Kristin is no longer in private practice.
You can find her at Rim Rock Trails
See Farewell Kristen for more details!
Hi! I’m Kristen Ales!
I am a therapist who specializes in disordered eating and negative body image formerly for Ruby Health and Wellness, and now for Kristen Ales Counseling in Bend, Oregon!
My passion for this work comes from years of disordered eating myself. After losing a significant amount of weight as a teenager and receiving praise and validation from friends, family, and even teachers, I became hyper-focused on my body. For me this looked like constantly body checking, spending thousands of dollars on clothes, going to the gym twice a day, weighing myself daily, and thinking about food 24/7.
This also looked like periods of bingeing that would sometimes last days, weeks, or months. For me, this looked like, “I’ll eat a ton because the diet starts Monday”. The cycle of bingeing and restricting had become so normal for me that I wasn’t even aware of how disordered my relationship with food was. My weight went up and down, rapidly. I was the queen of the crash diet, always on a quest to receive more praise and validation.
I began my work as a therapist through working as a guide in the outdoors. I have worked in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Yosemite, Colorado, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon to name a few, and have now gone on to create Kristen Ales Counseling.
When I was in these places all of a sudden, my appearance wasn’t the only thing I cared about. I started to seek out adventure rather than restriction. I began to develop a relationship with my body that was accepting and more appreciative. The people around me started to celebrate my personality and not my pants size. I felt the weight of my disordered eating and negative body image start to dissipate.
Since then I have received my master’s degree in Wilderness Therapy, and have dedicated my practice in helping women navigate their way towards building accepting and compassionate relationships with their bodies. I work from the lens of building trust within your body and unlearning the messages and beliefs that have been fed to us through media and years of patriarchal socialization. I currently work with womxn virtually in the state of Oregon.
As well as running a private practice, I am the founder of Wild and Weightless. I host adventure retreats designed to help womxn celebrate their bodies for all that they can do. We run climbing, surfing, and backpacking retreats. Due to COVID-19 all of our trips for 2020 have been canceled. However, you can still get the retreat-style experience by signing up for my online 6-week program. This is a group coaching program where you will work through the negative beliefs about your body that have held you back, and take steps towards living a more fulfilled and adventurous life.
Sign-ups close September 28th. The total cost of the program is $397 for 6 weeks of sessions, weekly lessons jammed with inspiring prompts and information, as well as a one on one session with me. I also offer payment plans. You can find more information here: https://wild-and-weightless.
If you are interested in working together please feel free to reach out at hello@kristenalescounseling.
To learn more about me, check out my About page here!
See my contact information below:
Kristen Ales MA, LPCi
Therapist for Eating Disorders and Negative Body Image
Pronouns: she/her
Payment options: self-pay and sliding scale
Bend,OR
Contact Kristen: kristenalescounseling.com
Call: (541) 887-0487
Ready to Make an Appointment Click to get started with Kristen!
Kristen takes self-pay and sliding scale. Learn even more about Ales, on her Facebook page.
