Free Monthly Recovery Support Circle  ·  Monthly  ·  5:30pm SAST  ·  1 hour  ·  Online Find out more →

Kirsten Hunneyball · Recovery Coach

Nervous system food and body coaching for emotional or dysregulated eating.
Online and in Cape Town.

The Grounded Method is a structured, polyvagal & nervous system-informed coaching program that helps people navigate recovery from dysregulated eating and to feel more at ease in their relationship with food and the body. Inspired by the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (Developed by Jan Winhall), The Grounded Method shifts the paradigm on how we view dysregulated eating and addiction: not as failures of willpower, but as intelligent adaptations of a system trying to help you create a sense safety, regulation, and for survival. Understanding this is where things can begin to change.

Explore the Method Get the Free Guide

Reconnect· Restore· Return

Kirsten Hunneyball

No clinical diagnosis required

"You don't need to fix yourself. You need to come home to yourself."

Does this sound familiar?

You've read the books. Tried the approaches.
Done the work. And somehow you're still here.

You've probably spent more time thinking about food and your body than you'd like to admit. Maybe it takes up more mental space than it should. Maybe you've tried to change things more than once, and found yourself back at the same place, feeling stuck in unwanted patterns. It's not a willpower problem. It's not a knowledge problem either.

For most people who struggle with their relationship to food, the food was never really the problem. It became a way of managing feelings, of coping, of finding some sense of safety in a life that sometimes felt like it had none. That's not a character flaw. That's a nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do. Yes, we can look at our food behaviours and try to modify them toward healthier habits, but ultimately understanding your nervous system and learning to work with it rather than against it, is where lasting change begins.

Awareness is the precursor to change. Action is the driver. Compassion glues it all together.

How it works

A structured path
back to yourself.
Not a programme.
A process.

The Grounded Method is a program built in three phases. Each phase has a clear focus, a clear set of tools, and a clear intention. Together they form a complete journey from dysregulation to ease.

No open-ended coaching loops. No guesswork. A clear map, and someone to walk it with you.

See how to join →
01

The Ground

Understanding what's underneath

Before anything changes, we get curious. This phase is about understanding the role of safety — in your body, in your relationship with food, in your own story. We work with the nervous system to understand it's role before we try to change the patterns.

Nervous system · Safety · Patterns
02

The Root

Building a new relationship

This phase is where the real unlearning happens — releasing the rules, the judgements, the inherited beliefs about food and your body. Structured. Supported. Yours.

Unlearning · Identity · Relationship
03

The Bloom

Living it — fully and freely

Integration. Taking what's shifted internally and letting it show up in your actual life. This is where we begin to build who you are beyond the food and body healing. It's about purpose, identity, and the you beyond the struggle.

Integration · Freedom · Life

Find your starting point

Not sure where
to begin?

Four questions to help you understand which kind of support might suit you best right now. No right or wrong answers — and if you still aren't sure, feel free to get in touch with me directly and I will help you decide which pathway might best support your journey.

Kirsten Hunneyball

Who I am

I'm Kirsten.
I lead with curiosity
and compassion.

"Having walked my own path through an eating disorder and trauma, I know how complex healing can feel. I'm not here to tell you what to eat or how to feel. I'm here to guide you toward an unshakeable sense of self."

I am a certified Felt Sense Polyvagal Model Facilitator, trained through the Polyvagal Institute with Jan Winhall. This model shapes the foundation of everything I do. It approaches dysregulated eating and addiction not as moral failures or habits to break, but as the nervous system's learned strategies for creating safety. Working from the bottom up — beginning with the body and its felt sense rather than behaviour or cognition alone — creates the conditions for change that actually lasts.

I've spent years working alongside people in the depths of eating disorder recovery, in clinical and coaching spaces. That experience shaped how I see people, how I listen, and how I hold complexity. But it also showed me that there was a "missing piece". Somehow, just knowing what to do wasn't enough. People had to have experiential safety within their bodies in order to sustain change. Bringing somatic work into my coaching became that missing piece. My work is rooted in helping you reconnect with your empowered self through the body, so that you can move through life's challenges with compassion, awareness, and practical tools for real change.

As a coach (not a therapist or medical professional), I work within a coaching framework to guide your growth, deepen your self-awareness, and strengthen your capacity to make grounded, aligned choices. Coaching often works in adjunct to a multidisciplinary support team, and I will always refer you to the appropriate clinical providers where needed. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.

The key to life is to love greatly, live gently, and let go gracefully.

My qualifications & training →

Qualifications & Training

Deeply curious,
continuously learning.

Certifications

  • Polyvagal Felt-Sense Model (FSPM) Facilitator for Trauma & Addiction Jan Winhall · Polyvagal Institute
  • Advanced & Specialist Addiction Counsellor Certificate AACC – ACCSA · Note: CPD training only, not practising as a counsellor
  • Peer Addictions Recovery Coach U-ACT
  • Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT) Coaching — Bronze Level Dr. Dorie · EDIT Institute
  • Life and Wellness Coach TriFocus Academy
  • Trauma Sensitive Yoga — Return to Presence Facilitator Candice Clark Counselling
  • 200hr Yoga Teacher (YTT) Yoga Renew
  • Advanced Special Populations Group Personal Trainer TriFocus Academy

Additional Training

  • Understanding and Managing ARFID, PDA & PICA DisordersNEDDE
  • Introduction to Working with Disordered Eating & the Neurodivergent IndividualNEDDE
  • Understanding OCD: Insights from Lived Experience & Clinical PracticeNEDDE
  • Trauma-Informed Therapy for the Neurodivergent ClientNEDDE
  • Weight Management for Neurodivergent ClientsNEDDE
  • Supervision Group for FSPM: Applying the Model in PracticePolyvagal Institute
  • Yoga for Eating Disorders Level 1 — Online ImmersionEat Breathe Thrive
BAPSA MemberEthical standards for recovery professionals

I maintain my own growth through 1:1 personal therapy, counselling supervision with a registered counsellor, and ongoing training — so I can support you from a grounded, well-resourced place.

A note on eating disorder recovery support

My background is rooted in years of experience supporting people through eating disorder recovery. I understand that landscape deeply — the complexity, the non-linearity, the courage it takes to ask for help.

If you are navigating a more complex relationship with food — whether that's active recovery, stepping down from treatment, or supporting a loved one — I'm happy to have an honest conversation about whether my support might be appropriate for where you are. I will always be transparent about what falls within my scope, and will connect you with the right professionals if needed.

You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out.

Get in touch →

What people say

Real words from
real people.

"I came to Kirsten completely exhausted by myself. I'd tried everything. What she offered was something different — she never told me what to do. She helped me understand why I was doing what I was doing. That changed everything."

Client, South Africa

"Kirsten tuned into me more clearly than I was able to ever do for myself. She helped make conscious a really hidden part of myself and channelled so clearly the issue and how to solve it in a loving gentle way."

Cameron, Vietnam

"For the first time in my adult life, I finished a meal and didn't think about it afterwards. I can't explain how enormous that is."

M, South Africa

"Then I found Kirst, and my life changed. From our very first session, I felt safe, supported and understood. She created a space free of judgement and helped me look beyond the eating disorder to understand the deeper beliefs and patterns driving my behaviours."

Lisa, South Africa

"Working with Kirst has genuinely been life-changing. She helped me build a much healthier relationship with food and with myself... I now feel calmer, more confident, feel connected to me, and much more compassionate towards myself."

Client, South Africa

"I always felt extremely safe with Kirsten and therefore could show all my vulnerabilities that were needed to heal from the inside out. I experienced Kirsten as extremely reliable, professional and responsible."

Elisa, Berlin

Free resource

Stop trying to fix your eating.
Start getting curious about it.

The 5 Questions That Change Everything — a free guide to understanding your relationship with food, without a single food rule. No meal plans. No tracking. Just five questions that open a door you didn't know was there.

Get the free guide →

Instant download · No spam · Unsubscribe any time

Work with me

Three ways to work
through The Grounded Method.

At Your Own Pace Program

The Grounded Method

12 weeks · Clear structure.

Please note that there is a waitlist for the recorded version of the program. Please get in touch if you would like to be informed when the videos become available. A structured 12-week program delivered in pre-recorded video recordings. Three phases of four weeks each, and weekly deeper dive material to work through independently between videos. Optional to add on 1:1 sessions for deeper work throughout the course.

Phase 01 — The Ground · Weeks 1–4 Phase 02 — The Root · Weeks 5–8 Phase 03 — The Bloom · Weeks 9–12
Enquire →

1:1 Transformation

Private & Personalised

Suggested 6 months · Fully tailored · Deep dive.

For those who want to go deeper, at their own pace, in a private container. The full Grounded Method curriculum — personalised to exactly where you are. One 50 minute session per week suggested across six months. Light between session text support included.


LIMITED SPACES

Apply for 1:1 →

Single Sessions

As & When You Need

No program commitment required.

Sometimes you need support with something specific — a difficult moment, a pattern that keeps showing up, a question you are sitting with. Single sessions are available without joining the full program. Get in touch to tailor a structure that works for you.


AVAILABLE NOW

Book a session →

Questions & Answers

Things people
often want to know.

I coach people aged 16 and older who are navigating a difficult relationship with food and their body, including emotional eating, binge–restrict cycles, bulimia, exercise addiction, restrictive eating, yo-yo dieting, body image struggles, and more, using a nervous-system-informed approach. I don’t work with people who require primary inpatient care or are in a medical crisis, unless supported fully by a clinical team. I can help point you toward the right level of support if that’s where you are. For anyone under 18, I require that a therapist and dietician are also part of your care team. I’d encourage this for adults too, and we can assess it together. The most important thing is that you come willing and curious. This work asks something of you, and that’s where the magic happens.
My coaching is grounded in the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (FSPM), a nervous-system-based approach to understanding the body and behaviour. I trained as an FSPM facilitator under its originator, Jan Winhall, and I’m a BAPSA-registered recovery coach with around seven years of coaching experience. Rather than offering a cut-and-paste plan, this work helps you understand how your nervous system shapes your relationship with food, your body and your behaviour. I’m here for the day-to-day reality of living in a body and a world that sometimes feels overwhelming. I help you develop a solutions-oriented mindset, reconnect with your own inner authority, and build a life that actually reflects who you are. Think of me as your Thinking Partner, Truth-Teller, Problem Navigator and Loyal Ally: someone who walks with you through the practical, emotional and relational terrain of real life.
Somatic coaching is a body-based approach to coaching that works with your nervous system, physical sensations and felt sense, not just your thoughts. Rather than only talking through challenges, it helps you notice what’s happening in your body, understand how your nervous system responds to stress, and build practical skills for regulation and self-trust. In my work, this means learning to recognise when you’re in a protective state, such as reaching for food to cope or feeling the pull to control it, and practising body-based tools like grounding, breath, movement and felt sense awareness to return to a calmer, more grounded place. Somatic coaching is present-focused and skills-based. It isn’t somatic therapy or trauma processing, and it works best alongside therapy or other professional support where needed.
The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (FSPM) is a body-based approach developed by Jan Winhall that brings together Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory and Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing, a practice of tuning into the body’s “felt sense”. FSPM understands patterns like emotional eating, compulsive behaviours and addiction as the nervous system’s attempt to regulate and cope, rather than as personal failings. Instead of asking what’s wrong with you, it helps you get curious about what your body is trying to do for you. I’m a trained FSPM facilitator, and this model sits at the heart of The Grounded Method.
Yes, coaching can help you understand and change emotional eating and binge eating patterns. Using a nervous-system-informed approach, we look at what happens before, during and after an episode, so you can see eating as a response to stress or overwhelm rather than a lack of willpower. You’ll build practical skills, like recognising early signals, pausing at choice points and finding other ways to regulate, so you have more options in the moment. If you’ve been diagnosed with binge eating disorder or another eating disorder, coaching works best alongside a therapist and dietician as part of your care team.
Honestly? No. Coaching isn’t about a cure, it’s about integration, and anyone who promises to “cure” you is worth questioning. What I offer is a structured, compassionate process that helps you understand your patterns and your nervous system more deeply, and begin to relate to yourself, food and your body differently. Recovery is non-linear and deeply personal. What I can promise is that the degree to which you show up for yourself will shape everything. I’m here to walk alongside you, not to fix you.
Intuitive eating is a well-known non-diet framework, developed by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, that helps people reject diet culture and reconnect with hunger, fullness and satisfaction. The Grounded Method shares that non-diet, body-trusting foundation but focuses on the nervous system underneath it. When your body is in a stressed or protective state, it can be hard to hear or trust hunger and fullness cues at all. By learning to recognise and regulate your nervous system states, intuitive eating principles often become easier to put into practice, so the two can work well together.
No. I don’t create meal plans or give nutritional prescriptions, as that sits with a registered dietician. Food and body coaching focuses on your relationship with food rather than what’s on your plate. Together we explore the patterns, beliefs and nervous system responses that shape how you eat, and build skills like noticing hunger and fullness cues, responding to urges with curiosity, and moving from rigid food rules towards trust. Some structure around eating can be supportive, and if you need nutritional guidance or a meal plan, I’ll encourage you to work with a dietician alongside our coaching.
No, and that’s intentional. I am not a weight loss coach, and weight is not an outcome I focus on. My work centres entirely on your relationship with food and your body, not on changing the body itself. The goal is to help you feel more at ease, more trusting and more free in how you live, whatever that looks like for you.
I’m a coach, not a therapist or registered dietician. Therapists diagnose and treat mental health conditions using clinical and therapeutic modalities, while dieticians provide medically informed nutritional guidance. As a coach, I work in the present moment, focused on practical support, accountability, nervous system awareness and helping you translate insight into everyday change. Coaching doesn’t replace therapy or dietetic care. It works alongside them, and I actively encourage a multidisciplinary support team.
Yes, and I encourage it. Coaching and therapy work on different layers and complement each other well. Therapy can help you explore deeper clinical or historical issues, while coaching focuses on the present: practical skills, nervous system awareness and turning insight into everyday change. With your permission, I’m happy to work collaboratively with your therapist, dietician or wider care team so your support feels joined up.
I’m a BAPSA-registered recovery coach and a Felt Sense Polyvagal Model (FSPM) facilitator, trained under Jan Winhall, with around seven years of coaching experience, including work within multidisciplinary mental health teams. I follow BAPSA’s ethical standards for recovery professionals and maintain my own growth through personal therapy, counselling supervision and ongoing training.

My approach is somatic and nervous-system-informed, working bottom-up and body-first. It draws on: The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model: understanding patterns like emotional eating as nervous system responses, not personal failings. Polyvagal theory: learning to recognise your nervous system states and build skills for regulation. Somatic practices: meditation, movement and felt sense awareness to help you reconnect with your body. Cognitive-behavioural tools: practical skills, such as mapping behaviour chains and recognising choice points, that help you translate insight into everyday change.

My work is guided by: Compassion: meeting you with kindness and without judgment. Integrity: being honest, clear, and staying within my coaching scope. Safety: creating a calm, grounded space for growth and change. Empowerment: helping you build self-trust and inner authority. Embodiment: supporting you to reconnect with your body. Meaning: honouring your inner wisdom and spiritual life as part of recovery.
The Grounded Method isn’t a religious programme, and you’re welcome whatever your beliefs. I honour spirituality and meaning as part of recovery, so if faith is important to you, there’s space to bring it into our work. If it isn’t, the coaching stands fully on its own. You decide how much, or how little, this plays a part.
The Grounded Method is an online somatic coaching programme that runs over 12 weeks, in three phases of four weeks each. You can work through it in four ways:

Self-paced or group programme: access to pre-recorded video sessions, live group calls and deeper-dive course material to work through between sessions. What’s included depends on the package you choose.

Group call subscription: ongoing access to the twice-monthly live group calls for as long as you’re subscribed. Many clients who can’t afford 1:1 coaching combine this with working through the course material in their own time. Please enquire about this option.

1:1 Transformation: the same framework over six months, with a weekly 50-minute session tailored to your pace and depth.

Once-off sessions: support with something specific, without committing to a full programme.

All coaching is held online, so you can join from Cape Town or anywhere in the world. If there is anything you are unsure about, please contact me via my email at the bottom of this webpage.
The Grounded Method is available as a self-paced programme, a group programme and 1:1 coaching, with packages starting from $200. Single sessions and 1:1 coaching are tailored to suit you, and 1:1 packages include light text support between sessions. Every 1:1 journey begins with a free 15-minute conversation so we can understand where you are and what would serve you best. If cost is a concern, I offer a limited number of partial 1:1 scholarships and work on a sliding scale to meet you where you’re at. Please don’t let financial limitations stop you from getting support. I’m always open to discussing how best to support you within your budget.
The free 15-minute call is a relaxed, no-pressure conversation to see whether we’re a good fit. You’ll share a little about where you are and what you’re hoping for, and I’ll explain how I work and which option might suit you best, whether that’s 1:1 coaching, the group programme, the self-paced programme or the group call subscription. If coaching isn’t the right level of support for you right now, I’ll help point you towards what is. There’s no obligation to sign up afterwards.
Not currently. I’m not contracted to any South African medical aid scheme, so coaching is paid privately. If cost is a barrier, please still reach out. I offer limited partial 1:1 scholarships and I’m committed to finding something that works.
Yes. Not everyone can afford support, so I offer a limited number of 50% and 75% scholarships for 1:1 coaching. To apply, send an email titled “Scholarship application” with a short cover letter and which scholarship you’re applying for, or reach out to book a call with me to find out more about your options. I do not offer pro-bono work.

Get in touch

Ready to start?
Let's talk.

Whether you're interested in recordings, 1:1 coaching, or just want to ask a question — fill in the form and I'll be in touch within 48 hours.

I read every message personally and respond within 48 hours.
This is not a clinical service. If you are in crisis, please contact a mental health professional.

Message received.

Thank you for reaching out. I'll read your message carefully and be in touch within 48 hours.

In the meantime, if you haven't already — grab the free guide.


Get the free guide →