You stop emptying your closet onto the bed before every event. Where you used to try on five things, you try on two. The forty-five minutes you used to spend on the closet floor, second-guessing what you reached for first, start going to other parts of your evening: the wine with your partner before you leave, the call to confirm the babysitter, the conversation in the car on the way over. You walk into the dinner party in the first thing you put on.

You stop walking past the section of clothes you want to wear and heading straight for the loose tops. You buy the dress with the sleeves you've been telling yourself you can't wear, or the jeans without stretch, or the swimsuit without a swim skirt attached. You wear them out of the house. You stand in line at the coffee shop without shifting your weight to obscure your stomach.

You start to stay in photos you would have stepped out of before. The phone goes around the table and you let your face be in the picture. When your kid wants a picture of the two of you together at the school event, you say yes the first time instead of suggesting she ask her dad. The next time you scroll through the camera roll, you don't see something that needs to be hidden.

You sit in a Zoom room with seven or eight other women who have done what you've been doing alone. One woman describes the exact thing you've never said out loud (the loose tops you've been hiding in, the photos you've been deleting, the size you wear at home versus the size you wear out). You recognize her story as yours. The next time you try something new (going to the pool party, leaving the picture on the phone, telling your partner what you want), you have a group to come back and tell. The benefit the books and the podcasts couldn't give you is the other women in the room saying “yes, me too.”

You start to tell your partner what you've been doing during sex that you don't want to be doing anymore. The avoidance has been specific: the tank top under the nightgown, the request for the lights off, the position you don't move out of because moving means more of your body shows, the sheet you hold up over your stomach. You name one of them. You and your partner talk about what you'd like instead, even if the overhead light isn't going on tomorrow night. The bedside lamp goes on. The position becomes negotiable. The sex you've been getting through while half-checked-out starts to be sex you're present for.

Comments about your body stop deciding the rest of your day. When your aunt corners you at the holiday party and says, "are you doing something different? you look so good," it still catches you. But the half hour you used to spend in the car after, analyzing whether she meant it kindly or whether it was code for something else, takes ten minutes now. The energy you used to spend on the after-comment analysis starts going to other things you care about: your relationships, your children, your hobbies, your career, and your health.

The group meets over secure, HIPAA-compliant video for 8 consecutive weeks, one 50-minute session per week. Each cohort has up to ten women, and we work together as the same group across all eight weeks. Attendance at every session is part of the agreement when you sign up.

The work in this group focuses on how you respond when body-related thoughts show up. The thoughts themselves don't need to change for your life to look different. You'll leave with the capacity to have those thoughts and feelings without them dictating what you wear, where you go, who you see, or whether you show up to the things that matter.

The 8 weeks consists of three main topics:

Noticing what your mind says. You'll learn to tell the difference between having a thought about your body and spending the next twenty minutes going back and forth with it in your head (which is what's been wearing you out).

Practicing a different response. Through group discussions and between-session exercises, you'll work on having uncomfortable body thoughts without automatically doing the thing your brain is telling you to do, the mirror check, the outfit change, the declined invitation.

Doing more of what matters to you. The final weeks focus on living your life according to what you care about: showing up to the things you've been avoiding, wearing what you want, saying yes to plans, and being present with the people in front of you.

Group work makes this more powerful than individual therapy can be on its own, because so much of body image depends on comparison and isolation. When other women describe their experience, when they tell you what they're hearing in your story, when you watch them try a different response in real time, you have new information to work with that you can't get from sitting alone with your own thoughts.

To request a spot in an upcoming cohort, use the form below. I'll respond within 1-2 business days with the next available start date and the registration link.

The group is available to adult women residing in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Washington D.C.