RACHEL MILLNER, PSY.D, CEDS-S, CBTP®
My name is Rachel Millner (she/her). I am a psychologist, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor, and a Certified Body Trust® provider. I am a white, queer, Jewish, fat, highly educated, economically stable, cis-woman. I hold many privileges that have impacted my experiences in the world and have given me the opportunity to access treatment, education, and to be able to do the work I love.
I have spent my career working with people struggling with all forms of eating disorders and disordered eating and those wanting to break free from diet culture. I view myself as a therapist and activist as I help my clients heal in our work inside the office and work outside the office to dismantle diet culture and fat phobia. My work is trauma-informed, fat-positive, anti-diet and rooted in feminist theory, relational theory, social justice, and body liberation. I believe that recommending diets or weight loss is not only harmful; it is unethical. Almost all of my clients have had a long dieting history and many of them are still dieting when they come to see me. I want to hear all about my client's experiences and we sit together in the painful and challenging spaces. I believe in body autonomy and respect everyone's right to decide what to do with their own body.
Diet culture harms all of us, and it has certainly harmed me. I grew up in an environment in which there was a lot of focus on my eating and body size and went on to develop various eating disorders. My healing journey has been about not just my own recovery, but about identifying that my body and eating were never the problem. I am now the mother of two boys and am raising them in a fat-positive household in which their bodies and appetites are trusted. Accessing treatment is not easy especially for people with marginalized identities, and I have been privileged enough to receive treatment for my eating disorders that has helped me be able to do things differently with my own children.
A few other things about me: I could spend a whole day listening to spoken word poetry (Andrea Gibson is on the top of my play list), and you will typically find podcasts playing in my car. I love sports and now spend more time watching my kids play than playing them myself. I still listen to most of the same music I listened to as a high school and college student, but have added Lizzo to the list. I love the theater-particularly musicals, and will choose TV over movies almost any time.
I look forward to hearing from you and embarking on this journey together. There is freedom and liberation on the other side of eating disorders, disordered eating, diet culture and weight stigma. In addition to in-person clients, I work nationally and internationally with consulting clients and doing supervision and I work in therapy with clients located anywhere in PA or NJ, or any of the psypact approved states. List here: https://psypact.site-ym.com/pa...
I can be reached via phone or text at: 215-932-9885.