Eating disorder dietitian in Orillia

A registered dietitian for Orillia, wherever you are in it

Orillia sits on Lake Couchiching at the top of Simcoe County, and it is one of only two places in the whole Simcoe Muskoka region that hosts the regional eating disorder program. That sounds like Orillia is well served, and for some people it is, but the program's boundaries leave a large group of local adults looking at a service in their own town that they do not qualify for. I work with people across the area by secure video.

Lauren is based in Guelph and Toronto and works virtually across Ontario. That means people in Orillia can access specialized nutrition counselling without travelling to a clinic, while still working with someone registered with the College of Dietitians of Ontario.

If you searched for a dietitian in Orillia

You may be looking for general nutrition advice, but many people land here because food has become louder than they want it to be. You might be dealing with restriction, binge eating, guilt after eating, fear foods, body checking, or feeling unsure whether your eating is serious enough to deserve support. It is enough to start a conversation.

What I help with

Every person who reaches out is met where they are. These are the main reasons people in Orillia and across Ontario look for this kind of care:

A program in town, with a line many people fall outside

Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital is one of the two sites of the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Eating Disorder Program, run in partnership with Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie. It is a real and valuable program, and it is built specifically for children, adolescents, and young adults under the age of twenty-five, offering family-based and cognitive therapies by physician or nurse practitioner referral.

The catch for many people in Orillia is that age line. An adult over twenty-five who is struggling can live minutes from a regional eating disorder program and still not be eligible for it, which is a particularly disheartening place to be. The program's focus is also on anorexia, bulimia, and related diagnoses, so some presentations do not fit even under the age cap.

That leaves a real group locally, adults past their mid-twenties, and people whose eating struggles do not match the program's criteria, who need somewhere else to turn.

A dietitian is open to all of them. There is no age cap and no referral needed, sessions happen by secure video from home, and the approach is non-diet and weight-inclusive across the whole range of eating concerns, from binge eating to chronic dieting to food anxiety. If a family member does qualify for the hospital program, working with a dietitian alongside it is straightforward.

It is also worth saying that a dietitian and the hospital program are not in competition. For a young person who does qualify for the regional service, nutrition support can sit alongside it and reinforce the same goals. For everyone the program cannot take, the adults, the older teens who have aged past it, and the presentations that do not fit its criteria, a dietitian is simply an open door rather than another referral that ends in not eligible. Either way, the intro call is free and there is no wait to be told no.

None of it comes with judgment. Lauren Hofstee is a Registered Dietitian with the College of Dietitians of Ontario, registration number 15869. If it helps to read first, here is more on what eating disorder recovery support looks like.

Common questions

Reading, if that is where you would rather start

Some of the writing people in Orillia find their way to first. No plans, no rules, just honest thinking about food and body.

Read the full journal