Pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and motherhood can change your relationship with food and your body. You deserve specialized support that understands both eating disorders and maternal mental health.
Maybe you're constantly thinking about calories, feel anxious about pregnancy weight gain, or struggle to accept your postpartum body. Maybe you've been restricting food, experiencing binge eating episodes, engaging in purging behaviors, or feeling consumed by thoughts about your appearance. You may even recognize that your relationship with food has become unhealthy but feel unsure how to change it.
These struggles deserve more than generic advice about self-care, nutrition, or learning to love your body.
At Sunrise Therapy Services, we provide specialized virtual eating disorder counseling for women and mothers throughout Missouri. Kristine Gallagher, M.Ed., LPC, PMH-C, CEDS, brings dedicated expertise in eating disorders, body image, perinatal mental health, anxiety, and perfectionism to her work with clients.
As a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS) and Perinatal Mental Health Certified (PMH-C) clinician, Kristine is equipped to address the complex relationship between eating disorders, emotional well-being, pregnancy, and the transition into motherhood.
If you're searching for an eating disorder therapist in Cape Girardeau, MO, Jackson, MO, or anywhere across Missouri, Sunrise offers access to specialized care designed around your individual needs.
Meet Kristine Gallagher: Certified Eating Disorder and Perinatal Mental Health Specialist
Finding a therapist who understands eating disorders is important. Finding one who also understands the emotional demands of pregnancy and motherhood can be especially valuable when these experiences overlap.
Kristine Gallagher, M.Ed., LPC, PMH-C, CEDS, specializes in eating disorders, disordered eating, body image concerns, perinatal mental health, anxiety, and perfectionism.
Kristine has earned the letters behind her name specific to eating disorders and postpartum mental health!
CEDS — Certified Eating Disorders Specialist: Specialized professional certification focused on eating disorder care.
PMH-C — Perinatal Mental Health Certification: Specialized certification in mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
LPC — Licensed Professional Counselor: Professional licensure to provide counseling within her scope of practice.
Kristine's approach combines compassion with practical, direct conversations. She helps clients explore what's happening beneath the surface, recognize patterns that are keeping them stuck, and work toward meaningful change.
Rather than relying on generic recommendations or focusing solely on food and weight, Kristine works collaboratively with clients to understand their individual experiences and treatment goals.
Her approach is nonjudgmental and non-diet-centered. You won't be told how you should feel about your body or pressured to meet unrealistic appearance standards. Instead, therapy provides space to explore your relationship with food, understand your emotional responses, and develop healthier ways of navigating challenges.
For women seeking eating disorder treatment during pregnancy, postpartum recovery, or motherhood, Kristine's combined focus on eating disorders and perinatal mental health offers an important level of specialized understanding.
Learn more about Kristine Gallagher and her counseling services at Sunrise Therapy Services.
Eating Disorder Counseling for Anorexia, Bulimia, Purging, and Disordered Eating
Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions. They can affect physical health, relationships, emotional regulation, concentration, and everyday functioning. They can also exist alongside anxiety, depression, perfectionism, trauma, and significant life transitions.
You don't have to fit a particular stereotype or have a specific body size for your concerns to be valid.
Kristine provides specialized counseling for clients struggling with eating disorders, food-related distress, and body image concerns. Depending on your individual symptoms and needs, concerns may include the following.
Anorexia Nervosa and Restrictive Eating
Anorexia nervosa and other restrictive eating patterns can involve intense fear of weight gain, restricting food intake, rigid food rules, and persistent thoughts about body size or appearance.
Pregnancy can make these concerns particularly complicated. You may experience anxiety about expected weight changes, feel distressed about changes in your body, or struggle with the loss of control you associate with pregnancy.
During the postpartum period, pressure to lose weight or return to your previous body size may reinforce restrictive behaviors.
Eating disorder therapy can help you explore the thoughts, fears, and emotional patterns contributing to these struggles. Treatment may also require medical monitoring and coordinated care with other eating disorder professionals, depending on your health and symptoms.
Bulimia Nervosa and Purging Behaviors
Bulimia nervosa can involve recurring episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors intended to prevent weight gain. These behaviors may include self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Purging and other compensatory behaviors can carry serious medical risks, even when they are not visible to others.
You may feel caught in a cycle of eating, guilt, attempts to compensate, and promises that tomorrow will be different. Shame can make it difficult to talk honestly about what's happening, particularly when you're also trying to manage the responsibilities of motherhood.
Working with a certified eating disorder specialist gives you an opportunity to discuss these patterns without judgment and explore appropriate treatment options.
Purging can cause dangerous medical complications. If you're experiencing frequent purging, significant food restriction, fainting, chest pain, or other concerning symptoms, seek prompt medical evaluation. Therapy should be coordinated with appropriate medical care when needed.
Binge Eating and Loss-of-Control Eating
Binge eating may involve feeling unable to stop eating, eating in response to overwhelming emotions, or experiencing significant distress afterward.
For some women, binge eating occurs alongside restrictive eating or rigid food rules. The pressure to eat perfectly can make ordinary eating experiences feel emotionally charged and contribute to cycles of restriction and overeating.
Pregnancy and postpartum changes, sleep deprivation, anxiety, and the demands of caring for others may add to existing stress.
Therapy can help you examine the emotional and behavioral patterns surrounding eating and work toward a healthier, more flexible relationship with food.
Body Dysmorphia and Persistent Body Image Distress
Body dysmorphic disorder involves significant distress and preoccupation with perceived flaws in appearance that may be unnoticeable or seem minor to others. It is different from general body dissatisfaction, although the two can overlap.
You might spend excessive time checking your appearance, comparing yourself to other women, avoiding mirrors or photographs, or feeling unable to stop thinking about perceived physical flaws.
Pregnancy and postpartum body changes may intensify existing body image concerns or bring new struggles to the surface.
Kristine helps clients explore the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors contributing to body image distress. Treatment goals are individualized and may include reducing unhelpful patterns, developing coping strategies, and addressing the emotional impact of appearance-related concerns.
Why Pregnancy and Postpartum Can Intensify Eating Disorder Symptoms
Pregnancy and motherhood can bring significant physical, emotional, and social changes. For women with a history of an eating disorder, these transitions may reactivate old fears or create new challenges.
During pregnancy, you may struggle with:
Anxiety about weight gain and changes in body shape.
Fear of losing control over food or your appearance.
Increased body checking or comparison.
Restrictive eating patterns or urges to compensate for eating.
Perfectionism surrounding pregnancy, nutrition, or expectations of being a good mother.
After giving birth, you may experience pressure to lose the baby weight, frustration with changes in your appearance, or distress when your body doesn't look or feel the way you expected.
You may also be managing postpartum anxiety, disrupted sleep, changing relationships, returning to work, or the constant demands of caring for a child.
These challenges can overlap. An eating disorder isn't always an isolated concern, and maternal mental health struggles don't always look the way people expect.
Kristine's specialized focus on both eating disorders and perinatal mental health is particularly relevant for women navigating these overlapping concerns. Therapy can address the relationship between food, body image, anxiety, perfectionism, and the emotional transition into motherhood rather than treating each struggle as if it exists independently.
You don't have to wait until your symptoms become severe to ask for help.
What Makes Specialized Eating Disorder Therapy Different?
Eating disorders require an informed, individualized approach. General counseling may be helpful for many emotional concerns, but eating disorder treatment can involve specific clinical considerations related to symptoms, medical safety, eating behaviors, and recovery.
Working with a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist provides access to a clinician with specialized eating disorder credentials rather than relying solely on general mental health experience.
At Sunrise Therapy Services, Kristine's approach emphasizes several important elements:
Specialized knowledge. Her CEDS credential reflects focused professional specialization in eating disorder care, while her PMH-C certification adds relevant expertise in perinatal mental health.
Individualized treatment. Your experiences, symptoms, history, and goals matter. Therapy should reflect your needs rather than follow a one-size-fits-all approach.
Practical, collaborative conversations. Kristine works with clients to connect thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and identify meaningful changes that support their goals.
A nonjudgmental, non-diet-centered perspective. Treatment isn't about shaming you for your eating behaviors or imposing unrealistic appearance expectations. It's about understanding your struggles and finding appropriate ways forward.
Attention to the whole person. Eating disorders can intersect with anxiety, perfectionism, body image, trauma, and maternal mental health. Treatment should consider these overlapping concerns when relevant.
Eating disorder care may also require collaboration with a physician, an eating disorder-informed registered dietitian, or a higher level of care. Kristine can help explore appropriate next steps based on your needs and the limits of outpatient therapy.
The goal is not to promise a quick fix. It's to provide informed, compassionate support that takes your concerns seriously.
Virtual Eating Disorder Therapy in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and Across Missouri
If you're looking for eating disorder counseling in Cape Girardeau, MO, or Jackson, MO, you don't have to limit your search to an in-person office.
Sunrise Therapy Services offers virtual counseling for clients located throughout Missouri, including Southeast Missouri communities and surrounding areas.
Online therapy may make it easier to access specialized mental health care while balancing pregnancy, childcare, work, and family responsibilities. You can attend appointments from a private space without adding another drive to your schedule.
Whether you're searching for:
An eating disorder therapist in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Bulimia or anorexia counseling in Jackson, MO.
Therapy for purging behaviors or disordered eating.
Body dysmorphia and body image counseling.
Eating disorder treatment during pregnancy.
Postpartum eating disorder and body image therapy.
A certified eating disorder specialist for women's mental health across Missouri.
Sunrise Therapy Services can help you explore available counseling options with Kristine.
We accept select insurance plans, private pay, HSA cards, and certain local grant funding for eligible clients. Coverage, eligibility, and clinician availability vary, so contact us to discuss your options.
Start Eating Disorder Counseling With Kristine Gallagher
You don't have to wait until you feel completely out of control to seek support. You don't have to explain away your symptoms because other people haven't noticed them. And you don't have to choose between being a good mother and acknowledging that you're struggling.
Whether you're experiencing anorexia, bulimia, purging behaviors, binge eating, body dysmorphia concerns, or persistent anxiety about food and weight, your mental health deserves attention.
If pregnancy or postpartum changes have made your relationship with food or your body more difficult, specialized care can help you explore what's happening and determine what support is appropriate.
Kristine Gallagher brings specialized eating disorder and perinatal mental health credentials to her work with women and mothers through Sunrise Therapy Services. Her compassionate, practical approach offers a place to discuss difficult experiences without shame and work toward meaningful change.
Looking for an eating disorder therapist in Cape Girardeau, MO, Jackson, MO, or anywhere across Missouri?
Clinical note: Eating disorders can involve serious medical risks. Virtual outpatient counseling may not be appropriate as the sole treatment for every eating disorder presentation. Treatment recommendations depend on individual symptoms, medical stability, and clinical needs. Medical evaluation and coordinated multidisciplinary care may be necessary.
