The Balanced Practice

Exploring emerging approaches in eating disorder treatment ✨

This month, our team gathered for a professional development sessions led by our own therapists Sarah and Krista on Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in eating disorder care.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy can support neuroplasticity, emotional access, and nervous system regulation when thoughtfully integrated with therapy.

In ED treatment, KAP may:
• Soften rigid defenses

• Reduce dissociation and control patterns

• Increase emotional access

• Lessen the emotional charge around shame, fear responses, and longstanding identity narratives

When integrated with approaches like Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and grounded in thorough preparation, collaboration, and strong integration practices, KAP can help create space for deeper healing work.

Professional development like this allows us to:

✔️ Stay informed on emerging adjunctive treatments

✔️ Deepen our understanding of neurobiology and memory reconsolidation

✔️ Strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration

✔️ Offer care that is both evidence-informed and compassion-centered

When clients feel safe, deeper work becomes possible. And we’re committed to continually learning how to support that process. 💛

Want to learn more about our approach to care? Reach out today! Link in bio.

-Assistedtherapy

Anorexia: the most researched eating disorder, yet still often misunderstood.


❗Despite decades of research, anorexia nervosa is still frequently misunderstood in practice. ❗


Not because the science is lacking, but because stereotypes, weight bias, and narrow diagnostic assumptions shape how the disorder is recognized and treated.


Clinically, anorexia is a serious eating disorder marked by persistent restriction, intense fear around weight or body change, and significant impact on brain and body functioning. Folks living with anorexia often experience rigid food rules, high anxiety around eating, disconnection from body cues, and a deep internal conflict between wanting recovery and fearing it.


Anorexia also presents in different ways.


Restricting and binge–purge subtypes can look different on the surface, and symptoms can shift over time, but severity is not determined by subtype or appearance.


One of the most harmful misconceptions is that anorexia only affects a specific “type” of person. ✖️ Anorexia impacts people across genders, body sizes, ages, and identities.
Risk for anorexia increases when biological vulnerability intersects with factors like

➡️ dieting

➡️perfectionism

➡️anxiety

➡️trauma

➡️identity-based stress

➡️weight-centric environments

No single factor causes anorexia; it emerges in context.



💜 At The Balanced Practice, we approach anorexia through a weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and socially aware lens, because effective care requires understanding both the clinical reality and the systems people are navigating.



Anorexia is serious. It is treatable.
And recognition should not depend on appearance. 💜


✨ Next in our Anorexia Deep Dive: the impact of anorexia on the brain, body, and nervous system.


Ways we support recovery:
• 1:1 Nutrition Counselling
• 1:1 Therapy
• Family Support for Eating Disorder Recovery
• Courses & programs

Bulimia doesn’t just affect eating, it reshapes how the brain, nervous system, and body respond to stress.


When distress is high, the brain’s reward system becomes more sensitive to food, while control systems become less accessible.


Binge eating can bring short-term relief, and compensatory behaviours can reduce panic. This teaches the brain to rely on the cycle when emotions feel overwhelming.


Over time, this pattern impact
1️⃣ Learning
2️⃣ Emotional regulation
3️⃣ How different brain regions communicate.


These changes are linked to behaviour frequency, not body size which is one reason bulimia is so often missed or minimized.


This isn’t addiction. It isn’t lack of discipline. And it isn’t about “trying harder.”


It’s a brain–body system adapting under pressure in a culture that normalizes restriction, praises control, and stigmatizes distress.


At The Balanced Practice, we take the full impact of bulimia seriously because understanding what’s happening at a biological, emotional, and systemic level is essential for real recovery.


✨ Next in our Bulimia Deep Dive: Treatment & recovery, what actually helps.


If this resonates, support is available. 💜


Need Support ? How .balanced.practice can help👇
1️⃣ 1:1 Nutrition Counselling
Virtual and in-person sessions. Supporting you in having a great relationship with food, managing health conditions, and understanding your body’s needs 💜

2️⃣1:1 Psychotherapy 🌱
Virtual and in-person sessions. Helping you overcome your mental health challenges 💪🏼

3️⃣Family Support for Eating Disorder Recovery
If you are a parent or loved one of someone living with an eating disorder, we offer courses and weekly support sessions to help you navigate recovery and help your loved one!

Want more info?
👩‍💻https://www.thebalancedpractice.com/
📧 [email protected]
📞 613-696-0306


-Diet

Bulimia is one of the most missed eating disorders and that oversight causes real harm.


Bulimia nervosa isn’t just about bingeing and purging. It’s about living inside a cycle that’s shaped by food rules, body expectations, shame, and constant pressure to “fix” or control the body.


Many people with bulimia spend long periods appearing “fine” or “high functioning,” while quietly struggling with intense distress around food, weight, and shape.


Because weight may go up, down, or fluctuate our weight-centric healthcare often misses, minimizes, or dismisses this altogether.


Bulimia has a lot of maintaining factors, which makes detection and treatment more challenging. It’s the combination of:
1️⃣ Restriction that’s normalized and even praised
2️⃣ Powerful cultural pressure around bodies and weight
3️⃣ Shame and secrecy that make it harder to reach for support
4️⃣ Patterns that offer short-term relief, sense of control and safety, despite long-term harm


This is why advice like “just stop purging”, “stop binge eating”, “have more control,” or “try a diet” doesn’t help and often makes things worse.


At The Balanced Practice, we approach bulimia with a weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and socially aware lens. We don’t treat behaviours in isolation. We look at the full picture : food, emotions, beliefs, identity, access to care, and the systems people are navigating.


Bulimia is a serious eating disorder. It’s not “fine” and you folks living with bulimia deserve better care.


✨ Next in our Bulimia Deep Dive: What’s happening in the body and brain.


If this resonates, support is available. 💜


Need Support ? Read how .balanced.practice can help in the comments.