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Centre for Integrative Health

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Brisbane, QLD
Centre for Integrative Health

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Our multidisciplinary team of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Dietitians are all trained in the first-line treatment approaches for eating, weight, and body-image concerns.

28/07/2025

Centre for Integrative Health (CFIH) was founded in 2014 by Clinical & Health Psychologist, Dr Kiera Buchanan, in response to an identified need for effective eating disorder treatment that was safe and accessible for all people living in bodies of all shapes and sizes. Today CFIH is a multidisciplinary team that includes psychiatry, psychology, and dietetics and has clinics located in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

Learn more: https://cfih.com.au/

27/07/2025

We see and hear all-too-often therapists who proclaim to be treating an eating disorder whom aren't directly addressing eating as part of their intervention.

The therapist (and perhaps the client) might perceive that it is more important to first address the client's self-esteem, or their trauma, or their perfectionism, or their attachment difficulties, or their anxiety (or so on and so forth). That's (mostly) fine however, it is not eating disorder treatment; it's self-esteem treatment, trauma therapy, a perfectionism intervention, anxiety treatment, etc etc (you get the drift).

Suggesting otherwise is akin to a physio providing massage therapy to a patient with a spinal tumor rather than referring them on to have spinal surgery.

It's one thing for the physio to offer massage therapy to help alleviate the pain accompanying the tumor but it's another for the physio to give the patient the impression that massage therapy will eliminate their spinal tumor.

There is no one right way when it comes to eating disorder treatment however, therapists need to be upfront about the intervention that they are providing; what it is intending to address and what it's not. If an intervention doesn't include a focus on changing eating behaviour, it could be a lot of different things but it's most certainly not eating disorder treatment.

26/07/2025

If you have an eating disorder, it's with you 24/7 - making every waking hour an opportunity for you to overcome it or for it to gain more control over you. This is why leading eating disorder treatments (such as CBT-E) spend so much time during the session developing a plan for the 112 waking hours between each session.

If your eating disorder treatment doesn't include homework tasks, it might be worth speaking to your practitioner about the 112 hours between sessions that aren't currently being put to good use and how future sessions might seek to address this.

25/07/2025

Comments about bodies, both 'negative' and 'positive', often do more harm than good. While a compliment on someone's physical body might make the person feel good in the moment, such comments tend to have negative effects long-term. For every person I have met who attributes negative comments about their body to their low self-esteem, I have met another person who attributes their insecurities to the frequent positive comments they received about their physical appearance.

Here are some examples of non-appearance compliments to get you thinking of more helpful ways you can show your appreciation for the people in your life.
⭐"I really love your energy. I always feel good around you."
⭐"You always greet me with an enthusiasm that makes me feel as though you genuinely care about me, thank you."
⭐"I love the way you listen so earnestly when I'm talking to you."
⭐"You have a gift for making those around you feel important."
⭐"I really appreciate the way with which we can share our concerns about one another in such a compassionate and healthy way."
⭐"I am inspired by the passion you have for what you do."

We'd love to hear any suggestions you have for non-appearance compliments. Better yet, if you have an example of a compliment that you've given or received that wasn't based on appearance, we'd love to hear the impact that it had.

23/07/2025

The best predictor of whether or not you will recover from your eating disorder is
❌ not how unwell you were to begin with it
❌ not whether or not you have a trauma history
❌ not whether or not you have another psychiatric diagnosis
❌ not how much you liked your therapist

The best predictor of recovery from an eating disorder is
✅ how much change is achieved in the first 4-6 sessions of treatment

If there are no objective, measurable improvements in your eating disorder presentation after 6 sessions with your treatment team, its important that a collaborative, formal review of treatment is conducted that seeks to identify why the current treatment isn't currently working and what needs to change in order for treatment to start being effective.

22/07/2025

Like waves, feelings are natural, they come and go.
It's what we choose to do with them that makes the journey.

21/07/2025

All of the practitioners at Centre for Integrative Health are Credentialled Eating Disorder Clinicians, meaning that you or your loved one can be confident that the journey to recovery from an eating disorder is being supported and overseen by highly skilled and experienced practitioners.

Learn more about the team: https://cfih.com.au/

20/07/2025

The assumption that people with larger bodies lead unhealthy lifestyles and are less healthy than those with smaller bodies is often made. However, these assumptions are overly simplified, usually inaccurate, and can be considered a form of prejudice. Most importantly, they can be harmful to the individuals they are targeted at.

Our body weight is largely influenced by our genes and is not as easily controlled as commonly believed. People can have varying body weights and shapes even if they follow the same diet and exercise routine. Therefore, suggesting that someone should simply "move less and eat more" without considering their current eating and exercise habits is uninformed and potentially dangerous.

Furthermore, a person's weight does not provide a comprehensive understanding of their overall health. We encounter individuals every day who have a "healthy" BMI but are far from healthy, as well as individuals with a BMI categorized as "overweight" or "obese" who are perfectly healthy.

Lastly, it is important to recognize that health is not a moral obligation. Even if someone is unhealthy, they are not obligated to improve their health for anyone else. There are numerous reasons why someone may not prioritize their health, and they do not need to disclose these reasons to justify their choices. Every individual, regardless of their size or health status, deserves respect and care.

19/07/2025

A key component of all effective mental health treatments is 'behaviour change'. That is, the 'doing' component of therapy.

No amount of analysing, talking about, trying to understand, or exploring your concern is going to change your concern. What is most effective in bringing about change is behaviour change.

Changing behaviour has a powerful knock-on effect, leading to changes in cognitions, emotions, and physiology.

If your current treatment is not actively focused on creating changes in your behaviour (during sessions and/or between sessions), you might like to consider raising this during your next appointment.

18/07/2025

People often base their self-worth on a variety of things, such as the quality of their relationships, achievements at school or work, how they look and their personal qualities. They might evaluate how happy they are based on how well important things in their life are going. A self-worth pie chart depicts what areas a person bases their self-worth on and the amount of significance that is placed on each of these areas. People living with eating disorders tend to place a significant amount of their self-worth on how they look and their ability to control their eating, shape and weight. They may have other interests but over time these seem to take a lesser place in their lives. When people base much of their self-worth and happiness on only one thing in their lives, they are putting an enormous amount of pressure on making sure that it works out.

Ask yourself What are the things that are important to my self-worth? How many ‘slices’ are in my self-worth pie chart? Is my ability to control eating, shape and weight in one slice? Is it much larger than the other slices?

One effective way of reducing over-evaluation of body shape and weight is to begin to enhance the importance of other areas of your life - enlarging the other slices of your pie, so to speak. When you start doing this and keep at it, you will find that your life becomes more balanced and you will feel more content over time.

Ask yourself, what areas of my life could I begin to extend and how would I go about doing this?

Disclaimer: a person’s pie chart will vary depending on what is important in their life and will vary to the above image.

16/07/2025

In the DSM-5 a diagnosis of Atypical Anorexia is used when an individual meets “all of the criteria for anorexia nervosa…except that despite significant weight loss, the individual’s weight is within or above the normal range.”

This diagnosis however, can lead to a false sense of safety and poor treatment and recovery outcomes.

Many assume that 'atypical' anorexia nervosa is somehow less serious because of its “atypical” signifier. This is absolutely not the case, as it often comes with the same medical and psychological consequences of anorexia nervosa and is actually diagnosed more commonly.

In fact, research indicates that psychological distress related to eating and body image is worse in atypical anorexia than anorexia nervosa. At least 40% of those struggling with atypical anorexia nervosa require admission to a hospital.

Furthermore, the wording of 'normal' in the criteria is misleading and arbitrary. No 'BMI' can put you at less risk of the harmful effects of eating disorders, and there is no BMI where you no longer deserve support.

Information sourced from: Sawyer et al. (2016).

15/07/2025

All bodies are good bodies.

A tall body is not better than a short body.
They are just different.

A thinner body is not better than a wider body. They are just different.

Like pink and blue.
Or sunflowers and tulips.

All bodies are good bodies.

Adapted from: Your Body is Awesome (book)

Address

169 Kelvin Grove Rd, Kelvin Grove
Brisbane, QLD
4059

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.cfih.com.au/

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Our Story

Centre for Integrative Health is a well-established multidisciplinary clinic with a reputation as a leading treatment provider for eating disorders and their related concerns. We have a deep sense of purpose for the impact of our work and are committed to our vision of ‘a world for everyBODY’.