Elizabeth Esalen

Dr. Liz Esalen is a powerful healer. She is incredibly knowledgeable, passionate, driven, and deep. By providing loving and deeply empathetic support, she played a pivotal role in my eating disorder recovery. Dr. Liz’s ability to shine through adversity is inspiring and empowering. Thank you for your steadfast commitment to helping women liberate themselves from oppression!

Dr. Liz has been my mentor and teacher for 3 years now. She is the first person I consult because I completely trust her clinical judgement. I would refer anyone to her! She is knowledgeable, passionate, trustworthy, empathic, and warm. I count myself extremely blessed that I have gotten to learn how to treat eating disorders through her.

Dr. Esalen is a warm, inviting, open-​hearted soul with incredible passion for and knowledge of the treatment of eating disorders. Working for and with her is a true gift. I relocated myself, my partner, and our cats all the way from Chicago, where I’d lived for 18 years, so that I could work for her and The Lotus Collaborative, and I am incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do so. She demonstrates compassion and empathy for all clients and treats her staff better than any boss I’ve had. Thank you, Dr. Liz, for all you do to serve others with your bright, joyful, insightful spirit.

I was a patient of Dr. Esalen’s sometime back. At my lowest time in my life, when I attended her eating disorder treatment center, The Lotus Collaborative, I needed all the support I could get. When I first met her I thought she understood me, and the first meeting was promising. However, afterward she didn’t really play an active part in my recovery, barely came to group therapies, as she was supposed to since she was the clinical director of the program, and treated bigger patients with contempt, and even passive aggressive prejudice. This is a personal issue, I don’t know if she treats anorexia or bulimia patients with the same disdain, but bigger patients who deal with binge eating disorder, well she is judgmental. I needed help when I sought her and her treatment center out, and what I got was more pain and a space where I didn’t feel free to be vulnerable or comfortable in my bigger body. Shame on Dr. Esalen for treating bigger patients this way. I saw it happen not only to myself, but to other clients as well. I am so ashamed of this that I have to remain anonymous. Please think twice about seeking healing through Dr. Esalen.
The Lotus Collaborative was an amazing experience for me. Luckily I didn’t have to encounter Dr. Esalen too much while I was there, or it would have hindered my treatment that much more. So that part of my experience was positive. It was just hard to see how she treated bigger patients and how cold and uninterested she was with me. I don’t think any counselor should be that way or treat people the way.