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I'm Whitney
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I’m not your typical “tell me how that makes you feel” clinician — I’m more of a “show me” kind of gal (extra points if you caught the Missouri pun).
I know that words don’t always capture what we’re feeling. Sometimes we need to scream in full tantrum mode, face down on the floor with fists beating the carpet. Sometimes we need to scribble down everything we can’t say, tear it up, and burn every word. Sometimes we just need to cry it out. Or laugh it out. Or sit in silence and feel the calm.
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I’m here for all of it. I’ll be on the floor with you, or lighting the match, or passing the tissues, or giggling with you, or holding the quiet.
I don’t take people’s emotional experiences lightly, and I’m grateful for every moment you choose to share with me.
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I stay out of the box.
Within the expressive arts framework, unlike traditional art-making, I intentionally challenge perfectionism — emphasizing the process of creation over the final product. I believe creative expression helps us access the often-suppressed right brain, opening pathways to feelings, emotions, and bodily experiences that words alone can’t always reach.
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My focus is on the internal experience of body image rather than external appearance. The struggle with body image is rarely about the body itself, but about the beliefs we’ve learned to project onto it. In our work together, we’ll explore your narrative — your body’s story — and begin the process of honoring those emotional experiences while gently unbending from the body terrorism so many of us have internalized throughout our lives.
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Therapy, in my opinion, shouldn’t be stale, boring, or overly rigid. A client once affectionately described my approach as “woo-woo shit,” which I think sums it up perfectly. My style is eclectic, creative, and out-of-the-box — but always grounded in evidence-based care, consent, and collaboration.
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Scroll below to learn more about my areas of focus and why I’m so passionate about body image work.
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I’m an Elder Millennial. I grew up as a kid in the 90s and a teen in the 00s — shaped by the rise of social media, Marissa Cooper body ideals, low-rise jeans, and a culture that taught us the word “fat” was the worst thing a person could be.
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Over time, I realized it wasn’t that I truly wanted to look like Marissa Cooper. What I actually wanted were the things I believed that body could bring me — acceptance, belonging, touch, connection, to be seen and heard. Like so many of us, I had been conditioned by a sociocultural ideal of what a body should be — an impossible mold that could never contain the whole of who I am.
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Through my own body image work, I’ve come to understand the deep vulnerability, courage, and commitment it takes to unpack those messages, do the work, and keep showing up.
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I am both a body image activist and a body sovereignty advocate. I’ve known the realities of both privilege and disadvantage, and I remain dedicated to learning, unlearning, and growing. I do this work because I know liberation is possible — even in a culture that profits from our disconnection and self-critique. Every person who reclaims their power and autonomy has the capacity to influence their community, foster social change, and grow into the wholeness of who they already are.
Why I do this work
Whitney Taylor Bennett, is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach [CSLC], Certified Therapeutic Art Life Coach [CTALC], Certified Eating Disorder Recovery Coach and Body Trust Practitioner and a Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist in Sex Trafficking & Sex Industry Exploitation (CCTS-S).
She earned a Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Webster University and is a National Certified Counselor, a Registered Expressive Art Therapist-In Training [REAT-IT] and is preparing to work towards a PhD in Expressive Arts Therapy.
She is EMDR trained, has 300 hours of psychodrama training and holds a Level One Trauma Informed Expressive Arts Certification.