Specialized Adult ARFID Therapy

Specialized support for a misunderstood eating disorder

Virtual sessions available in Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington D.C., New York, and Delaware

I'm Grace Annan, a licensed clinical social worker.

I provide online ARFID therapy using CBT-AR, the evidence-based treatment developed at Harvard Medical School, to adults in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Washington D.C.

What ARFID looks like when you're an adult

You eat from a list of maybe 10-12 foods, prepared the same way, from brands you trust. Work meals, family dinners, travel, and dating all require workarounds: the pre-eating, the snack in your bag, the Diet Coke and side at the restaurant, the cover stories about a sensitive stomach or a big lunch.

Your bloodwork keeps flagging the same vitamin deficiencies. Your doctor adjusts the supplements and asks about your diet, and the conversation goes nowhere because there's nothing you can do about your eating with the tools you currently have. The fatigue, the iron, the B12, and the vitamin D have been problems for years.

The shame underneath all of it is the part that affects you the most.

How Specialized ARFID Treatment Can Help

ARFID recovery doesn't mean loving every food. It means having a wide enough range that food stops being the thing your life has to work around.

You go to the new restaurant the group has been talking about and order something off the regular menu. The cover stories stop being necessary, and you can eat at work meals, family gatherings, and travel without spending the day strategizing.

You eat from the same meals you cook for your family. Your child stops asking why your food is different. Your partner stops noticing every time you put together a separate plate for yourself.

Your bloodwork starts to improve. The iron stabilizes, the B12 comes up, and the supplements your doctor has been adjusting for years finally start to work. The fatigue that's been baseline for as long as you can remember gets less constant.

The story about being too sensitive, too rigid, too much work to feed stops being the story you have about yourself.

About Your Adult ARFID Clinician: Grace Annan, LICSW, LCSW-QS

I'm Grace Annan, a licensed clinical social worker. Adult ARFID is the center of my practice, not a side specialty I added to a generalist caseload. I'm trained in CBT-AR, the protocol developed at Harvard Medical School for ARFID specifically, and I keep a small caseload so each client gets the focused attention this work requires.

The reason that matters is that most ARFID-trained clinicians work with children. The protocols, the language, and most of the available care is built for pediatric ARFID. Adults who continue to experience ARFID, or who only recognize it in adulthood, tend to spend years searching before finding a clinician who treats the adult version of this condition as its own specific clinical work. If you've been doing the searching, you already know how rare this is.

I work with adult eating disorders, body image after body change, and conduct adult ADHD and autism assessments. Many adults with ARFID also have ADHD, autism, or sensory processing differences. If you don't yet have clarity on whether ADHD or autism is part of your picture, the assessment work is available without you needing to find another provider.

I'm licensed in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Washington D.C., and all sessions are conducted over secure, HIPAA-compliant video. Studies show approximately 7 out of 10 adults no longer meet ARFID criteria after a course of CBT-AR. The work is structured, the goals are concrete, and the outcomes are measurable.

More about me

What adult ARFID treatment looks like

Treatment is structured and paced. We start with foods you can already tolerate and expand your range in small, intentional steps, working from your specific history and the foods that matter most in your life: the meals at work, the family dinners, the foods your kid eats, the meals you want to share with your partner. You choose the foods that get added. You're not pushed into anything your nervous system can't handle yet.

The structure is what makes this kind of therapy different from general talk therapy applied to eating. The protocol is built for how the ARFID brain processes food, and the work compounds week over week instead of cycling through the same conversations.

Cost: $300

Insurance: Private-pay, with monthly superbills you can submit to your insurance for potential out-of-network reimbursement. HSA and FSA accounts can be used for payment.

Frequency: Weekly sessions, typically 45 minutes.

Length of treatment: Most clients see meaningful progress within 20 to 30 sessions over 6 to 12 months. I keep a small caseload so each client gets the focused attention this kind of therapy requires.

Format: Secure, HIPAA-compliant video. You can join from your home, your office, or anywhere private with a stable connection.

Cost and Logistics

Therapist offering online support for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder

What this practice does not do

This ARFID practice is adult-only and outpatient. It is not designed for:

Children or adolescents (ARFID care for minors requires different specialty)
Acute medical emergencies, severe malnutrition, or hospitalization-level care
Comprehensive medical evaluations or nutrition counseling (referrals to medical providers and dietitians can be coordinated as needed)
Generalist eating disorder treatment when ARFID is not the primary concern

If your situation needs a different level of care, I'll help you find appropriate referrals.

I provide online ARFID therapy to adults residing in:

Florida
New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Delaware
Washington D.C.

All sessions are conducted over secure, HIPAA-compliant video.

States Served

Frequently asked questions

Do you take insurance? No. I'm a private-pay therapist. I provide monthly superbills you can submit to your insurance company for potential reimbursement of out-of-network mental health services. Many PPO plans reimburse a portion of the fee.

What's the difference between ARFID and picky eating? ARFID is more than preference. It's a restricted way of eating that affects your health (nutritional deficiencies, weight concerns), your daily functioning (avoiding meals or social events), or causes significant distress. If your eating limitations have followed you into adulthood and are interfering with your life, that's the line where it moves from preference into something a clinician can help with.

What if I've never done therapy before? Many of my ARFID clients haven't. The focus is on practical skill-building and structured food exposure, not deep emotional processing. The work is concrete and the goals are clear.

What if my ARFID is connected to autism or ADHD? This is common. Many adults with ARFID also have ADHD, autism, or sensory processing differences, and CBT-AR can be adapted to account for those. If you're not sure whether ADHD or autism is also part of your picture, I conduct adult assessments for both as a separate offering. For more information about assessments, visit my ADHD assessment page and my Autism assessment page.

How does ARFID treatment work if my kids eat differently than I do? Treatment doesn't require you to change how you feed your family. We work on your specific eating range, not on the family's meals. As your range expands, the gap between what your household eats and what you eat narrows, which often makes mealtimes easier for everyone without anyone feeling forced into compromises that don't fit them.

How long does treatment typically take? Most clients see meaningful progress within 20 to 30 sessions over 6 to 12 months. We’ll move at the pace your nervous system can handle.

Request an Appointment

If you'd like to start ARFID therapy, use the form below to introduce yourself. Share a bit about your eating history, the state you live in, and what you'd most like the work to address.

Phone: 305-209-9789
Email: hello@nourisesh.com