Susi Lodola Counselling

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Susi Lodola Counselling

Psychotherapy Center

Counselling for Adults & Teens
Online and in-person Co. Wexford

Professional psychological service helping ADULTS & TEENS
CBT & Psychotherapy helping you to work through life's challenges. TREATMENT FOR:
General Anxiety
Social Anxiety
Health Anxiety
Post Natal Depression
OCD
Depression
Binge Eating
Weight and Body Image concerns
Stress management
Self-esteem issues

01/05/2026

I was asked to contribute to a piece in today’s Irish Independent on something I am hearing more and more in the therapy room at the moment, the use of GLP 1 medications.

Reading it back, one question stayed with me.
Are we possibly overlooking something?

Medications such as Ozempic or Mounjaro can be appropriate and genuinely helpful. They can reduce appetite, quieten food thoughts, and support weight loss in a way that many people have struggled to achieve.

But for many people, this does not start with medication.

There is often a long history of dieting, trying to control food, and living with distress about the body. We know that body image difficulties and dieting are among the strongest contributors to eating disorders, often alongside anxiety or low mood.

So while medication may change eating patterns, it does not necessarily address what has been there for years.

✅ If food intake reduces, how is the relationship with food being supported?
✅ If weight changes, what happens to the underlying body image distress?
✅ If restriction has been part of the pattern, how is that being understood?

For me, this is not about being for or against medication.

It is about recognising that people deserve support beyond weight loss alone, including space to look at their relationship with food, their body, and their history with dieting, alongside nutritional and psychological support.

I would really be interested in your thoughts on this.

26/04/2026

This weekend I had the pleasure of teaching a two-day course for psychotherapists on treating bulimia, binge eating and body image distress. It was a thoughtful and engaged group, and a real privilege to spend the weekend exploring how we can better support clients who may be struggling in silence.

This quote feels especially powerful in the context of this work. So often beneath binge eating, bulimia, restriction, or cycles of shame, there is pain in the relationship a person has with their own body. Many eating difficulties are not simply about food. They are rooted in body image distress, self-criticism, shame, and feeling at war with oneself.

Part of the therapeutic work is helping clients move from punishment to compassion, from control to understanding, and from disconnection to a gentler relationship with their body.

A sincere thank you to Niamh for her insightful lecture on body image, which fitted so naturally into the wider two-day course. Her contribution added real depth to an already important area of work.

I always enjoy teaching fellow psychotherapists and creating spaces where we can learn practical, research-based approaches that can be brought straight into the therapy room.

If this course interests you, I’ll be running it again in 2027, you can pre-register now by DM or email me.
info@susilodolacounselling.com

🌺 In the meantime, I’m looking forward to teaching two more Professional Certificates in Adolescent Psychotherapy this year, one beginning in August (almost full) and one in October. The Professional Certificate in CBT & Motivational Interviewing is also nearly fully booked.

Lots happening, and I’m also developing some exciting new courses for 2027.

Stay tuned.

17/04/2026

A lot of therapists I speak to are interested in starting to work with adolescents. At the same time, there can be some hesitation, questions around legal and ethical aspects, insurance, qualifications, and how to approach the work in a developmentally appropriate way.

I run a Professional Certificate in Adolescent Psychotherapy which is aligned with Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy guidelines for working with under 18s and approved for 30 CPD hours.

It covers areas like parental involvement, contracting, legal and ethical considerations, developmentally appropriate approaches and practical ways of working with adolescents in the therapy room.
The next course is starting in August which is almost fully booked, and another one in October.

Alongside this, I’m also running a 2-day training next week on treating bulimia, binge eating and body image distress.
The training focuses on two of the most researched treatment models for eating disorders, looking at how to recognise and gently explore eating difficulties with clients, particularly when they are not underweight, and how to begin working with these presentations in a structured and evidence-based way.

If you’d like to read more about either course please have a look on my website where you can also read how past participants reviewed the courses.Thank you 😊
Link in comments

13/04/2026

Less than 2 weeks before the start of the 2 day professional training in treating non-underweight eating disorders looking at the latest approaches and how you can apply them with your clients.

06/04/2026

I’m really pleased to have Niamh Orbinski joining this training as a guest lecturer.

Niamh is a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist with a background in nutritional science, and her work sits firmly within a weight-inclusive, Health at Every Size® approach. She specialises in intuitive eating, disordered eating, and body image, and supports clients in moving away from diet culture towards a more trusting and sustainable relationship with food and themselves.

She is also the author of No Apologies: Ditch Diet Culture and Rebuild Your Relationship with Food (HarperCollins, 2023), a powerful and accessible book that reflects the heart of her work: helping people heal from disordered eating, rebuild body trust, and step out of shame-based relationships with food.

Niamh will be joining the workshop as a guest lecturer, and her contribution will fit alongside the wider training I’ll be teaching across all three areas: bulimia, binge eating, and body image distress. Her lecture will add depth to the body image part of the workshop in particular, helping participants think more carefully about how body image concerns develop, how they are maintained, and how they show up in the therapy room.

Across the two days, the workshop as a whole will focus on how to recognise when a client may have an eating disorder, why these difficulties can so often go unnoticed, and how to respond using evidence-based approaches including CBT-T and IPT.

At the end of this workshop, you will feel more confident recognising when eating difficulties are present, even when they are not the client’s main concern. You will have a clear, practical understanding of how to assess and begin treating binge eating, bulimia, and body image distress using evidence-based approaches. Most importantly, you will know how to bring these conversations into therapy in a way that feels natural, safe, and clinically grounded.

Please email: info@susilodolacounselling.com or see link to course in comments

27/03/2026

Many therapists feel uncertain when eating or body image difficulties begin to emerge in counselling sessions.

This two-day workshop will provide you with research-informed approaches and a clearer framework for understanding and responding to binge eating, bulimia and body image distress.
We will cover how to notice these difficulties, how to begin bringing them into the conversation, assessment, formulation, aetiology, and maintaining factors.

A central part of the workshop is learning how to apply evidence-based approaches in a clear, step-by-step way that feels useful in day-to-day clinical work. The training includes case examples, practical application in small groups, reflections and practical resources.

You will leave with a clearer understanding of working with clients presenting with eating and body image difficulties, along with upporting materials you can begin using in practice.

📅 Dates: 24th & 25th April 2026

22/03/2026

It has been a pleasure to see the strong response to the CPD training I provide for therapists and allied health professionals, and especially to hear how participants have valued learning that is practical, research-informed, and relevant to real clinical work.

My work in training is shaped by extensive experience in psychotherapy practice, supervision, and third level teaching, including lecturing in psychotherapy on both BSc and Master’s programmes. It is also informed by my academic background in psychology, psychotherapy, and a Master’s in CBT and Motivational Interviewing. The aim is always to offer learning that is clinically grounded, professionally enriching, and useful in day-to-day therapeutic work, while remaining responsive to the impact of trauma and individual differences in how clients experience and engage.

In addition to the courses in Adolescent Psychotherapy, CBT & MI and Binge eating, Bulimia and Body Image distress, in 2027 there will be additional CPD course offered meeting the demand and feedback provided by past participants. I will be sharing more about that later in the year. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out if you would like to find out more about current or upcoming training opportunities.

15/03/2026

With permission from participants, I am sharing some of the feedback that has been coming in from the Professional Certificate in Adolescent Psychotherapy.

I have received so much thoughtful and generous feedback, and I really wanted to share some of it here. I know how full life can be, so I never take it for granted when people take the time to reflect on their experience and put that into words.

It is also very encouraging to see so many therapists continuing to upskill in order to offer a much needed service for teenagers. So many young people need support, care and understanding, and it matters that therapists are investing in this work.

A big thank you as well to Malie Coyne, Clodagh Ní Neachtain and Orlaigh Byrne for their guest lectures.

If you are interested the next certificate in adolescent psychotherapy starts on 29th August and there are only a few places left. The course has been approved by IACP for 30 CPD hours.

07/03/2026

Professional development courses for psychotherapists, counsellors, mental health professionals, therapists.

28/02/2026

Update on IACP-approved Online CPD Courses

I’m pleased to share that my IACP-approved CPD courses are now available online via Zoom, offering practical, real-world skills for professionals.

Courses available:
* Professional Certificate in Adolescent Psychotherapy
*Professional Certificate in CBT & Motivational Interviewing
* Professional Certificate in Treating Bulimia, Binge Eating & Body Image Distress

These courses are well-regarded for their depth and clarity, with content that can be directly applied in your practice.

Payment plans are available to help manage costs.

Please get in touch if you would like more information. For full details on all courses, visit the link on my website.

22/02/2026

As we mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week, I want to highlight something that is still too often missed in practice.

Eating disorders and disordered eating in midlife and older clients are often under diagnosed.

Last year, I wrote about this in my IACP article, looking at the role of body image, menopause, and wider psychological and social factors through a biopsychosocial lens.

A newly published scoping review supports this concern:
Vaidyanathan et al. (2026), Eating disorders and disordered eating behaviour in older adults: a scoping review (Journal of Eating Disorders).

The review found that eating disorders and disordered eating in older adults are a significant but under recognised public health issue, with women most commonly represented in the research. It also highlighted factors such as body image distress, menopause related changes, bereavement, caregiving stress, social isolation, and co occurring anxiety and depression.

This is such an important reminder that these difficulties do not only affect younger people. In midlife and older clients, they may sit alongside other concerns and be less visible, which increases the risk of under diagnosis.

If you are a therapist or allied health professional and want to learn more about working with binge eating, bulimia, and body image difficulties, I run a two day training in April where we look at assessment, formulation, and practical ways of working with these presentations.

20/02/2026

This year I’m introducing a new IACP approved for CPD course focused on working therapeutically with bulimia and binge eating, including the role of body image, shame and self criticism.
In clinical practice, these difficulties often sit alongside anxiety, low mood, perfectionism or trauma, and they can be easy to miss until trust has developed. This training is built from extensive experience supporting clients with binge eating and bulimia, and it is designed to help you feel clearer and more confident in how you assess, formulate and intervene.
We will look at what maintains the cycle, how to work with ambivalence and secrecy, how to stay steady around food and weight related conversations, and how to support change in a way that is both evidence based and compassionate.

Address

Retail Centre, Wellington Bridge, Co. Wexford
Tallaght
Y35AE2X

Telephone

+353879184590

Website

http://www.susilodolacounselling.com/

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