Butterfly: Let's Talk

Evidence-based treatment for eating disorders rightly focuses on restoring health and changing eating disorder behaviours. But what if those behaviours are also protecting something much deeper?
What if lasting recovery starts not with asking "What's wrong with me?" but "What happened to me?"
In this episode of Let's Talk, Beth talks with clinical psychologist and schema therapy expert Dr Susan Simpson about her new book Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self, which offers a compassionate new way of understanding eating disorders. Drawing on more than 25 years of clinical experience, Susan explains how eating disorders can develop as intelligent coping strategies that protect us from shame, loneliness, unmet emotional needs and painful life experiences.
Susan explores the core ideas behind schema therapy, including our different "parts", the role of the inner critic, and how reconnecting with our authentic self can reduce the need for eating disorder behaviours. She also walks through the four-stage recovery journey outlined in her book, shares practical exercises listeners can try, and explains how clinicians and people with lived experience can use the book alongside evidence-based treatment.
It's a hopeful conversation about understanding the story behind your struggles, reconnecting with yourself, and discovering that recovery is about far more than changing eating behaviours.
Resources
Breaking Negative Eating Patterns and Remembering Your True Self
Susan Simpson LinkedIn
Book: Schema therapy for eating disorders
Schema therapy training online
Contact our Helpline
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here
Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation
For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Therapists are often encouraged to bring empathy and authenticity into the therapy room, but what happens when that understanding comes from their own experience of an eating disorder? Should they disclose it to clients, or keep it private? And what does that decision mean for both therapist and client?
In this episode of Let's Talk, Beth talks with clinical psychologist and researcher Pheobe Ho, who draws on her own recovery, years of clinical practice and her PhD research to explore one of the most complex and under-discussed questions in eating disorder treatment: the ethical, professional and deeply personal decisions faced by clinicians who've been there themselves.
Phoebe shares what it was like to work alongside members of her own treatment team, and at a service where she was once a client. She explains why disclosure is never a simple yes-or-no decision. Together, she and Beth discuss workplace stigma, supervision, the emotional toll of concealing lived experience, and why psychologically safe workplaces matter for clinicians and clients alike.
They also explore how the eating disorder sector can better support clinicians with lived experience, why clearer guidance is urgently needed, and how new research could help shape the future of care.
It's a conversation for anyone curious about what happens when personal experience and professional expertise intersect.
Resources
Pheobe’s blog on being a clinician with lived experience in eating disorders.
Pheobe’s blog on supporting clinicians with lived experience.
Pheobe’s Linkedin.
Contact our Helpline
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here
Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation
For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Men's body image is having a moment in the cultural conversation, but beyond the clickbait, what's actually going on? Where's the line between caring about your body and falling into something that can take over your life?
In this episode, Beth sits down with two guests who've seen it firsthand. Mark Beretta OAM, sports broadcaster, Australian waterski champion, and 2019 Father of the Year, speaks from decades in elite sport and media, and as a father raising a son. Shane Jeffrey, also a father, is an accredited sports dietitian with over 25 years working with clients experiencing eating disorders.
Social media algorithms and influencers are pulling young men into exercise and nutrition behaviours that look reasonable on the surface, but are often unscientific, unregulated, and quietly damaging to both their mental and physical health. Mark and Shane unpack how that happens, why supplements are filling a gap that good nutrition should, and how healthy habits can snowball into something extreme and consuming before anyone notices.
Shane describes what he's seeing clinically in boys aged 14–18. Mark talks about watching some mates head down that road and his own personal experiences growing up in sport culture.
They also cover what families, friends, and sporting clubs can do, and why getting in early with honest conversations can make all the difference.
Whether you're concerned about yourself, a mate, or a young person in your life, this one's worth your time.


Resources

Learn More about Mark Beretta
Learn more about Shane Jeffrey
See our Spot Your Mate Campaign about male body image
See our resources for males and men
Contact our Helpline

Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here
Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation
For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.

If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neurodivergence, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, sensory processing differences, is far more common in eating disorder presentations than most people realise. When it goes unrecognised, traditional treatment often fails. Families struggle under the weight of behaviours they don't understand. And the individual at the centre suffers not just from the disorder, but from not being seen, or not responding to treatment in the ways everyone hoped.
In this episode, Beth speaks with Camilla Becket, a mum and carer, about what it took to finally understand her daughter's neurodivergence in relation to her eating disorder. Once that became clearer, everything changed. For everyone involved.
If you're a carer, you'll find your fears and frustrations reflected here, and maybe a new compassion for both your loved one and yourself. If you're experiencing an eating disorder, you may too. And if you're a healthcare professional, this one might shift how you think about diagnosis, care, and how person-centred care can successfully play out in real life.
Resources:
Butterfly National Helpline: 1800 33 4673 (1800 ED HOPE)
Chat online
Butterfly's Carer Support Group:https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/support-groups-programs/support-groups/carersupportgroups/
Butterfly's Carer Support Program:https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/support-programs/carer-program-collaborative-care-skills/
Eating Disorders Families Australia.https://edfa.org.au/
Learn more about Beth Shelton
Eating at the Intersections: Understanding the Unique Experiences and Needs of Neurodivergent People
Navigating Eating Disorder Recovery As a Neurodivergent Individual
Eating Disorders Neurodiversity Australia
Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation
For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet our new host, Beth Shelton, a counselling psychologist with thirty years of experience working with people affected by eating disorders, including their loved ones. In addition to her own practice, Beth has shaped services, trained clinicians, and held national leadership roles across the sector. She brings professional wisdom and genuine warmth to all that she does.
In her inaugural episode, Beth is joined by Dr Natasha Hepworth, a psychologist who challenges the idea that an improved body image is simply a matter of changing our thinking.
Most of us already know we should feel better about how we look. But knowing it and living it are worlds apart.
Natasha's work starts with a different question: not what's wrong with how you see your body, but what is your body image protecting you from?
She sees negative body image not as a flaw to be fixed, but as a coping strategy, one that often has roots in real lived experience, including unprocessed trauma and shame. Her work invites us to explore what our bodies have been holding, and how we can heal in a way that genuinely lasts.
If you've ever felt like body acceptance was always just out of reach, this episode may just make the difference.
Resources:
Butterfly National Helpline: 1800 33 4673 (1800 ED HOPE)
Chat online
Learn more about Beth Shelton
Learn more about Natasha Hepworth
Read Body Image Inside out by Deb Schachter and Whitney Otto
Read Befriending the Body by Ann Saffi Biasetti
Follow Butterfly Foundation on Instagram here
Production Team:
Produced by Beth Shelton and Sam Blacker from The Podcast Butler
Executive Producer: Camilla Becket
Supported by the Waratah Education Foundation
For more information about this episode, visit www.butterfly.org.au/podcast and click through to this episode.
If you're concerned about an eating disorder for yourself or someone you care about, please reach out to the Butterfly National Helpline or chat online with one of their specialist counsellors. Recovery is possible with the right support.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.