Welcome, I’m Nicole Kopel
Melbourne Dietitian & Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician
Reassuring. Validating. Hopeful.
Dietetic care can feel like this.
When you’re frustrated and confused about how to eat and tired of fighting your body, the last thing you need is another meal plan and someone scrutinising every bite you put in your mouth (because I’m sure you’ve done enough of that yourself!).
As your dietitian, I offer a space for you to feel heard and provide support to find calm and confidence in your relationship with food, eating and your body.
I Was Frustrated By Traditional Dietetics Too
Eating disorders, eating behaviour and our relationship with food and eating have always interested me.
So, when I began my career as a community health dietitian, I quickly found the ‘traditional’ aspect of dietetics dissatisfying and out of alignment with how I hoped to work.
I shifted into health promotion and prevention, aspects of which aligned more with me as a person and what I wanted to do in the world. But working with people and supporting them with their relationships with food and their bodies kept calling to me.
After working in private practice with another dietitian, I felt confident about where I belonged, and I started my own private practice, Eat in Peace, in 2014 to help people ”eat in peace”. To quieten the chatter in their heads about food and their body and shift from chaos to calm.
I now get to spend my time working with people experiencing eating disorders and disordered eating using a fat-positive, trauma-informed, weight and size inclusive and body-led approach, to heal their relationship with food and their bodies.
I’d love for Eat in Peace to be the place you belong.
A Few Things You Might Like to Know About Me.
My Values
Collaboration
I don’t see myself as the expert who knows what’s right for my clients. Instead, I believe my role is to support you with curiosity, not judgement, to find insight into what you need to heal.
Compassion
I aim to truly listen, understand your experiences, and support you to heal in ways that hold your own values and experiences front of mind.
Respect
I value all my clients and acknowledge it is their different backgrounds, lived experiences and marginalisations that make them uniquely them.
Accessibility & Inclusivity
I acknowledge that our society is not always kind and accommodating towards diverse bodies, and am constantly learning how to make my business and how I practice more accessible and inclusive.
Collaboration
I don’t see myself as the expert who knows what’s right for my clients. Instead, I believe my role is to support you with curiosity, not judgement, to find insight into what you need to heal.
Compassion
I aim to truly listen, understand your experiences, and support you to heal in ways that hold your own values and experiences front of mind.
Respect
I value all my clients and acknowledge it is their different backgrounds, lived experiences and marginalisations that make them uniquely them.
Accessibility & Inclusivity
I acknowledge that our society is not always kind and accommodating towards diverse bodies, and am constantly learning how to make my business and how I practice more accessible and inclusive.
My Nutrition Counselling Style
I work gently and thoughtfully and take the time to listen and understand my clients’ individual lived experiences, and where their eating behaviours fit into their lives.
I’m a constant learner professionally and enjoy consolidating and extending my knowledge and skills from a wide range of teachers – through supervision and professional development. More importantly, I learn the most from the humans I work with.
To support you to explore and make sense of your eating behaviour and find answers to heal your relationship with food and your body, I draw on skills and concepts stemming from psychological modalities including mindfulness, family-based treatment, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing.
I’ll work closely with your healthcare team which may include your psychologist, psychiatrist, GP or family to make sure you’re receiving the most cohesive and appropriate care.
When I take my Dietitian hat off
I have 3 children who keep me busy when I’m not working (and sometimes when I’m trying to!)
I’m an introvert and recharge by spending time at home baking, resting and absorbing myself in a series or movies.
As a recovering brown thumb, I’m not only learning to keep plants alive and thriving but gain a lot of calmness and rejuvenation from being around my plant and flower babies 🪴
Privileges Statement
As a smaller-bodied, cis-, white, educated and neurotypical provider, I understand that I have had different, often easier, experiences navigating the world than many of my clients.
It’s important to me that I do my best to learn from and understand my clients’ lived experiences and how they differ from my own. I make missteps and am constantly learning. I commit to continuous learning and doing better.
If at any time during treatment, you would feel safer sharing a space with a provider who possesses identities similar to your own, I will happily connect you with some valued colleagues to support your care.
Think I Might Be the Dietitian for You? Let’s Connect and Find Out.
Book an appointment now or arrange your complimentary 15-minute enquiry call.
