Body Image

It is no surprise that our culture is relentless when it comes to telling us what our bodies should look like. Whether it is the “wellness” industry selling you diet culture in disguise, or purity culture telling you your body is a temptation to be managed, the result is often the same: shame, disconnection, and a sense that your body is somehow the problem. Our body is the longest relationship we have, yet it is often the one that is most neglected.

If you are exhausted from years of judging your body, fighting with food, or trying to shrink yourself to fit someone else’s definition of “worthy,” you are not alone. I work with clients who are ready to address their internalized fat phobia. I aim to create space to explore the deeper roots of your body image struggles, from past trauma and cultural messages to family dynamics and religious messaging that taught you your body was dangerous, broken, or shameful.

  • Body image refers to experience that encompasses one's body-related self-perceptions and self-attitudes, including thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors.

  • Bodily autonomy is about the right to make decisions over your life and future. You have the right to choose what to eat, how to care for yourself, whether to have sex, etc. It is the belief that no one has the right to violate the rights, autonomy or bodily integrity of anyone else.

  • Fatphobia is defined as a fear of fatness. It is a form of bigotry and discrimination that says that people of higher weight are inferior physically, intellectually, morally, and health-wise.

    This can often manifest as fat-shaming, weight stigma, or viewing individuals who exist in larger bodies as lazy, unmotivated, or disgusting. It also leads to poor health & medical care as medical systems still hold “thinness” as a framework for “health,” even though modern evidence shows that thinness does not equate to health. We also know that essential medical services are often denied to individuals in larger bodies because of fatphobia that infiltrates society and our medical systems.

    Revitalize Wellness Counseling understands how fatphobia can and does play a role in mental health.

  • Purity culture resulted from the purity movement that started in the late 1990s with the goal to protect young women using a biblical view of purity. Linda Kay Kline indicated, “The specifics vary by religion and culture, but gender- and sexual-control upon which purity culture stands is global, cross-religious, and cross-cultural.” While it is important to note that not all experiences in purity culture have been negative, it has been a common theme in religious trauma recovery.

    Purity culture often focuses on female bodies, dictating how they need to dress and appear, often including body weight. Purity culture places strict gender expectations. For example, men are expected to be strong, “masculine” leaders of the household, church, and society, and women are expected to support them—to be pretty, “feminine,” sweet, supportive wives and mothers.

    Revitalize Wellness Counseling works with clients who are seeking to recover from negative impacts of purity culture, including (but not limited to) identifying how it may have played a role in body image perceptions.

Trauma and Body Image

Trauma can fracture your relationship with your body. Especially if you’ve experienced sexual abuse, assault, or harassment, your body may not feel like a safe place to be. You might feel hyper-aware of your appearance or completely numb to it. Some survivors develop disordered eating, dissociation, or a deep mistrust of their physical selves, not because there is something wrong with them, but because their bodies were violated, objectified, or controlled.

You may feel angry at your body for how it responded, or did not respond. You may try to hide, shrink, or disconnect from it entirely. You may not even realize how much energy you are using every day just trying to feel okay in your skin.

Therapy can help you rebuild that connection. We can gently explore the impact of trauma on your sense of safety and self-worth, using trauma-informed, body-respecting approaches, and somatic grounding tools. You do not have to rush toward body love, you can move at your own pace toward body peace, body trust, and maybe, in time, body compassion.

Purity Culture and Body Image

Purity culture has deeply shaped the way many people view their own bodies, particularly those who grew up in high-demand religious environments. If you were taught that your body was a source of temptation to other people, that what you had strict standard when it came to clothing and appearance, or experienced your sexuality being strictly controlled, it is no surprise you might feel disconnected from your physical self.

These messages often create shame around physical appearance, weight, sex, and desire. You may have internalized the belief that your worth is tied to your ability to control or diminish your body. For many, this has led to years of perfectionism, disordered eating, and emotional numbing just to survive in a body that never felt safe.

FatPhobia and Body Image

In a world steeped in fat phobia, if you have ever existed in a body that does not meet the “standard” you may have receiving constant messages that your body is not just wrong, but a moral failure. From healthcare settings that ignore your actual needs, to clothing stores that do not carry your size, to unsolicited advice from strangers and even loved ones, our culture is saturated with weight stigma and size discrimination. Many, many, many people have been harmed by systems that pathologize their size, where their body has been treated as something to fix, rather than something to respect. This kind of chronic exposure to shame and exclusion can lead to trauma symptoms, anxiety, depression, and a profound sense of isolation.

In therapy, we name those systems. We unpack the ways anti-fat bias has shaped how you see yourself, how you’ve been treated, and how you move through the world. You deserve care that sees your body as whole, not as a problem to solve.

Body Image Therapy

I do not focus on “fixing” your body because your body was never broken. I support you in healing the relationship with your body.

That might look like:

  • Learning to notice and shift critical self-talk

  • Processing painful experiences around weight, appearance, food, or medical trauma

  • Exploring how trauma, oppression, and religious teachings have shaped how you see yourself

  • Reconnecting with your body through grounding, mindfulness, and somatic techniques

  • Practicing body neutrality or liberation—not just “loving” your body, but respecting it as it is

My approach is through trauma-informed therapies, rooted in weight-inclusivity and body liberation. My goal is to help you find your voice and re-author your relationship with your body, on your terms.

Healing body image is not about just liking how you look. It is about creating safety. Safety to take up space. Safety to feel. Safety to be in your full, complex, human self.

This work is not about achieving the perfect self-love moment. It is about making space to exist in your body with more ease, more compassion, and more truth. Especially if you have never been given permission to do that before.

Whether you have struggled with body image, fatphobia, religious shame, or simply never felt comfortable in your skin, you do not have to navigate it alone. Therapy can be a place to unlearn the shame and reclaim your body as your own.

If you’re ready to work on healing, contact to request a free consultation.

I look forward to being a part of your journey to healing and confidence in your authentic self.