Interview with Jessica Aronson, LCSW-R, CGP, CEDS-C, ACSW, Founder of J Aronson Therapy
At New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching, we explore how learning, self-regulation, and executive functioning shape growth across the lifespan. Increasingly, our work intersects with mental health professionals who recognize that challenges with planning, flexibility, impulse control, and follow-through are not isolated academic concerns, they are deeply connected to wellbeing and recovery.
In this interview, we spoke with Jessica Aronson, LCSWR, CGP, CEDS-C, ACSW, founder of J Aronson Therapy, about how executive functioning plays a meaningful role in eating disorder treatment. Jessica is an integrative Psychotherapist in private practice in New York City. She specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, grief, and co-occurring addictions. She is certified in RO DBT, EMDR, KAP and has trained in ACT, DBT, Psychodrama, SMP, and Mindfulness. She is the Past President of iaedp NY where she has held leadership positions as Vice President, Certification Chair and Student Liaison. In addition, she is an approved supervisor for iaedp NY. Currently she is enrolled in the Clinical Affiliate Program for EMDR at NIP.
Her integrative approach highlights how supporting executive skills alongside collaborative eating disorder treatment and Psychotherapy can strengthen recovery and decrease the acuity of one’s symptoms and behaviors. This holistic approach empowers clients and creates more sustainable change.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
Your clinical work focuses on eating disorder recovery, yet you frequently speak about the importance of executive functioning. How did executive function become a meaningful part of your therapeutic lens?
Jessica Aronson:
Over time, I noticed that while client’s symptoms, behaviors, moods and relationships improved they still struggled to translate that work into daily life. Tasks such as cleaning their apartment or home, picking up medication, going to the supermarket, and managing their time remained challenging. That’s when I began to see how executive functioning was influencing recovery. Skills like planning meals, initiating tasks, shifting routines, and tolerating uncertainty require executive support. When those capacities are strained, recovery can feel overwhelming even when insight is strong. Integrating an executive function lens helped me better understand how clients were trying to recover, not just why.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
For readers who work in learning and development, how do executive function challenges often intersect with eating disorder behaviors?
Jessica Aronson:
Different eating disorder presentations can mirror — or overlap with — executive function and ADHD-related patterns in important ways.
For example, individuals with bulimia nervosa often describe chaotic eating patterns, difficulty with impulse control, and a sense of disorganization in both behavior and thinking. From an executive function perspective, this can look very similar to ADHD-related challenges with inhibition, planning, and emotional regulation. Naming these overlaps and helping clients discern what is going on can be incredibly validating for clients — the behaviors are no longer framed as moral failures, but as signals that structure and support are needed.
At the other end of the spectrum, anorexia nervosa is frequently associated with rigid rules, inflexible beliefs, and highly controlled routines. These patterns can intersect with features seen in ARFID, where sensory sensitivities, limited food repertoires, and cognitive rigidity play a central role. In ARFID — and in ADHD-related picky eating — executive function challenges around flexibility, interoception, and sensory processing can significantly shape eating behavior.
Understanding these intersections helps clinicians move away from siloed diagnoses and toward a more nuanced view of how different operating systems show up in the body.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
You’ve described the value of “looking under the hood” in treatment. How does differentiation support more effective care?
Jessica Aronson:
Differentiation allows us to ask what each behavior is doing for the individual. Are we addressing an eating disorder symptom, an executive function challenge, or both? When we slow down and parse that out, treatment becomes more precise and more compassionate. Clients often realize that what felt like resistance or failure was in fact a mismatch between expectations and how their brains function. That clarity builds momentum and is empowering rather than shaming.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
As individuals progress in recovery, what changes do you see when executive function needs are supported alongside therapy?
Jessica Aronson:
Clients often report feeling more capable and less self-critical. When executive supports are in place, they’re better able to follow through, recover from setbacks, and tolerate flexibility. Progress becomes less about willpower and more about systems that align with how their brains work. This shift alone can be deeply empowering.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
You’ve increasingly integrated executive function coaches into the recovery process. How does this collaboration support clients?
Jessica Aronson:
Executive function coaches help translate insight into action. They support planning, prioritizing, and adaptation — skills that are essential in recovery but often under-addressed in therapy alone. Collaboration allows each professional to work within their scope while reinforcing a shared goal: helping clients build sustainable routines, increase flexibility, and strengthen self-trust over time.
New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching:
What perspective would you offer to practitioners interested in a more holistic, executive function–informed approach to eating disorder recovery?
Jessica Aronson:
I’d encourage curiosity and collaboration. When we broaden our lens to include executive functioning, we move away from one-size-fits-all expectations and toward individualized support. Integrating executive function coaching doesn’t replace emotional work — it strengthens it. Recovery becomes not just possible, but more livable.
Shared Mission
Both New Frontiers Executive Function Coaching and J Aronson Therapy emphasize that meaningful change occurs when individuals are supported as whole learners — cognitively, emotionally, and practically. By integrating executive function awareness into eating disorder recovery, professionals can foster flexibility, agency, and long-term wellbeing.
Jessica also facilitates Free Your Fitness (www.freeurfitness.com), a structured group program supporting individuals struggling with compulsive movement by focusing on flexibility, routine-building, and self-regulation.
