Mindful Eating Coaching with Kristen Forman, LCSW
Skills-Based Support for Your Relationship with Food
In addition to clinical therapy, Balanced Brain and Body offers Mindful Eating Coaching—a supportive, skills-focused service designed to help you develop a more peaceful and balanced relationship with food.
Coaching is ideal for individuals who:
- Have completed eating disorder therapy and want ongoing support to maintain their progress
- Experience mild emotional eating or food-related stress (but not a clinical eating disorder)
- Want to explore mindful eating principles and break free from diet culture
- Are seeking guidance on mindful eating practices without the need for clinical treatment
How Coaching Differs from Therapy
Understanding the Right Level of Care for You
Therapy is a clinical healthcare service that addresses eating disorders, mental health diagnoses, and psychological distress. It involves assessment, treatment planning, and evidence-based interventions like CBT and DBT. Therapy is regulated, diagnostic, and designed to treat clinical conditions.
Coaching is a non-clinical support service focused on skill-building, accountability, and personal growth around eating behaviors. It does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions. Instead, coaching helps you apply skills, navigate challenges, and maintain progress in a supportive, educational framework.
Important: Coaching is not a substitute for therapy. If you're struggling with an active eating disorder, anxiety, depression, trauma, or other mental health concerns, clinical therapy is the appropriate level of care.
If you're unsure which service is right for you, we encourage you to schedule a brief consultation call to discuss your needs and goals.
What Mindful Eating Coaching Includes
Practical Skills to Support Food Freedom
Coaching sessions with Kristen Forman LCSW, provide personalized guidance and support as you work toward a healthier, more balanced relationship with food—free from guilt, restriction, and diet culture rules.
Topics We Explore in Coaching:
Developing Mindful Eating Skills
Learn to eat with intention and attention, tuning into your body's signals rather than external rules or emotional triggers.
Navigating Challenging Food Situations
Build confidence around holidays, social events, dining out, and other situations that may feel stressful or triggering.
Building Awareness Around Hunger & Fullness Cues
Reconnect with your body's natural signals and learn to trust them again after years of dieting or disordered eating.
Exploring Gentle Nutrition Without Rigid Rules
Understand how to nourish your body in a flexible, sustainable way that honors both health and pleasure—without falling back into diet mentality.
Creating a Values-Based Approach to Eating & Movement
Align your choices with your personal values rather than external pressures, comparison, or unrealistic standards.
Challenging Diet Culture Messages
Identify and reject harmful diet culture beliefs that interfere with your ability to eat intuitively and live freely in your body.
Maintaining Recovery After Therapy
For clients who have completed eating disorder therapy, coaching provides ongoing accountability, skill reinforcement, and a safe space to process challenges as they arise.
Mindful Eating Coaching Services Available:
Flexible, Virtual Support
Session Length: 30 minutes
Format: Virtual sessions via secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform
Frequency: Flexible scheduling based on your needs—weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly
Investment:
Coaching sessions are private pay. Pricing information will be provided during your consultation.
Who Are Coaching Services For?
1. Clients Outside of New Jersey
Because coaching is not a regulated clinical service, Kristen can provide coaching to individuals in states where she is not licensed to practice therapy. This includes residents of states other than NJ, CT, FL, and SC.
For clients who have completed a course of eating disorder therapy with Kristen and are ready to transition to maintenance-level support, coaching offers a less intensive option while maintaining continuity of care.
2. New Jersey Clients as Step-Down Support
Who Coaching Is NOT For:
Coaching is not appropriate if you:
- Are currently struggling with an active eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID)
- Have significant mental health concerns like severe anxiety, depression, or trauma that require clinical treatment
- Need diagnostic assessment or treatment planning
- Are experiencing a mental health crisis
If any of the above apply, we strongly encourage you to pursue clinical therapy instead. Kristen offers eating disorder therapy to clients in New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, and South Carolina.
Getting Started with Coaching
Your Path to Food Freedom
Step 1: Schedule a Free Consultation
We'll discuss your goals, current challenges, and whether coaching is the right fit for your needs. If clinical therapy is more appropriate, we'll discuss that option as well.
Step 2: Book Your First Coaching Session
Once we determine coaching is a good fit, you'll schedule your first 30-minute session at a time that works for you.
Step 3: Begin Your Journey
We'll work together to build skills, challenge unhelpful beliefs, and create sustainable change in your relationship with food.
Frequently Asked Questions About
Mindful Eating Coaching
Therapy is a clinical service that diagnoses and treats mental health conditions like eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. It's regulated by licensing boards and involves evidence-based treatment protocols.
Coaching is a non-clinical service focused on skill-building, education, and accountability. It does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions and is not a substitute for therapy.
Think of coaching as support for personal growth and skill development, while therapy addresses clinical symptoms and mental health treatment.
Not necessarily. Coaching is appropriate for individuals who:
- Have completed therapy and want ongoing maintenance support
- Experience mild food-related challenges that don't meet the criteria for an eating disorder
- Want to explore intuitive eating without needing clinical treatment
However, if you're struggling with an active eating disorder or significant mental health concerns, therapy is the appropriate starting point, not coaching.
For New Jersey clients, it's possible to transition from therapy to coaching as your symptoms improve and you're ready for step-down support. However, you cannot receive both services simultaneously from Kristen, as this creates role confusion.
For clients outside New Jersey, if you're working with another therapist and want additional support around mindful eating skills, coaching may complement your therapy. We encourage you to discuss this with your current therapist.
Coaching sessions are 30 minutes and are scheduled based on your needs and goals. Some clients benefit from weekly sessions, while others prefer bi-weekly or monthly check-ins.
We'll discuss the ideal frequency during your consultation based on what you're working toward.
No. Coaching is not a clinical service, so it's not covered by insurance and we cannot provide superbills for reimbursement.
Coaching is a private-pay service. Pricing will be discussed during your consultation.
If during our consultation or early coaching sessions it becomes clear that your needs are better suited for clinical therapy, we'll discuss that openly and honestly.
For clients in states where Kristen is licensed (NJ, FL, SC, CT, MA, NY), you may transition to therapy services.
For clients in other states, Kristen can provide referrals to qualified eating disorder therapists in your area.
Your wellbeing is the priority, and we'll always recommend the level of care that best serves you.
At this time, coaching is designed for individuals working on their own relationship with food. However, if you're a parent concerned about your child's eating behaviors, we encourage you to schedule a consultation to discuss whether family-based therapy or other resources might be appropriate.
No. Coaching at Balanced Brain and Body is HAES®-aligned and weight-inclusive, which means weight loss is never a goal or focus of our work together.
Our approach centers on helping you develop a peaceful, sustainable relationship with food and your body—free from the harmful and often counterproductive pursuit of weight loss.
If your primary goal is weight loss, this is not the right service for you. We encourage you to explore the research on the Health at Every Size® approach (nofollow) to understand our philosophy.
That's completely normal—and it's exactly why we offer a free consultation. During this conversation, we'll discuss:
- Your current relationship with food and body
- Any history of disordered eating or mental health concerns
- Your goals and what you're hoping to achieve
- Whether therapy, coaching, or another resource is the best fit
There's no pressure, and our goal is to make sure you get the right support for your unique needs.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Schedule Your Free Consultation
If you're ready to explore a more peaceful, intuitive relationship with food—without diets, rules, or judgment—coaching with Kristen Forman may be the right fit.
Whether you're maintaining progress after therapy, breaking free from diet culture, or simply want support around emotional eating, we're here to help.