It doesn’t matter how long you have eaten selectively; the fear can be put aside very quickly, leaving you to start making up your own mind about each food – the taste and the texture – instead of fearing disgust, nausea, being sick or your own gag reflex before you've had a chance to experiment.

Life is about trial and error. You stop doing what you do not like and carry on doing what you do. We generally have a scientific approach to life, so what if I could help you put that fear aside, the way you have done in so many other situations in your life, often without thinking about it, so that you can eat scientifically? This is all that is required in ARFID treatment / SED treatment.

During effective treatment for adults living with ARFID or children, we will not focus on the food.

• We will focus on the fear. We will focus on the part of your mind that decides food is dangerous.

• We will focus on re-establishing a good relationship between that part of your mind and your more rational mind so you can work together instead of against each other.

• So that you can eat what you want because you want to.

Treatment of children and adolescents with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder is not about addressing fussy eating, but about nipping this fear in the bud before it becomes a lifetime of stress, anxiety and limitations.

ARFID treatment centres can be very formal, but I see clients in a home office in Worthing, West Sussex. We will integrate the parts of your mind that are working against each other, and I will encourage you to bring some foods to try at the end of the second session - if you feel like it, which you probably will. Once the fear is successfully dealt with - allow three sessions - you will continue the rest of your ARFID treatment at home, which simply involves trying different foods at your own pace and bringing more variety to your meal times and flexibility to your social and eating habits. I am, of course, available for support along the way if you require.

I have trained with Felix Economakis, who is a psychologist and hypnotist working in London, the country's leading therapist for ARFID / SED and known from the BBC program Freaky Eaters. He has developed a working process that he calls his 4Rs, and I am one of the few other therapists in the world now using the same process.

This is not just hypnosis for treating selective eating disorders. We will use a mixture of conversation, imagination and hypnosis, which will vary from person to person, as although this is a specific way of working, it is very bespoke to each individual and extremely successful for adults, adolescents and children in most cases.

If you’re ready

If you’re tired of seeing food that brings so much health, happiness and joy to most people as a threat…if you want to enjoy mealtimes instead of experiencing them as a chore…if you want more choice and freedom – without force, pressure, or shame…

Book in for therapy.
Let’s help your mind finally recognise you can smile, laugh and eat, just like everyone else, when trying new foods. You can make up your own mind if you want to try something or not.

Don’t come to try something to see if it works - come to learn how you work and how to change.

If you'd like to explore whether this approach feels right for you, you’re welcome to get in touch.

Please note that I do not work with children younger than ten. Sorry.

Or please take a look through this non-exhaustive list of some of my other services: Anxiety Treatment, Trauma Recovery, Smash Procrastination, Beat Social Anxiety, and Resolve Phobias.