Sometimes we just need to talk with someone who 'gets it'.....someone who has been where we are standing and can shine a light on the path forward for us.
Sometimes we get tired of the articles, self-help books, health industry, diet advice, and voices in our head all giving us conflicting opinions and information. The confusion of not knowing which to listen to can create a deep suffering, and chaotic coping strategies that can be self-harming.
What we all want, when it comes down to it, is freedom. Freedom to enjoy our body and the freedom of peace with food and body image.
Eating and Body Image Counselling supports you to feel genuinely well... to find out what healing and self-acceptance really mean and look like for you, and supports you to integrate real change into your life.
Sometimes it can be useful to find a quiet and supportive space with one other person who will listen and accept you unconditionally, whilst offering insights, tools, and practices to support change. Someone who can stand beside you you as you experiment with integrating new practices into your life, and to help guide you through the process.
I am a person who gets it. I really do. After beginning to diet at the age of eight, I went through many years of dieting, and eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating...and was still in treatment many years later. I no longer knew where to turn for help. Thankfully, I gradually learned practices and principles that allowed me to integrate the healing I was looking for all those years. I am so grateful to have learned the tools that allow me to really mean it when I say "I love my body", and to experience the freedom with food and movement that comes with this.
In addition to my lived experience of recovery, I am also a qualified social worker with a background in counselling, as well as a yoga teacher and teacher trainer, and creative arts therapist. With this combined toolkit of experiences both personal and professional, I offer a genuinely different and refreshing experience of 'therapy' - the kind I always wished to find in my own recovery process.
These days I share these diverse practices and techniques with other women through 1:1 counselling sessions, as well as sessional group facilitation for The Butterfly Foundation; facilitating Body Love Yoga workshops around Australia; and teaching on yoga and body image at Yoga Teacher Trainings both locally and internationally.
Whether your particular distress relates to body image, exercise, food, or all of these together, 1:1 Eating and Body Image Counselling sessions will enable you to find your own path to genuine freedom from eating and body image issues.
Therapeutic Themes
often explored in sessions include:
Understanding the underlying motivations and beliefs that keep you trapped in unhelpful thoughts and behaviours towards your body.
Developing a relationship of kindness with yourself, and exploring how this change inevitably shifts your relationship with the way you see and nourish your body.
Methods for transforming your relationship with the inner critic.
Establishing a relationship of trust with your body, and what nourishment really means for you.
Discovering that you have all the tools you will ever need to recover your sense of wholeness and simple practices to support you in this new awareness of your capacity to thrive.
Identifying and building on your innate gifts and strengths, to feel genuinely connected to all that is already good in your life.
Learning how to embody self-acceptance, playfulness and worthiness, so your life becomes an expression of joy - without having to white-wash any complexities you may also be living with.
Simple strategies for taking these tools and practices and integrating them into your daily life.
Eating Disorder
and Body Image
Recovery Counselling
Dieting? Bingeing? Have a history of eating disorders?
Holding back in life because of how you look, or a distressing relationship with food?
“I was fortunate enough to have a session with Sarah. This instantly had such a positive effect on me allowing myself to slow down, both mentally and physically and acknowledge for the first time what i was actually doing. Not only did she offer me a yoga session but followed it with what I felt to be the best, most effective counseling session I have ever had regarding this topic. And I have had a few!! Her words of support along with the yoga was such a unique, powerful combination. After years of searching I have finally found something which works and look forward to more sessions with Sarah.” Emma - Counselling Client
“My family has seen Sarah Ball for both carer support and individual therapy for our daughter, 16, who suffers from an eating disorder. We found Sarah by recommendation of the Butterfly Foundation. From the first session with her she has wrapped us in such a highly skilled, warm and empathetic therapeutic embrace. She has been a wonderful support to our child, firm in her expectations, but so realistic in what she asks her to consider. As a mother dealing with an ED child it is at first terrifying and there are many unknowns. Sarah has great insight and a really solid foundation in the various therapeutic approaches to ED treatment. She has helped us stand our ground in the face of the ED, which can be so resistant to treatment. We have felt such comfort in having Sarah as part of the treatment team. We cannot recommend her highly enough." Jane
Where are sessions held and How can i book?
I am available for counselling sessions at my therapy clinic in Bulli, NSW, and also offer sessions on Skype, through which I work with women around the world. Please note that Skype can seem unusual at first but in no time it feels just like sitting in a room together...so no matter where you're located, if you want to connect with one-on-one support, we can find a way to work together.
I can also work individually with family and loved ones who are looking for additional support in understanding the eating issues of someone close to them, and looking at how to self-care when caring for another.
Sessions vary from short term or single appointments, to regular ongoing sessions, depending on your needs. I work only with a small number of women at a time, so please do get in touch to discuss your needs.
Investment
Initial fifteen minutes on phone or skype - free (this brief discussion is for those who haven't worked with me before or been to a workshop with me so you can ask key questions and get a sense of whether I'm the right person for you to work with)
First session $130 (1.5 hours)
Follow-up sessions $100 (1 hour)
6-session package: $510 ($90 discount from 6 individual follow-up sessions)
the therapy Clinic in Bulli, NSW
Thanks for your support and care on my journey - I feel totally "held" by you through my processing and I am feeling so inspired and heard. Always look forward to what will unfold in our sessions.” Counselling Client
"I have been really well for a year now, and attribute so much of that to the things you are teaching me. I have been waiting to feel like this my whole life and can't thank you enough" Counselling client
Feel free to contact me to discuss your needs and feel out if this option is right for you at this time. it's important that you find a counsellor who is a good 'fit' to support you as you move toward feeling at home in your body - and your life!
"It means a lot to me that I have someone like you to check in with. It can feel like a vast desert. It really means a lot that you lend me your ear and your expertise and your good company." K - Counselling Client
"For over ten years I struggled with eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) and addictions. For over ten years I searched for answers. I enlisted the help of therapists across numerous fields, dabbled in different modalities, counseling and specifically targeted care. None had any lasting effect. Sarah is a unique soul. Unconditionally compassionate, understanding and wise. She has an innate ability to see through your fog and help you navigate your way back to your truth. It’s hard (I feel) for someone to guide you if they’ve never shared your experience. Sarah comes from a place of complete understanding because she has walked the path herself and emerged at the other end with a smile and heart full of warm love to share with those still caught in the destructive cycle. She is the quiet reassurance that there is hope and her belief in me was the invitation I needed to be well."
B - Counselling Client
"There is NO WAY I could have got myself to this place 2 years ago so just wanted to thank you for your wisdom and guidance... I now know I can do it kindly and gently and its just about feeling better, not a size or a number on the scale." Counselling Client
"I'm having a chat with the CEO of the Butterfly Foundation on the 18th of August about my concerns for treatment options in my region, and will definitely pass on my gratitude for my sessions with you, which I feel have given me the most amount of progress in my entire recovery journey."
Hannah, Counselling Client
"Thank you for your kindness , transparency and deep care . I have never worked with anyone who has taken me right to the core of the issue so quickly. I always look forward to our sessions with great curiosity to see what is to unfold. Thank you again you are a true inspiration to me."
T - Counselling Client
"Sarah’s sessions have allowed me to explore and enter a space of body confidence and self love that I honestly didn’t believe was possible. After struggling with body image and eating issues for many years I had begun to accept that it was just a part of who I was. I’d tried a bunch of therapists and online programs but always found them a bit demeaning or simplistic and as if they were missing something. Sarah has the unique ability to connect with individuals on many levels and has NEVER made me feel ashamed or stupid. As a yoga teacher myself, I love the way she is able to weave in yogic philosophy and practice to the concepts we talk about. At the same time she also brings a solid depth of knowledge and understanding in sociology, psychology and neurobiology. I feel as if Sarah has allowed me to forgive and accept myself whilst working with me to create tools to take forwards into a life I’m able to live more fully. She’s like, amazing!"
Claire, Counselling Client
"Sarah, I realised what I was trying to articulate at the end of our session. Your sessions give me hope. Instead of feeling I need to drop all the pre- existing behaviours and start something completely new (I.E. become a different person. Which seems so impossible). Your suggestions focus rather on adjusting the focus. Use my strengths. Thank you once again.”
Counselling Client