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About Us
AUSTIN COUNSELING AND NUTRITION
We are a counseling and nutrition practice based in Austin, Texas. We provide therapy and nutrition counseling in-person in Austin and virtually across Texas. We are an inclusive group of therapists and dietitians committed to providing the best care for individuals who desire to find body acceptance, be free from disordered eating, improve their mood, and create a life they love.
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We are here to help you make peace with
your food, your body, and everything else.
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What We Do
Mental Health
Anxiety Treatment
Panic Disorder
Depression
Eating Disorders
Substance Abuse
Neurodivergence
Trauma Therapy
Self Image
EMDR Therapy
DBT, IFS, ACT
Sandtray Therapy
Play Therapy
Group Therapy
Families
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
Child Therapy
Adolescent Therapy
Pre-teen Therapy
Teenager Therapy
Young Adults
Adult Therapy
Older Adults
Communities
Queer, Trans, LGBTQ+
Asian, South Asian
Latinx Community
BIPOC Community
Immigrant Community
All Religions
Non-religious
Fat Positive
Sex Positive
Jennifer Pereira, LPC-S, RD, LD
Owner and Founder of Austin Counseling and Nutrition
Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and Registered/Licensed Dietitian
I am Jennifer Pereira, LPC-S, RD, LD, and I am the Owner and Founder of Austin Counseling and Nutrition. I am both a dietitian and a counselor, and I specialize in helping people with food and body struggles, anxiety, depression, and trauma.
In our society, Diet Culture reigns supreme, and it can be hard to escape. At ACN we provide a safe, inclusive space to heal and deal with the world in an improved way. All of our clinicians are experienced in a variety of areas of mental health, so even if you have no food or body issues, we can likely help. If not, we will try to help you find someone who can.
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We have dietitians and therapists with lived experience in a variety of areas, including but not limited to: neurodivergence, Queer/Trans, eating disorders, compulsive exercise, OCD, trauma, anxiety, depression, and living in marginalized bodies and communities.
The Directors of Austin Counseling and Nutrition
Life is hard, and we can help
Whether you are going through a rough patch or have been struggling for a long time, we have the tools and resources to help. While we can all provide eating disorder treatment, our clinicians also have unique experience in varying areas of mental health. Additionally, our clinicians have a variety of lived experience with many of the issues our clients are going through.
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We are happy to help people of all ages (over 6 years old), and we tailor our therapy to each individual's needs. We offer a variety of cutting-edge treatment modalities, and continually seek further training to provide the best quality therapy and nutrition therapy available.
Do you ever feel any of the following:
Anxious, Depressed, Trauma
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Some days it is really hard to get out of bed and get through the day.
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I feel stressed or jittery all the time, and I don't know why.
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I have behaviors that I cannot stop, despite trying.
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I experienced hard things in the past that pop into my mind or feel like they just happened.
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I feel like something is wrong with me, and I don't know what it is.
Food and Body Issues
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Does the way you feel about your body affect your mood and behaviors?
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Do you wish you could just find some peace with food and your body?
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Does your weight or size determine if you are "good" or "bad".
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Do you try to "eat healthy" but then feel out-of-control with food?
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Is anyone in your family weird with food, body, or exercise?
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Do you try to compensate for your eating by doing purging behaviors (exercise, vomiting, laxatives)?
We get it, and we can help.
Most of us have been there. Whether you are dealing with mood regulation, life transitions, or disordered eating, our clinicians have the tools to help you make your life more enjoyable.
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Next steps:
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Contact us to get matched with a therapist and/or dietitian to best meet your needs.
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Meet regularly to work on new and ongoing issues as they arise and resolve.
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Discover freedom from what hurts you and enjoy the confidence and peace you've always wanted.
We provide therapy both virtually and in-person at
4408 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin, TX 78759
Can you identify with any of these thoughts?
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Ugh! I don't even know what to eat anymore!
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I'm so exhausted from trying to calculate steps, cals, macros, etc. (but I cannot stop because something bad will happen).
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I feel like I think about food or my body the majority of the time I am awake.
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I don't know if I will ever ARRIVE in my life -- will I ever have my ideal body, career, spouse, kids? Is that when I start really living?
Staff Therapists at ACN
Staff Therapist
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Eating Disorders
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Disordered Eating
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Foster and adoptive children
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Sexual abuse and assault
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Childhood Trauma
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Family Therapy
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EMDR, Trauma Therapy
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13 years and up
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Staff Therapist
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Eating Disorders
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Couples therapy and relationships
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Family therapy
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EMDR, IFS-informed, Trauma Therapy
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14 years and up
Staff Therapist
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Eating disorders
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Neurodiversity
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Body Image
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Stress and Life Transitions
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Works with kids, teens, adults, and parents
Austin Counseling and Nutrition
We are an inclusive practice of therapists and dietitians with immediate availability in-person or virtually in Austin, Texas.
Staff Dietitians at ACN
Staff Dietitian
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ARFID
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Picky Eating
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Eating Disorders
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Binge Eating
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Bulimia
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Anorexia
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Orthorexia
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Compulsive Exercise
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Ages 6 and up
Worried you cannot afford therapy? Check out our very
low-cost sliding scale
counseling interns here!
We are a passionate group of inclusive eating disorder therapists and dietitians, and we are proud to be connected to the following organizations:
Staff Dietitian
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Eating Disorders
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Disordered Eating
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Anorexia Nervosa
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Bulimia Nervosa
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Orthorexia
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ARFID
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Picky Eaters
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Binge Eating
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Compulsive Exercise
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Body Image
Staff Dietitian
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Eating Disorders
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Disordered Eating
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Anorexia Nervosa
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Bulimia Nervosa
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ARFID
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Orthorexia
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Picky Eaters
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Binge Eating
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Compulsive Exercise
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Body Image
Therapist’s Role in Eating Disorder Treatment:
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Responsible for the psychological aspects of treatment.
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Determines when individual, family or group therapy is appropriate for the eating disordered client.
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Needs to keep other team members (a team usually consists of physician, therapist, and dietitian) apprised of progress in therapy.
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Explains to team members the issues that a person has that might affect the client’s relationship with them.
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Helps patient make the connection between the underlying issues and eating disordered behavior.
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Educates, discusses and prepares the client for working collaboratively as part of a treatment team.
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Helps client and family understand the purpose the eating disorder serves and explore client’s willingness to get better.
Dietitian’s Role in Eating Disorder Treatment:
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Teaches eating disorder client ways to change food, exercise and weight related behaviors.
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Educates the client about normal and abnormal food intake patterns, hunger patterns, metabolic rate and somatic sensations or symptoms of each.
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Educates and helps client become aware of the physiological, biological and emotional body reactions to food, exercise, and substance misuse.
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Assists client in understanding connection between emotions and behaviors.
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Guides and teaches client how to develop a healthy relationship with food.
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Keeps other members of the team apprised of changes in eating, weight and food behaviors.
Shared Roles of the Therapist and Dietitian:
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Continuously reinforce the purpose of team treatment and the roles of each member. Model for clients your connectedness in regard to their issues.
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Continuously reveal to patient how food, weight and body image behaviors mirror their relationship behaviors and often act as a means of expression or protection.
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Work with clients to repair damaged self and body images. Develop exercises to improve positive self-talk and recreate a positive self-image.
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Help client develop a sense of trust, relationship and connectedness to other people and self, not their eating disorder behavior.
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Help client learn what their needs are and how to meet those needs in appropriate ways.
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Help client develop other tools for dealing and coping with issues and emotions in their lives.
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Support and encourage risk and change of eating disordered behaviors that will catalyze and foster developmental and emotional growth.
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Adapted from: Copyright: Sondra Kronberg, RD, Eating Disorder Associates, 82-14 262nd St, Floral Park, NY 11004 718.343.6681
Eating disorders are a serious problem that affects many people around the world. People with eating disorders will have severely abnormal eating habits, including restricting their intake of food, consuming food to a greater-than-normal amount of food, and obsessing about food. Eating disorders are categorized as either anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, or other specified feeding or eating disorder.
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Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which someone severely restricts their calorie consumption in order to lose weight. People with anorexia will often feel like they have to be perfect and be thin in order to be accepted by society, leading to a fear of gaining weight. Many people with anorexia nervosa will have extreme body image issues, resulting in them seeing themselves as overweight even when they are a healthy weight.
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Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder where someone will restrict their food intake and then purging their body of the food they took in by induced vomiting, laxative abuse, or excessive exercising. People with this disorder will often become obsessed with their body image.
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Binge-Eating Disorder is another eating disorder in which someone will compulsively eat a large amount of food regardless of feeling full or not. People will often feel an emotional distress and numbness during a binge eating episode and feel guilty and ashamed after the episode.
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Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder includes behaviors such as persistent eating of certain non-nutritive items, binge eating episodes without purging, and recurrent eating of very large amounts of food.
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Eating disorders are serious illnesses that require professional help. People with eating disorders will often have to undergo therapy, diet and exercise counseling and replace unhealthy behaviors with healthier ones. Although it can be a difficult process, there is help available for those with an eating disorder, and with the right treatment, it is possible to move towards a healthier and more positive relationship with food and body.