She searched for a therapist who got it. She couldn't find one.

So she built this.

More than 13 years ago, Ashlyn Douglass-Barnes made a life-changing decision and had bariatric surgery. She did the hard work. She showed up. And she lost 100% of her excess weight and has kept it off.

But no one prepared her for what came after.

The emotional side of bariatric surgery is complicated in ways that are hard to explain to someone who hasn't been through it. The grief. The identity shifts. The complicated feelings around food that don't disappear just because the surgery is done. The relationships that change sometimes for better, sometimes not.

When Ashlyn looked for a therapist who truly understood the bariatric experience, she came up mostly empty. Providers who meant well but didn't get it. Advice that felt generic. Judgment where she'd hoped to find compassion.

So she took a different path.

Find a Bariatric Therapist was born out of frustration and fueled by purpose. Ashlyn built the resource she wished had existed when she needed it most a curated directory of therapists who actually specialize in bariatric mental health, organized by state, with no hoops to jump through.

Because you shouldn't have to explain your surgery to your therapist. You shouldn't have to justify your emotions. And you shouldn't have to search alone.