Victus Counseling - Specialized Clinicians for Eating Recovery

Faith Carlson specializes in the treatment of eating disorders with extensive training through the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals certification program (CEDS), experience providing psychotherapy to people of diverse backgrounds, and is an Ambassador with the Eating Disorder Coalition. Her training has been quite extensive and spanned a variety of settings, including outpatient mental health clinics, hospitals, non-profit community counseling, and private practice. Ms. Carlson has provided extensive training, consultation and teaching services to physicians, colleges and other mental health professionals. For the past 6 years, Ms. Carlson has focused her clinical work primarily on the assessment and treatment of eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, ARFID, and binge eating diagnosis. Ms. Carlson collaborates closely with specialized and trained eating disorder dietitians across the United States who are qualified and certified with eating disorder certifications* Ms. Carlson prescribes to Health At Every Size (HAES)* Collaboration is a key component of care. Please remember when seeking any services for eating disorders that your providers are educated in the treatment of eating disorders. Her professional affiliations include the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP), the Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC) and the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). Licensed Professional Counselor - South Dakota #20570 Licensed Professional Counselor-Mental Health – South Dakota #30636 Licensed Professional Counselor - Minnesota #2537 Licensed Telehealth Counselor – Florida #3061 Florida Site: https://www.flhealthsource.gov/telehealth/ Behavioral Science Mental Health Counselor - Iowa #114460 Qualified Mental Health Professional Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) #6824 Podcast Episodes: Isn’t it Lovely: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/isnt-it-lovely-to-find-recovery-from-eating-disorders/id1547691920?i=1000630861405 Mastering Counseling: https://mastersincounseling.org/episode/transforming-lives-through-comprehensive-eating-disorder-treatment-at-victus-with-faith-carlson/ Five Questions To Ask Your Providers To Determine If They Are Specialists from: www.rootedcounselingmi.com Not every therapist / dietitian / medical provider is a good fit for every client. We all have different personalities, different styles and different specialties - and eating disorders are SUCH a specialty. Therapists / dietitians / medical providers with the best intentions can do more harm than good working outside their training and expertise. So how the heck do you know who to see when reaching out for help already feels so vulnerable? ASK QUESTIONS! The right therapist, medical provider, or dietitian will welcome your questions and have answers that put you at ease and show their competence in what you’re struggling with. This is your time and your recovery that you’re investing in - it’s worth it to take a few extra steps to make sure you’re partnering with a therapist, medical provider, or dietitian you click with AND who has the experience to back it up. Here’s a few great questions to ask as a place to start: 1. What evidence-based practices are you trained in to treat eating disorders? How do you incorporate those into sessions with clients? You want a counselor / dietitian / medical provider who has SPECIFIC answers with the training to back it up. Family Based Treatment/Maudsley for teens, empowering parents as part of the treatment team. RO-DBT to help clients challenge perfectionism and rigidity. ERP to overcome food rules and body image avoidance. ACT to learn to tolerate uncomfortable emotions that surface without the numbness of the eating disorder. DBT for distress tolerance. CPT to address underlying trauma. IFS with eating disorder training. CBT alone isn’t going to cut it. Intuitive eating is awesome but absolutely not appropriate for someone who needs to weight restore or is deep in a restriction mindset. Reading a book or taking one workshop isn’t enough. Look for a commitment to continued education, consultation, and lots of experience.* 2. How long have you been working with eating disorders? What percentage of your caseload is made up of clients with eating disorders? Eating disorders are a specialty. Someone who’s caseload is 10% individuals with eating disorders probably isn’t a specialist. If you’re talking to a graduate-level intern or a newly licensed therapist, medical provider, or dietitian, ask about their supervisor and their training. They might be newer in the field but completed hundreds of hours of training with a supervisor who has years of experience with a caseload that is 90% food and body image concerns. You’ll never know if you don’t ask. 3. Do you ever encourage dieting, calorie counting, or weight loss? Do you work from a Health At Every Size perspective? How do you help clients implement intuitive eating? If you see a counselor / dietitian / medical doctor who says they specialize in weight loss or obesity, RUN! A counselor / doctor / dietitian who truly works from a HAES perspective will not encourage dieting, calorie counting, or weight loss as a goal. Instead, they will help you understand what’s at the root of your relationship with food and your body, find new ways to cope, and focus on cultivating self-compassion and body respect. Look for a counselor / dietitian / medical provider who recognizes the different approaches needed depending on what your particular struggles with food are. If you need to weight restore or have been engaging in significant restriction or bingeing and purging, intuitive eating is not the right approach right off the bat. The structure of a meal plan is necessary to help your hunger/fullness cues heal (think of it like a cast on a broken arm). Have a teen with an eating disorder? Look for a counselor, medical provider, or dietitian who works WITH you as a vital part of your child’s recovery. Struggling with overeating or are in active recovery? Intuitive and mindful eating is the best direction to go. You want a counselor, medical provider, or dietitian who understands these nuances. 4. Do you collaborate and take a treatment team approach (specialized dietitians, psychiatrists, local treatment centers, etc.)? Eating disorder treatment takes a multidisciplinary approach. Ask who this counselor’s / dietitian's / doctor's referral resources are and what their relationship is like with local treatment providers. Look for someone who can rattle off a long list of dietitians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, school counselors, PCPs, and higher levels of care. You want to work with someone who is committed to helping you create a treatment team approach and who will coordinate to make sure each aspect of your recovery is being addressed. 5. Do you believe in full recovery? Fully recovery IS possible. Working with a counselor, medical provider, or dietitian who doesn’t believe in full recovery will limit how far you can go and the freedom you can experience. And you deserve to experience full freedom. Exciting Changes Coming Soon! Social Media Educational Specialist: Marie C. Office Assistant - Coming Soon! Registered Dietitian - Coming Soon! Certified Yoga Instructor - Specialized in Eating Disorder Body Based Treatment - Coming Soon! Carolyn Costin Institute (CCI) Certified Eating Recovery Coach - Coming Soon!