Therapy for Parents

Support for Parents of a Child, Teen, or Adult Child with an Eating Disorder | Austin, TX

Based in Austin, TX, and serving clients across Texas via telehealth.

With Alison Pelz, LD, RDN, LCSW, Therapist 

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You’re supporting everyone else. Who is supporting you? 

Between advocating for your child, coordinating care, and managing your own worry, it’s easy to lose track of your own needs entirely. You’ve likely spent so much energy holding everything together that you’ve had little room to ask how you’re actually doing.

Do you feel overwhelmed, guilty, or unsure where you fit in?

Maybe you…

  • Blame yourself for your child’s eating disorder, even when you know it’s not that simple
  • Feel like you’re constantly walking a line between helping and hovering
  • Are exhausted from researching, advocating, and coordinating care

Your child, teen, or adult child is struggling with an eating disorder, and you deserve support too.

You may be spending so much time worrying about what your child needs that there’s little room to think about how this is affecting you. Whether you need help supporting their recovery, space to process what you’re going through, or an opportunity to address your own relationship with food, you don’t have to figure it out by yourself.

What Kind of Support Do You Need?

Your child or teen is currently in eating disorder treatment

Even when your child has a great treatment team, the eating disorder can take its toll on family life. You may know exactly what you’re supposed to do, and still find it emotionally exhausting to actually do it, day after day, especially in the moments that happen outside of session, like mealtimes, difficult conversations, or day-to-day tension. 

You may notice that you’re:

  • Trying to support your child’s recovery but unsure what to say or do at meals
  • Exhausted by the emotional toll of watching your child struggle
  • Getting concrete guidance from your child’s treatment team, but finding it hard to know what to say in the actual moment with your child
  • Disagreeing with your partner or co-parent on how to handle the eating disorder at home or between households
  • Feeling worried that you may harm your relationship with your child if you hold boundaries
  • Wanting your own space to talk about what you’re experiencing as a parent, separate from your child’s therapy

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Your young adult child has an eating disorder

This stage brings its own unique tension. Your child is old enough to make their own decisions, and yet may still depend on you for financial or emotional support. That mix of autonomy and dependence can leave you unsure of where your role begins and ends, especially when you can see them struggling. 

You may notice that you’re:

  • Watching your adult child struggle but unsure what role you’re supposed to play
  • Worried about overstepping but unable to simply look away
  • Struggling with how little control you have now that your child is an adult
  • Wanting to strengthen your relationship with your child
  • Wanting to understand eating disorders better so you can support them without making things more difficult

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Supporting your child has brought up your own relationship with food

Sometimes helping your child heal means facing things about yourself you weren’t expecting to face. Old patterns, old wounds, old ways of relating to food and your body don’t always stay quiet, even while you’re showing up for your child. 

Do you notice that you:

  • Recognize restrictive eating, binge eating, compulsive exercise, or limited food variety in your own life
  • Have realized that your child’s recovery has brought your own history with food or body image back to the surface
  • Want to work on your eating while your child receives treatment elsewhere
  • Are ready to improve your relationship with food and your body  yourself, not only for your child

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What could feel different with support :

You may not be able to control every part of your child’s recovery, but you can feel more prepared for your role in it. You can learn how to support your child without letting fear, guilt, and uncertainty take over your own life.

If your child or teen has an eating disorder:

  • Feel more prepared for difficult conversations about food, weight, body image, and treatment
  • Know what to say and do when your child is struggling, shutting down, or resisting support
  • Respond with greater steadiness instead of second-guessing every interaction
  • Set appropriate boundaries while remaining connected and supportive
  • Communicate more effectively with your child’s treatment team
  • Make room for your own needs, relationships, and well-being while continuing to care about your child

If your adult child has an eating disorder:

  • Better understand what’s part of the eating disorder and what your child actually needs from you
  • Set appropriate boundaries while remaining connected and supportive
  • Develop a more sustainable relationship with your adult child, without needing to monitor or manage every decision
  • Make room for your own needs, relationships, and well-being while continuing to care about your adult child

If your own relationship with food has surfaced:

  • Process the fear, grief, anger, guilt, and exhaustion you may not have space to address elsewhere
  • Make room for your own needs, relationships, and well-being while continuing to care about your child
  • Begin addressing your own patterns with food and body image, separate from your child’s process

The goal isn’t to become the perfect parent or always know the right thing to say. It’s to feel less lost, understand your role more clearly, and have practical tools for supporting both your child and yourself.

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How We Can Work Together

Support is tailored to where you are, whether your child is in active treatment, navigating young adulthood, or your own history with food has resurfaced. We start by understanding your specific situation and what’s been hardest about it, then build a plan around what you actually need, whether that’s guidance, a space to process, or both.

I support parents and caregivers navigating:

  • A child or teen currently in eating disorder treatment
  • An adult child struggling with an eating disorder
  • Their own relationship with food or body image resurfacing alongside their child’s recovery
  • Guilt, overwhelm, or uncertainty about their role
  • Burnout from advocating, researching, and coordinating care
  • Setting boundaries without losing connection to their child

My approach is:

  • Weight and size-inclusive
  • Affirming care that’s LGBTQ+ inclusive, neuroaffirming, and culturally responsive
  • Family systems informed, so we look at the whole picture, not just your child’s symptoms
  • A space for you specifically, separate from your child’s own therapy
  • Practical and collaborative, focused on what actually helps in the moments that matter

Ready to Talk About Next Steps?

Reach out today to schedule a free consultation — let’s talk about what support could look like for you. Based in Austin, TX and serving clients across Texas via telehealth.

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