Internal Family Systems
We get curious about the parts of you that eat, restrict, push, and protect — instead of trying to overpower them.
Maybe you’re here because
You are self aware. But insight alone hasn’t set you free.
You have read the books. You have listened to podcasts. You may have already spent years working on yourself. You understand a lot about who you are and why these patterns happen.
01
You deeply want to take care of yourself in a healthy way, but you still find yourself turning to food and feeling out of control—even when you promised yourself this time would be different.
02
You want peace with food and your body, but part of you is afraid that loosening control will make everything worse. You aren’t yet sure what genuine self-trust would look or feel like.
03
You are capable, thoughtful, and deeply caring toward others. But offering yourself that same care—without first earning it—feels much harder.
04
You say yes before checking in with yourself. You override your needs, accommodate others, and keep going—until food or your body becomes the place where everything you have been holding finally shows up.
Food may be the doorway
But it isn’t the whole story.
Food can become a quick and reliable source of comfort, pleasure, relief, rebellion, or escape.
This can be especially true for those of us who have spent years tuning into others’ needs, managing emotions for others, or automatically doing what we think a “good” partner, mother, daughter, friend, or professional should do.
The goal isn’t to become better at controlling yourself. It’s to build enough trust and inner capacity to choose what is aligned for you—even when that means disappointing someone, tolerating discomfort, or doing something you have never given yourself permission to do before.
The deeper transformation
Imagine a life shaped by self-trust instead of self-abandonment.
The work may begin with eating, but it can open the door to a life shaped by self-trust—one with more peace, pleasure, meaning, and room for your own desires, including the ones you may have buried years ago.
This could be anything, from more quiet mornings petting your dog peacefully, not thinking about your food plan for the day, to creating new adventures and deepening connections with friends and loved ones.
Greater capacity
Create more room for what truly matters—not by learning to carry more, but by releasing what isn’t yours, staying present with discomfort, and choosing the people, responsibilities, and desires that are genuinely aligned.
Connection
Feel deeply connected in your relationships and to yourself.
Purpose
Make choices shaped by what matters to you, not by what you were told you should want or do.
Vitality
Feel energized and nourished so you can experience more creativity, play, and deep appreciation for the life around you.
Freedom
Trust your needs, your boundaries, your body, and your inner knowing — and experience the freedom on the other side of that work.
Deep worthiness
Move beyond trying to think yourself into worthiness. Feel deeply lovable and worthy in your body, so you can naturally extend this love to others.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
The approach
Evidence-based. Deeply human.
Warm, curious, direct, and collaborative support — with room for complexity, creativity, and the pace your system actually needs.
Intuitive eating & body trust
We rebuild a workable relationship with hunger, fullness, satisfaction, and the signals you learned to override.
Clinical health psychology
Evidence-based behavior change and motivational science, applied to a real life rather than an ideal one.
Self-compassion & mind-body work
Curiosity over judgment, sustainable change over compliance, with room for what you genuinely want.
Work with me 1:1
Deep, lasting change — from the comfort of home.
I offer both therapy and coaching, depending on your goals, location, and the kind of support you’re seeking. You do not need to know which is right for you before reaching out—we can talk through that together during your consultation.
Therapy is available through secure video sessions in Michigan and other PSYPACT-participating states where I’m authorized to practice, with limited in-person availability in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Coaching availability is not limited to PSYPACT states.
- 60-minute intake or initial session
- $250
- 45-minute follow-up session
- $210
- Therapy insurance
- In network with Blue Cross Blue Shield
During your consultation, we can discuss your goals, location, and what kind of 1:1 work would fit you best. You do not need to decide before reaching out.
Your guide
Hi, I’m Shawn.
I’m Dr. Shawn Hondorp, PhD — a clinical health psychologist, speaker, and host of The Innovative Therapist Podcast.
I have more than two decades of experience in the research and clinical worlds of eating and weight concerns. I’m deeply committed to my own growth and to finding innovative, evidence-based ways to help clients move beyond insight and create meaningful change in their everyday lives.
My work focuses on what sits underneath behavior change: self-trust, emotional patterns, people-pleasing, identity, relationships, creativity, and learning to build a life that nourishes rather than depletes you.
I believe you are worthy of exquisite care — not once you have changed enough, achieved enough, or finally gotten it right. Now.
My style is warm, curious, direct, collaborative, and occasionally playful.
A gentle first step
You don’t have to figure all of this out by yourself.
A consultation is simply a conversation: what has been happening, what you would like to be different, and whether working together makes sense. No plan. No pressure.