Molly BinenfeldLMFT · Therapy for disordered eating, body image & depression
Online therapy in California for disordered eating, restriction, binge cycles, and body image — weight-neutral, non-diet, body-inclusive care for adults in their 20s and 30s.
Is this you?
Most of the people I work with have been doing food noise in the background for years.
Counting, comparing, earning, compensating. A second job nobody applied for.
I trained at one of the top eating disorder treatment centers in the country, and the thing I most want you to know is this: the problem was never your willpower.
It's a culture that sells you a smaller body as the price of being enough — and then sells you the fix when you can't keep up.
My approach is direct and compassionate. I'm not going to nod along while you describe a war with your own body. I'm going to help you put the weapons down.
We'll work on the eating, the thoughts underneath it, and the harder thing too — letting yourself take up space and ask for what you need without apologizing.
You're allowed to be a person, not a project.
What the work can feel like.
Honest, and never cold. Early on, a lot of the relief is hearing the food noise named for what it is: labor. Once it has a name, we can count what it's been costing you.
Then we get curious about what it's been doing for you. For a lot of people, the food noise manages something else: control, a feeling with nowhere to go, a day that got away from them. We take that seriously before asking you to give anything up.
Some of the work happens between sessions. Noticing hunger again. Eating with less negotiating. Letting a hard body day just be a day.
None of it involves a scale. The aim is a quieter mind and a life that isn't organized around food.
How I work.
The work is grounded in real eating-disorder expertise. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which I'm trained in at a specialty level, is the backbone for the overwhelm and the urges. CBT helps with the patterns, Compassion-Focused Therapy with the harsh inner voice, and Motivational Interviewing with the part of you that isn't sure it wants to let go yet. Mindfulness helps you notice hunger and fullness again. It's person-centered throughout: you set the pace, and I won't ask you to recite numbers. For more on why this kind of work changes things over time, see Why Therapy Works.
What I help with.
The themes that come up most in my work. Each links to more on how Align approaches it:
At Align I lead our eating disorder work, and co-lead our depression work with Fidel Quintanilla.
I've also written a Field Note on this: The food noise.
Who I work with.
Young adults and adults of any gender navigating eating disorders, disordered eating, body image, and the self-worth tangled up with them, including college students and people in high-pressure careers. Individual, couples, and family therapy.
Training & credentials.
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, California BBS #151728
- Currently Clinical Director and Senior Primary Therapist at an intensive outpatient program for college students focused on primary mental health
- Previously Director of Clinical Services and Primary Therapist, Alsana: An Eating Recovery Community
- Previously Marriage and Family Therapist, Exodus Recovery Crisis Residential Treatment Program, and Relationship Coach, OurRelationship
- Member, International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP) · Member, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT); specialty-level training in DBT, assessing suicidality, and working with college students
- Before becoming a clinician: Communications Leader and Vice President, Point72 Asset Management, running financial and crisis communications for some of the world's largest hedge funds and financial institutions
- Master's in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, Pepperdine University — the shared graduate program of every Align clinician · Bachelor's degree, Colgate University
Logistics.
Sessions are held entirely online, on a secure platform, anywhere in California. Availability is flexible: Sunday through Saturday, mornings, afternoons, and evenings. The regular rate is $200 per individual session and $250 per couples session, with a limited number of reduced-fee slots and out-of-network reimbursement available. Start with a free 15-minute consultation.
Questions about working with Molly, answered.
What kinds of eating and body-image concerns does Molly work with?
The full range — from a diagnosed eating disorder to the quieter, sub-clinical food noise and body preoccupation that runs in the background of so many lives. If your relationship with food, exercise, or your body is taking up more space than you'd like, that's enough to start.
What's Molly's background in eating disorders?
I was Director of Clinical Services and a primary therapist at Alsana: An Eating Recovery Community, and I'm currently Clinical Director at an intensive outpatient program for college students. I'm a member of the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP), and disordered eating makes up roughly half my caseload. It's the center of my practice.
Does Molly work with depression?
Yes. I co-lead depression work at Align with Fidel Quintanilla. I tend to take the depression that needs skills for getting through the worst days, using DBT.
I also have specialty-level training in assessing suicidality and have worked in crisis residential treatment. If things are severe, I can assess that carefully, and if weekly therapy isn't enough, I'll help you find a higher level of care.
Is Molly's approach weight-neutral?
Yes. I don't weigh anyone, track weight loss, or set a body size as the goal. Weight-neutral care means we work on how you relate to eating and to your body directly, and leave the scale out of it.
What does a first session with Molly look like?
Mostly understanding what's been happening and what you want to be different, without judgment and without making you recite numbers. We go at a pace that feels safe, and we name where to focus.
How will I know if therapy with Molly is helping?
Often it's a quieter mind around food, a little more room to live, or a need you state without apologizing for it. I won't promise a timeline, but you'll have a clear sense of what we're working toward.