Featured In: Meet Lily Thrope

Lily was featured on Canvas Rebel:

“Lily, appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

As a therapist, I don’t see myself as being in the business of giving advice. My role is less about prescribing solutions and more about creating space for clients to discover what is already within them. That said, if I had to distill what I most often share, it would be this: The guidance you need does not come from the outside world. It comes from within.

So many of my clients come into therapy searching. They are looking for the “right” food plan, the “right” body size, the “right” way to feel okay in the world. When someone is struggling with an eating disorder or body image distress, it often feels like there must be an external solution. This is part of what diet culture has sold us for years, if I just fix my body, change my habits, or control my environment, then I’ll finally feel at peace. In my work, I’ve seen again and again that true healing doesn’t come from following someone else’s rules or living up to society’s standards. It comes from turning inward, reconnecting with your own wisdom, and learning to trust yourself again.

Many clients I have worked with have spent years cycling through diets and exercise regimens, always convinced that the next program would be the one to finally bring peace, joy, satisfaction and happiness. They arrive in therapy exhausted and defeated, saying, “I feel like I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.” What we were able to uncover together was that what they had been searching for wasn’t a program at all, it was permission to trust their body, to listen to their own hunger and fullness, and to honor their needs without judgment. Sounds simple, but is very complex. We have many things blocking our ability to tune into our own inner needs.

My role wasn’t to hand the client the “answer,” but to help clear away the noise, negative self-talk, limiting beliefs, and cultural messages that told the client they weren’t enough. As those layers began to soften, the client could start to hear their own truth. The shift was subtle but powerful: instead of asking, What should I do? they began to ask, What do I need right now? This shift happens where you can tune into your emotional needs as well as your physical needs and take the best care of yourself from there.

Over time, that change rippled outward. The clients report feeling less anxious around food, more compassionate with their body, and more confident in their choices. Most importantly, the clients feel a growing sense of trust, a resource that no diet or external system could ever give them.

For me, the beauty of this work is seeing clients reclaim that connection to self. Eating disorders and body image struggles can create so much disconnection between mind and body, between self and community. Helping someone find their way back to themselves is one of the most meaningful parts of being a therapist. At the end of the day, the insight they’re searching for isn’t “out there.” It’s already inside them, waiting to be heard.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I founded Thrope Therapy, my vision was to create a practice where young people could feel safe exploring their relationship with food, body, and self. My own experience with an eating disorder as a teenager was life-changing, and it planted the seed for the work I do today. I remember how isolating it felt to navigate recovery in a culture that celebrates dieting and thinness at every turn. Those early struggles became the foundation of my passion: to offer teens and young adults the support, care, and community I wished I had at the time.

Over the years, I have built a team of therapists who share this commitment. We specialize in eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image concerns, and our work is rooted in an anti-diet, weight-inclusive philosophy. That means we challenge harmful cultural norms around food and body, and instead help clients reconnect with their own inner wisdom. Healing does not come from following rules set by diet culture. It comes from learning to trust yourself again. That belief guides everything we do at Thrope Therapy.

As a therapist and business owner, I also weave in practices that have been meaningful in my own healing such as mindfulness, yoga, and spirituality. These tools have helped me cultivate resilience and self-compassion, and it feels deeply rewarding to share them with clients. I am also fully recovered from an eating disorder, and my lived experience allows me to sit with clients in a way that is both personal and professional. When I say that full recovery is possible, I say it with conviction, since I have seen it in myself and in so many of the people I work with. Becoming a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor further strengthened this belief, and I find this framework invaluable in helping clients move toward a peaceful relationship with food and body.

Thrope Therapy LCSW PLLC is a boutique private practice in NYC, and one of the things I am most proud of is that it is woman-owned and run. I never initially pictured myself as a business owner, yet taking that leap has been one of the most rewarding decisions of my life. Building a practice that reflects my values has allowed me to create not only a supportive space for clients, but also a collaborative, affirming environment for my team.

I am encouraged by the cultural shift I see happening around mental health today. More people are talking openly about therapy, and there is a growing movement to reduce stigma and make support more accessible. I believe everyone deserves a place to slow down, reflect, and receive care that affirms who they are. In a world where constant striving and external pressure can drown out our inner voices, therapy creates space to pause, reconnect, and heal. At Thrope Therapy, that mission, to help people return to themselves, is at the heart of all we do.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I’m going to answer this question with a bit of a tangent, since my path into this work was not straightforward. One of the most transformative parts of my journey was actually failure. My original dream was to become a physical therapist. I was passionate about helping people heal and had this clear vision of what my career would look like. I struggled through the grueling pre-med requirements and ultimately did not make it into physical therapy graduate school. At the time, it felt like a devastating loss, as if the door had closed on the future I imagined.

That failure forced me to pause and reflect. It invited me to ask bigger questions: What do I really want to do? What kind of healing work truly resonates with me? It was in sitting with those questions that I found a new path, one that led me not just to a profession, but to a calling.

I would not change that experience, since it is what brought me to the work I do now. The challenges and setbacks carved out the space for me to discover my passion for therapy and eventually for specializing in eating disorders and body image. This specialty was not born out of abstract professional interest. It grew directly out of my lived experiences with mental health and my own relationship with food and body. That personal connection has fueled a passion that feels both deeply meaningful and sustainable.

Today, when I sit with clients navigating eating disorders or body image struggles, I carry not just professional training, but also a deep appreciation for the courage it takes to face difficulty and rebuild. My own path taught me that healing is not linear and that failure does not mean the end. It can be the beginning of something richer, more authentic, and more aligned.

If I could go back, I would absolutely choose the same profession and specialty. Even more importantly, I would choose the same journey, including the parts that felt uncertain and painful at the time. Those moments shaped me into the therapist I am today, and I am profoundly grateful for where they led.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Instead of focusing on a single lesson, I want to use this question to highlight a few commonly held beliefs that I have had to unlearn myself and that I see hurt so many of my clients. The biggest takeaway is this: just because a belief is widely accepted does not make it true.

For example:

Thin does not equal healthy.

Wellness does not equal thin.

Constant striving does not equal success or happiness.

These ideas are so ingrained in our culture that they often go unquestioned. From a young age, many of us are taught to equate thinness with health, worthiness, and even morality. We are told that pursuing a smaller body is the pathway to wellness, and that pushing ourselves to constantly achieve is a sign of strength and discipline. What I have learned, both personally and through my work as a therapist, is that these beliefs are not only untrue, they can be profoundly damaging.

In my work with eating disorders and body image, I meet clients every day who have sacrificed their wellbeing in pursuit of these cultural ideals. Some have harmed their bodies through restrictive eating, over-exercising, or chronic dieting, all in the name of “health.” Others have pushed themselves relentlessly in their careers or academics, only to find themselves burnt out and disconnected from what actually brings them joy. Instead of health, wellness, or success, these beliefs often lead to shame, anxiety, and a painful sense of never being enough.

Unlearning these lessons has been freeing. Health is not determined by body size. Wellness is about how you feel in your body, your relationship to food, your ability to rest, and the connections you nurture. Success is not measured by constant striving, but by alignment with your values and the capacity to live a life that feels meaningful to you.

This unlearning is also ongoing. These cultural messages are everywhere, and they can creep back in at times. Yet the more I witness clients reclaim their own definitions of health, wellness, and success, the more convinced I am that questioning these beliefs is essential to healing. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for ourselves is to let go of what everyone else says is true and listen instead to our own lived experience.”