Hope and Healing with Mary Elizabeth Burns, MS, NCC, LPC

Struggles with food and body image are often far more complex than they appear. What may look like control, discipline, or routine on the surface can feel consuming, rigid, and difficult to sustain internally. Many individuals find themselves caught in cycles of restriction, bingeing, or constant preoccupation with food, while also navigating perfectionism, anxiety, or a need to feel in control. I provide depth-oriented eating disorder therapy for adolescents and adults in Cumming and Sandy Springs, with telehealth available throughout Georgia. This work focuses on helping you step out of exhausting patterns with food and reconnect with a more stable, grounded sense of yourself. 

Eating disorders rarely look the same from person to person. Many clients describe:

• Persistent thoughts about food, weight, or body image that feel difficult to quiet
• Cycles of restriction, binge eating, or loss of control around food
• Using food or body control as a way to manage anxiety, stress, or emotional overwhelm
• Perfectionism and rigid standards that extend beyond food into other areas of life
• Feeling disconnected from hunger, fullness, or physical cues
• Shame, secrecy, or isolation surrounding eating patterns

Even when life appears high-functioning externally, these patterns can become increasingly consuming and difficult to shift alone.

Recovery is not simply about changing behaviors—it’s about understanding what those behaviors are doing for you and creating new, more sustainable ways of regulating, coping, and relating to yourself.

My approach integrates somatic therapy, breathwork, and evidence-based modalities such as CBT, DBT, and RO-DBT. This allows us to work not only with thoughts and behaviors, but with the underlying nervous system patterns that drive them.

Together, we focus on:

• Restoring trust in your body and internal cues
• Reducing rigidity, overcontrol, and all-or-nothing thinking
• Developing a more stable and flexible relationship with food
• Addressing perfectionism, anxiety, and emotional regulation

This work is well-suited for individuals who are:

• Insightful, self-aware, and ready for a deeper level of change
• Tired of managing food or body image concerns on their own
• Struggling with perfectionism, control, or anxiety alongside eating patterns
• Seeking a more thoughtful, individualized approach to recovery lasting, sustainable change rather than short-term fixes.

This is not a one-size-fits-all or purely behavioral approach. It is a refined, integrative process that looks at the full picture—psychological, emotional, and physiological.

By combining somatic work, nervous system regulation, and evidence-based therapy, we move beyond symptom management into meaningful, lasting change. The goal is not just to improve your relationship with food, but to create a way of living that feels more stable, flexible, and aligned.

Serving clients in Cumming, Sandy Springs, Buckhead, and surrounding areas in Georgia.