Eating Disorder Therapy
with Tessa Wooden, LMFT
I’m a therapist who’s been through my own eating disorder recovery and served as Clinical Director at an LA-based residential treatment center, often training other therapists in eating disorder treatment.
Is food constantly stressing you out?
Are you cycling through diets that feel extreme and unsustainable?
Maybe you’ve made rigid food rules that once helped you cope but now are exhausting. You might not appear “underweight” or have an official eating disorder diagnosis, yet food and body thoughts still take up too much space. Disordered eating worked for you at one point. Our job is to understand why, and help you build something that works better now.
Clients Come To Me When They:
Feel stuck in chronic dieting
Engage in restriction, binging, purging, compulsive exercise, or laxative abuse
Have strict food rules
Fear body changes
Avoid social eating
Have a limited range of safe foods or fear trying new foods (ARFID)
Receive an eating disorder diagnosis
Step down from higher levels of care
“The best time to start therapy is as soon as you’re thinking about it”
What Eating Disorder Therapy With Me Is Like
My work is collaborative and intentional. Together, we explore how the eating disorder has protected you and how it may now be limiting your life.
We move in a way your nervous system can tolerate, building trust, flexibility, and the ability to care for your body even on difficult days.
We start by assessing your relationship with food and determining the safest path forward. When needed, I help coordinate care with nutritionists, psychiatrists, and primary care physicians. If you’re stepping down from higher levels of care, I work closely with your previous providers so support stays consistent and clear.
Modalities I Use
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Helps understand the parts of you that rely on the eating disorder for protection and safety.
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Keeps therapy collaborative, respectful, inclusive, and paced around your readiness. Your personal goals and values are centered.
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Changes the thoughts, behaviors, and patterns that keep cycles of restriction, bingeing, purging, and body preoccupation stuck in place.
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Builds emotion regulation and distress tolerance so urges feel more manageable.
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Reduces body-based judgment and supports respectful, weight-neutral care.
If this resonates, you are in the right place
You don’t have to feel ready to begin; healing starts right where you are.
After Eating Disorder Therapy, Clients Report
Less food preoccupation
More consistent intake
Reduced guilt + shame
Confidence in choices
Less body monitoring
Improved relationships
Space for what matters
We talk about what you want your life to look like without food and body thoughts running the show.
About Tessa Wooden, LMFT
My therapy is designed for recovery that considers the whole picture, not just food or behaviors. This work is about understanding what the eating disorder has been doing for you and creating a life where it is no longer needed.
Sessions with me are human, direct, and compassionate (and often involve some humor!). We take this work seriously while also leaving room to laugh. I approach therapy as a human-to-human relationship, not expert and patient, so you feel less alone while connecting with the parts of you that are ready for change.
Outside of therapy, I’m a fourth-generation Santa Monican and my favorite sport is napping. I have a 12-year-old Pit Lab mix named Kora, enjoy spending time with friends and family, and despite all the cookbooks in my office, my husband does most of the cooking.
Availability: Telehealth available across California.
Education, Credentials, & Trainings
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), California
MA in Marriage and Family Therapy, Chapman University
Former Clinical Director at Monte Nido
Extensive experience in residential, IOP, and outpatient levels of care
Treating eating disorders since 2020
Advanced training in CBT, DBT, Internal Family Systems, Attachment-Based Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy and trauma-informed care
3 Steps To
Get Started
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Fill out the contact form. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll help connect you with someone who might be.
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We’ll talk briefly to see if this feels like a good match and discuss next steps.
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We’ll start building safety, understanding patterns, and creating a plan together.