthening coping options for urges and distress
  • Exploring body image, identity, perfectionism, control, and safety
  • Rebuilding regular eating and flexibility with support (when appropriate)
  • Creating a recovery-supportive environment (boundaries, routines, relationships)

As you build steadier footing, therapy can shift toward deeper work: trauma processing (when clinically appropriate), relational patterns, meaning-making, values-based living, and sustainable recovery.
 

Collaborative Care

Eating disorders can have medical risks. In some cases, we may recommend (or require) coordinating with:
  • a primary care provider for medical monitoring
  • a registered dietitian specializing in eating disorders
    • ​Learn more about our registered dietitian nutritionist: Abby Olmstead
  • psychiatry/medication support
  • a higher level of care if symptoms are severe or safety is at risk

Who we work with

We work with adolescents and adults (13+) and support people across identities, including LGBTQIA+ clients and clients navigating cultural and family pressures. We also provide support for clients who feel overlooked in eating disorder spaces - including people in larger bodies, men, trans nonbinary people, and BIPOC clients.

Getting started

If you’re ready to explore support, we’ll start with an intake appointment to understand what you’re dealing with, what you’ve tried, what’s felt helpful or harmful in the past, and what you want your relationship with food and your body to look like.

Learn more about our eating disorders specialist

Abbey Lefko, MA, LCMHCA

Winston-Salem office
At Banyan, we're dedicated to creating a supportive  and compassionate space where you can untangle eating concerns and reconnect with your body on your own terms. 
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