Healing Through Connection: A Conversation on Trauma, Eating Disorders, and Nervous System Regulation
interview with Jessica Aronson, LCSW-R
By Dr. Maggie Vaughan
Healing begins with connection, especially when trauma, eating disorders, and nervous system dysregulation overlap. In this conversation, Dr. Maggie Vaughan sits down with Jessica Aronson, LCSW-R, to explore how safety, curiosity, and a regulated body lay the groundwork for meaningful, lasting change.
Maggie Vaughan: Jessica, thank you so much for joining me. You’re known in New York City as an integrative psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorder treatment, trauma therapy, and somatic work. You’re certified in EMDR, RO-DBT, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), and trained in modalities like Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, ACT, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. How would you describe your overall philosophy as a therapist?
Jessica Aronson: Thank you, Maggie. My approach is integrative, collaborative and relational. I don’t believe therapy is about being “fixed” by an expert — it’s about building safety and curiosity together. Whether I’m working with trauma, disordered eating, or anxiety, my goal is to help clients reconnect with their bodies and emotions and core sense of self. I often say, “health lives in the mess.” Real growth doesn’t come from eliminating discomfort — it comes from learning to stay present and compassionate toward oneself through it.
How Trauma Shapes Our Relationship with Food and Control
Maggie Vaughan: You specialize in eating disorders and trauma therapy — two areas that overlap more than many realize. How do you see trauma showing up in disordered relationships with food, substances, or spending?
Jessica Aronson: Trauma can disrupt our internal sense of safety. When someone feels unsafe or threat in their body or relationships, they often turn to external strategies for control — restricting food, bingeing, over-exercising, or using substances. These behaviors are attempts to regulate overwhelming emotions or numb pain. As a trauma-informed therapist, I help clients understand that their behaviors are adaptive responses to suffering — and that healing starts with compassion, not judgment. Over time, we build new ways to self-soothe that don’t rely on self-destruction.
Using Polyvagal Theory to Support Nervous System Regulation
Maggie Vaughan: You draw deeply from Polyvagal theory in your trauma therapy work. How does that show up in session?
Jessica Aronson: Polyvagal theory provides a map for clients to learn about their nervous systems — why they might feel panicked, numb, or shut down after certain triggers. We identify when the body is in fight, flight, or freeze, and use grounding, breathing, and sensory awareness to support nervous system regulation. Once the body feels safer, clients can access insight and choice. Regulation isn’t just calming down; it’s reconnecting to the body’s innate wisdom and learning that safety can be restored.
Why Regulation Opens the Door to Change
Maggie Vaughan: So the regulation work essentially opens the door to behavioral change?
Jessica Aronson: Exactly. When the nervous system is dysregulated, talking about change won’t stick. EMDR and somatic psychotherapy techniques help process trauma on a physiological level. Once the body feels safe, the mind follows — and that’s when genuine, lasting change becomes possible.
A Harm Reduction Lens: Progress, Not Perfection
Maggie Vaughan: You also practice through a harm reduction lens. That feels especially important for eating disorders and co-occurring addictions.
Jessica Aronson: Yes. Harm reduction therapy recognizes that recovery is nonlinear. The goal isn’t immediate abstinence or perfection — it’s movement toward safety, awareness, and self-compassion. Sometimes that means reducing the frequency or intensity of behaviors while finding moments of kindness and compassion toward oneself. When we understand how shame can keep us stuck, we can right size it, this supports healing. Recovery happens in the gray areas — not in rigid black-and-white thinking.
The Healing Power of Relationship
Maggie Vaughan: Connection and relationship seem central to your work. Why is that so vital?
Jessica Aronson: Because eating disorders and trauma can have relational roots and impact social safety, the therapeutic relationship provides an opportunity for clients to connect in new ways. Clients get to learn more about themselves and parts they didn’t have access to. In relationship-based therapy, we model what safety and trust can feel like. When clients experience a genuine, non-judgmental connection in therapy, they start to internalize that safety. From there, they can bring it into relationships outside the therapy room. For me, mental health and well-being isn’t just about symptom reduction — it’s about reestablishing connection: to self, to body, and to others.
Final Reflections
Maggie Vaughan: Before we close, is there one takeaway you want people seeking trauma therapy in NYC or eating disorder recovery to remember?
Jessica Aronson: Healing isn’t the absence of struggle. It’s the presence of self-understanding, compassion, and resilience. When we can stay with ourselves through discomfort — not escape it — that’s when real transformation happens.
About Jessica Aronson, LCSW-R, ACSW, CGP, CEDS-S
Jessica Aronson is an integrative psychotherapist and eating disorder specialist in New York City. She works with adolescents and adults facing trauma, anxiety, depression, OCD, grief, and co-occurring addictions. Certified in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, RO-DBT, EMDR, and KAP, she incorporates ACT, DBT, Psychodrama, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and mindfulness-based interventions into her work. Jessica practices from a trauma-informed, harm-reduction, and relational lens, helping clients find safety, regulation, and authenticity in the “mess” of real life.
