About Us
AUSTIN COUNSELING AND NUTRITION
We are a counseling and nutrition practice based in Austin, Texas. We provide therapy and nutrition counseling in-person in Austin and virtually across Texas. We are an inclusive group of therapists and dietitians committed to providing the best care for individuals who desire to find body acceptance, be free from disordered eating, improve their mood, and create a life they love.
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We are here to help you make peace with
your food, your body, and everything else.
What We Do
Mental Health
Anxiety
Panic Disorder
Depression
Eating Disorders
Substance Use
Neurodivergence
Trauma Therapy
Self Image
EMDR Therapy
DBT
IFS
ACT
Sand Tray Therapy
Play Therapy
Group Therapy
Families
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
Child Therapy
Adolescent Therapy
Pre-teen Therapy
Young Adults
Adult Therapy
Older Adults
Communities
Queer, Trans, LGBTQ+
AAPI Community
Latinx Community
BIPOC Community
Immigrant Community
All Religions
Non-religious
Fat Positive
Sex Positive
Jennifer Pereira, LPC-S, RD, LD
Owner and Founder of Austin Counseling and Nutrition
Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and Registered/Licensed Dietitian
I am Jennifer Pereira, LPC-S, RD, LD, and I am the Owner and Founder of Austin Counseling and Nutrition. I am both a dietitian and a counselor, and I specialize in helping people with food and body struggles, anxiety, depression, and trauma.
In our society, diet culture reigns supreme, and it can be hard to escape. At ACN we provide a safe, inclusive space to heal and deal with the world in an improved way. All of our clinicians are experienced in a variety of areas of mental health, you're struggling with something other than food and body image, we can likely help. If not, we will try to help you find someone who can.
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We have dietitians and therapists with lived experience in a variety of areas, including but not limited to: neurodivergence, Queer/Trans, eating disorders, compulsive exercise, OCD, trauma, anxiety, depression, and living in marginalized bodies and communities.
The Directors of Austin Counseling and Nutrition
Life is hard, and we can help
Whether you are going through a rough patch or have been struggling for a long time, we have the tools and resources to help. While we can all provide eating disorder treatment, our clinicians also have unique experience in varying areas of mental health. Additionally, our clinicians have a variety of lived experience with many of the issues our clients are going through.
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We are happy to help people of all ages (over 6 years old), and we tailor our therapy to each individual's needs. We offer a variety of cutting-edge treatment modalities and continually seek further training to provide the best quality therapy and nutrition therapy available.
Do you ever feel any of the following?
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Some days it is really hard to get out of bed and get through the day.
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I feel stressed or jittery all the time, and I don't know why.
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I have behaviors that I cannot stop, despite trying.
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I experienced hard things in the past that pop into my mind or feel like they just happened.
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I feel like something is wrong with me, and I don't know what it is.
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The way I feel about my body impacts my mood and my behavior.
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I wish I could just make peace with food and my body.
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I base how I feel about myself on how much I weigh or how I look.
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I try to eat healthy, but end up feeling out of control around food.
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I grew up with a family that did not have a good relationship with food, exercise, or their bodies.
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I try to compensate for what I eat through exercise, purging, or laxatives.
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We help our clients navigate anxiety, depression, and trauma, as well as their relationship with food and their body.
We get it, and we can help.
Most of us have been there. Whether you are dealing with mood regulation, life transitions, or disordered eating, our clinicians have the tools to help you heal.
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Next steps:
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Contact us to get matched with a therapist and/or dietitian to best meet your needs.
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Meet regularly to work on new and ongoing issues as they arise and resolve.
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Discover freedom from what hurts you and enjoy the confidence and peace you've always wanted.
We provide therapy both virtually and in-person at
4408 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin, TX 78759
Can you identify with any of these thoughts?
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Ugh! I don't even know what to eat anymore!
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I'm so exhausted from trying to calculate steps, calories, macros, but I cannot stop because something bad will happen.
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I feel like I think about food or my body the majority of the time I am awake.
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I don't know if I will ever ARRIVE in my life. Will I ever have my ideal body, career, spouse, kids? Is that when I start really living?
Staff Therapists at ACN
Staff Therapist
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Eating Disorders
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Trauma
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Depression and Anxiety
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Cultural issues
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Spirituality
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OCD
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Self-harm
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Racial/Ethnic Identity Development
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EMDR
Staff Therapist
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Grief
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Chronic Illness/Pain
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ADHD
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Autism
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Disordered Eating
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Self-worth
Staff Therapist
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Kids, teens, adults, and parents
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Eating disorders
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Neurodiversity
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Anxiety
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Depression
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Body Image
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Stress and Life Transitions
Austin Counseling and Nutrition
We are an inclusive practice of therapists and dietitians with immediate availability in-person or virtually in Austin, Texas.
Staff Dietitians at ACN
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Staff Therapist
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Kids and Teens
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Eating Disorders
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Anxiety/Depression
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Body Image
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Trauma
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DBT, CBT
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EMDR
Staff Dietitian
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Ages 6 and up
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ARFID
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Picky Eating
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Eating Disorders
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Binge Eating
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Bulimia
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Anorexia
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Orthorexia
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Compulsive Exercise
Staff Therapist
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Teens and Adults
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Eating Disorders
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Body Image
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OCD
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Anxiety/Depression
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DBT, ACT, RO-DBT
Addie Dodge, LMSW
Staff Therapist
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Kids, Teens, and Adults
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Eating Disorders
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Body Image
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Trauma Processing
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Anxiety/Depression
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DBT, ACT, IFS, Psychodynamic
Worried you cannot afford therapy? Check out our low-cost, sliding scale counseling interns here!
We are a passionate group of inclusive eating disorder therapists and dietitians, and we are proud to be connected to the following organizations:
Therapist’s Role in Eating Disorder Treatment:
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Responsible for the psychological aspects of treatment.
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Determines when individual, family or group therapy is appropriate for the client.
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Needs to keep other team members (physician, therapist, and dietitian) apprised of progress in therapy.
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Helps patient make the connection between underlying struggles and eating disordered behavior.
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Educates, discusses and prepares the client for working collaboratively as part of a treatment team.
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Helps client and family understand the purpose the eating disorder serves and explore client’s willingness to get better.
Dietitian’s Role in Eating Disorder Treatment:
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Teaches the client ways to change food, exercise and weight-related behaviors.
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Educates the client about normal and abnormal food intake patterns, hunger patterns, metabolic rate and somatic sensations, and symptoms of each.
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Educates and helps client become aware of the physiological, biological, and emotional body reactions to food, exercise, and substance misuse.
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Assists client in understanding connection between emotions and behaviors.
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Guides and teaches client how to develop a healthy relationship with food.
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Keeps other members of the team apprised of changes in eating, weight, and food behaviors.
Shared Roles of the Therapist and Dietitian:
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Continuously reinforce the purpose of team treatment and the roles of each member. Model for clients your connectedness in addressing their struggles.
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Continuously reveal to patient how food, weight, and body image behaviors mirror their relationship behaviors and often act as a means of expression or protection.
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Work with clients to repair damaged self and body image. Develop exercises to improve positive self-talk and recreate a positive self-image.
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Help client develop a sense of trust and connectedness to other people and self, not their eating disorder behavior.
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Help client learn what their needs are and how to meet those needs in appropriate ways.
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Help client develop other tools for dealing and coping with issues and emotions in their lives.
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Support and encourage change of eating disordered behaviors that will catalyze and foster developmental and emotional growth.
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Adapted from: Sondra Kronberg, RD, Eating Disorder Associates, 82-14 262nd St, Floral Park, NY 11004 718.343.6681
Eating disorders are a serious problem that affect many people around the world. People with eating disorders will have severely abnormal eating habits, including restricting their intake of food, consuming food to a greater-than-normal amount, and obsessing about food. Eating disorders are diagnosed as either anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, or other specified feeding or eating disorder.
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Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which someone severely restricts their calorie consumption in order to lose weight. People with anorexia will often feel like they have to be perfect and be thin in order to be accepted by society, leading to a fear of gaining weight. Many people with anorexia nervosa will have extreme body image issues, resulting in them seeing themselves as overweight even when they are a healthy weight.
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Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by a cycle of restricting food, eating large quantities of food, and engaging in purging behaviors to rid oneself of the food they ate (through exercising, induced vomiting, or laxative misuse). People with bulimia nervosa will often also struggle with their body image.
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Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder in which someone will compulsively eat a large amount of food regardless of feeling full or not. People will often feel emotional distress and numbness during a binge eating episode, feeling guilty and ashamed afterwards.
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Other specified feeding or eating disorder includes behaviors such as persistent eating of certain non-nutritive items, binge eating episodes without purging, and recurrent eating of very large amounts of food.
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Eating disorders are serious illnesses that require professional help. People with eating disorders will often need to undergo therapy, diet and exercise counseling, and replace unhealthy behaviors with healthier ones in order to reach recovery. Although it can be a difficult process, there is help available for those with eating disorders. With the right treatment, it is possible to move towards a healthier and more positive relationship with food and body.