Eating Disorder Therapy in Newport Beach, CA
Reclaim Your Relationship with Food & Your Body
In-person in Newport Beach | Online throughout California & Texas
On the outside, it may look like you’re holding things together. But inside, your relationship with food, your body, or your own mind can feel exhausting in ways others can’t see.
Managing food noise.
Managing anxiety.
Managing how you’re perceived.
Maybe you understand your patterns.
Maybe you’ve done therapy before.
Maybe you're even the one others turn to for support.
But something still isn't shifting.
If This Feels Familiar...
- You feel trapped in cycles around food, weight, or body image.
- Anxiety or past experiences shape your reactions more than you’d like.
- You’ve spent years adapting to environments where parts of you didn’t feel safe or understood.
- Self-criticism is loud — and compassion feels far away.
- You feel disconnected from your body, emotions, or voice.
- You struggle to feel fully present or safe inside yourself.
- You’re tired of white-knuckling your way through things— and want real, lasting healing.
You don't have to carry this alone.
Healing is possible — not through more pressure or willpower, but through understanding, compassion, and steady support tailored to your unique story and the experiences that have shaped you.
Therapy can become a space to slow down, listen beneath the surface, and gently reconnect with your body, your emotions, and your authentic self.
Areas of Focus
Depth therapy in Newport Beach & online throughout California and Texas
Eating Disorders, Disordered Eating & Body Image
Healing the patterns that shape your relationship with food, your body, and yourself.
Trauma, Anxiety, & Depression
Understanding how past experiences and nervous system patterns influence how you feel, react, and move through the world.
Feeling Stuck
When you’re circling familiar patterns or unsure how to move forward.
Identity & Life Transitions
Navigating midlife shifts, questions of identity, loss, growth, and an evolving sense of self.
Teens
Supporting adolescents in building resilience, identity, and a steadier sense of themselves.
You’re welcome to explore each of these areas in more detail by clicking the button below.
Hi, I'm Sara.
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Eating Disorder Specialist with over 15 years of experience supporting people through meaningful change. My approach is relational, trauma-informed, and depth-oriented. It’s grounded in compassion, curiosity, and a deep belief in your capacity to heal.
I welcome clients of diverse identities and lived experiences, and I’m intentional about creating a space where you don’t have to edit or shrink parts of yourself to belong.
Our work is shaped around you — your history, your nervous system, your relationships, and what healing means in your life. Together, we look beneath the surface to understand what your symptoms may be trying to communicate, moving at a pace that feels supportive and attuned, so insight, self-trust, and lasting change can unfold.
Questions You Might Have
If something isn’t answered here, you’re always welcome to reach out or explore the FAQ page.
I invite you to reach out for a brief consultation call where you can share what’s bringing you in, ask any questions, and get a sense of me and how I work.
As we talk, try to notice your own inner experience and first impressions: does it feel like I am someone you could open up with? Starting therapy can feel like a big step, and it’s important that you feel able to talk openly — and that you’re met with genuine interest, understanding, and care.
We can also talk about what has felt helpful — and unhelpful — in past therapy, or in your efforts to navigate what you’re going through now.
If at any point I have the sense that you might be better supported by a different therapist or approach, I’ll be open about that and offer referrals to help guide you in the right direction.
My hope is that you feel respected, understood, and met in the fullness of who you are and the experiences that have shaped you. There’s no pressure to make a decision on the spot — the goal is simply to see whether it feels like a supportive fit.
No. While eating disorder recovery is a central focus of my practice, I also work with concerns like anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship struggles, life transitions, and feeling stuck or disconnected.
Often, what brings people to therapy isn’t just the surface issue, but patterns underneath — ways of coping, relating, or responding that once made sense, but no longer feel like they’re working.
In our work together, we focus less on labels and more on understanding these patterns in the context of your life — how they developed, what they’re trying to protect, and how they may be keeping you stuck. From there, we begin to open up space for relief, clarity, and meaningful change.
If you’re wondering whether your concerns are a fit, you’re always welcome to reach out or visit the Services page to learn more.
Your first session is a chance for us to begin getting to know one another and to start understanding what you’d like help with. I’ll invite you to share what’s been weighing on you, along with anything else that feels important for me to know. We’ll approach this as an open conversation, with some gentle structure if needed, and find a rhythm together that feels comfortable for you.
You’re encouraged to speak as openly as you can, but there’s no pressure to get everything “right” or cover it all in one session. It’s completely okay if things feel unclear or hard to put into words at first—this is something we come to understand over time.
This first meeting is simply a starting point. Together, we’ll begin making sense of what’s going on and what you’re hoping might feel different.
Some of the questions we’ll begin to explore include:
- What’s been going on?
- How do you hope therapy can help?
- What's led you to reach out now?
Before we meet, you’ll complete intake paperwork through a secure online portal so our time together can stay focused on what matters most to you.
That’s more common than you might think—and it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that therapy “didn’t work.”
Many people come to therapy with insight. You may already understand your patterns, know where they come from, and genuinely want something different—yet still find yourself pulled into the same loops.
Often, this isn’t about a lack of effort or awareness. It can mean there are deeper emotional or relational layers that haven’t yet been fully understood or worked through.
Our work isn’t about pushing harder or trying to override those patterns. Instead, we slow down and get curious about what’s underneath them—what they’ve been protecting, expressing, or holding in place.
From there, change tends to feel less forced and more like something that unfolds from within—creating a deeper, more lasting shift.
My fee is $200 per session. Sessions are 45 minutes in length. I understand that therapy is an investment, and I strive to keep some spaces available at a lower-fee sliding scale. Please let me know if cost is a concern so we can explore a fee arrangement that aligns with your needs and helps ensure therapy remains an accessible and supportive process.
I’m out of network with all insurance companies.
Many of my clients use PPO plans with out-of-network benefits, and I provide a monthly superbill for possible reimbursement. A superbill is documentation similar to a receipt that also includes medical codes your insurance carrier will need to process the claim. Please speak with your carrier to learn what mental health benefits they offer and what your deductible will be.
Contact Me
Starting therapy can feel vulnerable. I aim to make the process clear and supportive from the start.
If you’d like to explore working together, I invite you to reach out to schedule a brief consultation call. This is a space for you to share what’s bringing you in, ask questions, and see if it feels like a good fit.
Sara Burchfiel, LMFT
1151 Dove St, Ste 225, Newport Beach, CA 92660
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