Eating disorders, body image, and trauma therapy in Ottawa and online

You do not have to keepholding it all together.

I am Sarah Cushing, a Registered Psychotherapist working with eating disorders, body image, and trauma. If food, your body, or an old wound has been running the day, therapy here is unhurried, relational, and built around what you are actually living.

You do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out.

Sarah Cushing, Registered Psychotherapist, smiling in a white blouse

Sarah Cushing

Registered Psychotherapist · CRPO #15706

You may be here because

Something in you is asking for more room.

  • Eating, exercise, or how you see your body takes up most of the day.

  • Anxiety, grief, or shame sits underneath everything and never quite lifts.

  • You are the steady one for everyone else, and quietly running on empty.

  • Something ended (a relationship, a role, an identity) and you are not sure who you are now.

None of this means something is wrong with you. It usually means you have coped well, for a long time, with more than you should have had to carry alone.

Soft mist drifting between trees at first light

Therapy will not hand you a different life. It can change how you live the one you have.

Clients often describe more room between feeling and reaction, less fighting with themselves, and a clearer sense of what they want next. You set the pace.

Areas of support

What we can work on together

Eating disorders, body image, and embodiment

Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, chronic dieting, compulsive exercise, and body image distress. Grounded in CBT-E, somatic work, and EMDR, with attention to what these patterns have been protecting. My own history with sport and embodiment informs this work without defining it.

Trauma and depth-oriented therapy

Old wounds, complex trauma, anxiety, and patterns that keep repeating. Relational, IFS-informed parts work with EMDR available when it fits.

Life transitions and identity

Endings, beginnings, and the disoriented middle: career shifts, relationships, identity, grief, and questions of meaning.

Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy

The psychotherapy part of KAP: preparation, support, and integration, in collaboration with a licensed ketamine clinic whose medical prescriber assesses, prescribes, and monitors treatment.

Psychedelic integration and harm reduction

Non-judgmental support for making sense of a past or planned experience. No substances are provided, sourced, or used in these sessions.

Portrait of Sarah Cushing, founder of Liminal Bloom Counselling and Consulting
Meet your therapist

A real person in the room with you

You will not meet a blank screen. I am warm, engaged, and genuinely curious about what makes you you. We will laugh sometimes, sit with hard things other times, and you are allowed to arrive exactly as you are.

My background in anthropology and sociology means I pay close attention to the families, cultures, and systems that have shaped you. I bring training in EMDR, IFS-informed parts work, CBT-E, and somatic approaches, along with lived experience of food, body, and identity that informs, but does not define, my clinical work.

  • Registered Psychotherapist, CRPO Reg. #15706
  • EMDR basic training through an EMDRIA-approved program
  • Introductory and advanced training in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (ATMA Cena)
  • Continuing education informed by IFS, polyvagal theory, CPT, CBT-E, ACT, and DBT
What sessions feel like

Slower than you might expect, and kinder

50-minute sessions are $170, usually weekly at the start. Most people find the first conversation easier than they feared.

01

A free call first

A short phone consultation, at no cost, to hear what brings you here and whether we are a fit.

02

Finding the pace

Early sessions are about getting to know you and building enough safety for the deeper work.

03

Going deeper

We follow what surfaces: parts, memories, patterns, and what the body is doing with them.

Practical details

Simple to begin

In person in Nepean/Ottawa

If you are local and prefer to share a room, in-person sessions are held at 100 Centrepointe in Nepean/Ottawa.

Online across Ontario

Secure video sessions anywhere in Ontario. All you need is a private space and a stable connection.

Fees and insurance

50-minute sessions are $170. Many extended health plans in Ontario cover a Registered Psychotherapist, and I offer direct billing with some insurers, so ask and I will check your plan.

Questions

Common questions

I offer both virtual sessions across Ontario and in-person sessions at 100 Centrepointe in Nepean/Ottawa. If you are local and prefer to meet in person, we can arrange that. Virtual sessions require a private, stable space and a reliable internet connection.

Sessions are typically 50 minutes. Weekly sessions are common at the start, though we may adjust frequency based on where you are in the process. Longer sessions can be arranged for KAP integration work when clinically appropriate.

Many extended health plans in Ontario cover services provided by a Registered Psychotherapist. Coverage varies by plan, so I recommend checking directly with your insurer. I do offer direct billing with some insurance companies and benefits packages, so please inquire and I can let you know whether direct billing is available for your specific plan.

KAP is a structured form of therapy that combines psychotherapy with ketamine, which is prescribed and monitored by an authorized medical prescriber at a licensed ketamine clinic. My role is the psychotherapy component: preparation, supported inner exploration, and integration. It is not suitable for everyone and requires medical screening and ongoing collaboration with the prescribing clinician.

The journal

Writing from the in-between

Take the next step

Book a free consultation

A brief phone call, at no cost, to talk about what you are looking for and whether working together feels right. You do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out.

What brings you here?

Select anything that fits. We can shape the rest on the call.

Please don't share sensitive clinical details in this form. Sending opens your email app with your note addressed to Sarah, so nothing is stored on this website. You can also book straight into the calendar using the link below. Liminal Bloom is not a crisis service. If you need urgent support, please call 9-8-8 (Canada Suicide Crisis Helpline) or 9-1-1.