Health at Every Size® Healthcare Provider Listing
Bianca Skilbeck, Clin. Hypnotherapist & Counsellor
(she/her)
Clinical Hypnotherapist & Counsellor
Freedom from Food
Melbourne & Virtual Services,
Victoria,
Australia
Contact Me:
Make an Appointment:
Sliding Scale Available
Specialties & Areas of Focus:
- Eating disorders
- Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
- Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
- Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
- Chronic dieting
- Gut Health
- Gut-directed Hypnotherapy
Modalities & Theoretical Lenses:
- Counselling
- Hypnotherapy
- Gut-directed Hypnotherapy
- Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
- Intersectional feminism
- Weight-neutral care
- Non-diet approach
- Fat liberation
Age Groups Served:
- Children (birth through 12 years)
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
- Children (birth through 12 years)
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
Additional Populations Served & Allied Groups:
- LGBTQIA+
- transgender and nonbinary folks
Languages Services Offered In:
- English
- English
My Philosophy of Care
As part of my practice, I provide holistic treatment options in the form of counselling and hypnotherapy, specific to the needs of those struggling with their relationship with food. This includes all presentations along the food and body image spectrum from body-image distress, chronic dieting, and food anxieties/preoccupation, to more disordered eating presentations and diagnosable eating disorders. I also work with poeple presenting with issues related to gut health and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by utilising gut-directed hypnotherapy, and I offer treatment for anxiety, depression, trauma, and addictions.
Working from a Health at Every Size® lens, I believe that all people, regardless of weight, shape, or size have the capacity to improve upon their mental, emotional, or physical health without pursuing weight loss or weight management strategies which so often result in more harm than good. I work with clients to first ascertain what their goals are, and then to support them in attaining their goals, whatever that means for them. Often as part of my work with clients, I refer to other weight-neutral service providers such as dietitians or GP's to support their health goals and we discuss ways in which they can pursue a weight-neutral approach to self-care in their daily lives so as to support the work outside of sessions.
Working from a Health at Every Size® lens, I believe that all people, regardless of weight, shape, or size have the capacity to improve upon their mental, emotional, or physical health without pursuing weight loss or weight management strategies which so often result in more harm than good. I work with clients to first ascertain what their goals are, and then to support them in attaining their goals, whatever that means for them. Often as part of my work with clients, I refer to other weight-neutral service providers such as dietitians or GP's to support their health goals and we discuss ways in which they can pursue a weight-neutral approach to self-care in their daily lives so as to support the work outside of sessions.
About Me & My Practice
We live in a society and culture that is OBSESSED with food, weight, dieting, and obtaining the 'thin ideal', and I have not been immune to the pressures of this myself. As a teenager and young adult, I experienced an eating disorder, and my struggles were not unlike many others in that they were multifaceted. They were driven by individual psychological factors such as anxiety, perfectionism, low self-esteem, and a desire to maintain control. They were also driven by the societal and cultural factors which pressure us all to strive for a certain type of body, keeping us dissatisfied from a very young age in these bodies that we have been given. I stayed in these destructive cycles with restriction, rebound bingeing, and weight fluctuations for almost 20 painful years. These days, personally embracing a weight-neutral and Health at Every Size® philosophy in my own life deeply impacts the work that I do with my clients. I have worked with clients in all size bodies, helping them to unpack the trauma of past dieting and the trauma of living in a fat-phobia and weight-stigmatising society. I enjoy providing a safe place for clients to start to see themselves and their goals in a different way and navigate ways forward to enjoying more self-care, self-acceptance, and a healthier relationship with food and their bodies.
Accessibility Considerations
I work from a home location which, unfortunately, is not wheelchair accessible; I hope that this will change in time once I am able to hire professional clinic space. In the meantime, the seating that I use is a couch and can support any person in any size body. I am in complete control of any marketing or clinic material, and therefore I create a very safe, welcoming, and body-positive space which I strive to keep free of any weight-stigmatising language or practices.