About Dr. Kirsten Vadelund
Dr. Kirsten Vadelund specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, perfectionism, and maternal mental health. Dr. Vadelund utilizes a variety of evidence-based treatment approaches including (CBT, ACT, and DBT). She also implements an emotion-focused therapy approach to help clients increase their distress tolerance and identify helpful coping strategies. She loves helping her clients create flexibility in their thinking to live a more balanced lifestyle.
Dr. Vadelund has extensive experience working with individuals and families with eating disorders. Dr. Vadelund has worked in residential treatment centers as well as outpatient clinics and has worked with a variety of eating disorder presentations including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and ARFID. Dr. Vadelund helps her clients overcome their maladaptive coping strategies and learn to effectively regulate their emotions so they can reach full recovery. Dr. Vadelund is passionate about helping her clients who feel food, negative body image, or exercise control their every waking hour. She aids her clients in taking the power back in their lives in order for them to live free from the secretive and confining nature of eating disorders.
Dr. Vadelund also specializes in maternal mental health. She helps individuals navigate through the multitude of physical and mental changes that come with pregnancy and postpartum. She fosters a genuine, non-judgmental, and safe space to help her clients feel heard and be able to share their real and raw experiences. Whether her clients are struggling with baby blues, negative body image, attachment difficulties or trying to cope with postpartum depression, anxiety and/or OCD, she doesn’t want them to go through it alone. Dr. Vadelund received extensive training through the Seleni Institute on Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and is eager to empower her clients to feel confident and competent in their new and at times challenging role as a parent.
Dr. Vadelund earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Florida State University and her doctorate in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Vadelund completed her predoctoral internship/residency at a residential eating disorder facility, where she worked with adolescents, young adults, and adults with moderate to severe eating disorders. During graduate school, Dr. Vadelund facilitated multiple groups, including structured groups to help her clients with emotion dysregulation, process groups for college students, and multifamily groups for clients and their families. Dr. Vadelund also worked with families throughout her years in graduate school which allowed her to gain a thorough knowledge of family dynamics and how it factors into her client’s lives.
Dr. Kirsten Vadelund: Specialties
I help teens and adults fight back against their eating disorders. It might seem that your eating disorder is a part of you and/or is bringing you a sense of control that you are desperately wanting in your life but there is another way. I utilize an emotion-focused therapy approach to help you uncover the underlying triggers of your eating disorder and learn that all emotions serve a purpose. I will also help you challenge your negative thinking patterns, identify and begin to implement alternative approaches to cope with the distressing and uncomfortable emotions you’re experiencing.
Traumatic experiences can be debilitating when they happen and can continue to have an impact several months or even years down the road. Anything from abuse, sexual assault, loss of a loved one to neglect, bullying, or infidelity can create a lasting impact. Essentially our brains want to make sense of what has happened so we form deeply rooted beliefs about ourselves and these beliefs impact how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. I will help you identify those core beliefs and understand how they are impacting you in your current life in order to break free from the negative thinking and behavioral patterns in your life.
Do you find that you are doubting yourself or second guessing every decision? It is exhausting and makes decision making, no matter how big or small, very challenging and something that you try to avoid. Low self-esteem can start to seep into other areas of your life by making you less likely to try to make new connections or leading you to unhealthy relationships. I will help you quiet your inner critic and rewrite your narrative so that you can feel fully confident in yourself and your decisions.
Are you continuously “shoulding” all over yourself? Are you always putting expectations on yourself? Maybe being a perfectionist has actually benefited you in some areas of your life, but it is also extremely draining. Perfectionism is like walking on eggshells your entire life because you are constantly telling yourself that you should be doing more because you aren’t currently doing enough. I will help you challenge and drop the shoulds so that you can move forward more effortlessly towards your goals and enjoy all the moments in your life.
We are constantly being bombarded with what society deems beautiful or attractive and it can leave us feeling less than. This makes it really hard to navigate especially when the urge to “fit in” can be so strong. I will help you challenge your negative self-talk and detach your worth from what you see in the mirror.
Does this sound like you? Everyone seems to be asking something of you. Maybe it is advice on a conflict they are having at work. Maybe it is asking you to pick them up from work. That doesn’t seem so bad, right? The thing is, you actually feel like you CANNOT say no, whether it stems from the fear of being unloved or the fear of disappointing others, you cannot find it in you to say no to any request. While it seems great because you feel needed and loved, it will start to take a toll on you, school, work, and your relationships. It doesn’t have to be that way though. I am passionate about helping you prioritize yourself again. I will also help you set healthy and appropriate boundaries in order to have more balanced and fulfilling relationships.
Training & Certifications
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy
Relational-Cultural Therapy
The Renfrew Unified Treatment Model for Eating Disorders®
Radically-Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Exposure Therapy
Maternal Mental Health Intensive
Treatment Approaches
CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for trauma-related disorders, depression, and anxiety. The main goal of this approach is to help clients challenge unhelpful and maladaptive thought patterns that are negatively impacting their daily functioning. CBT teaches clients that their emotions, thoughts and behaviors are all interconnected. This idea helps clients learn to identify and also reframe their negative self-talk which leads to choosing more adaptive behavioral responses to their emotional experiences. Clients gain insight into the beliefs driving their unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and also effective coping strategies to solve problems that may arise outside the therapy room.
ACT — Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is an evidence-based treatment for depression, anxiety, and stress. The goal is to help clients stop avoiding their unwanted or distressing emotions because this ultimately leads to more distress and discomfort. Clients are taught to accept these emotions and learn to view them as appropriate and adaptive in certain situations. Additionally, ACT helps clients learn from past experiences in order to stop repeating negative thought or behavior patterns that may be causing the client to remain stuck. ACT emphasizes a commitment to stop trying to control your past and your emotions and, instead, start accepting them and making necessary changes based on the personal values and goals.
EFT — Emotion-Focused Therapy
Emotion-Focused Therapy is an evidence-based approach that can treat a wide range of disorders including eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and interpersonal issues. It focuses on becoming more aware of their own emotions in order to help clients learn to experience, validate, and regulate their emotions rather than suppress them. EFT challenges the idea of there being “good” or “bad” emotions and, instead, help clients see emotions as valuable resources of information about their experiences. Additionally, EFT helps clients intentionally and effectively respond to their own emotions and emotional experiences.
