Pesi – The Body Image Course: Helping EVERY BODY find Peace with Food and Weight
Body image interventions that support inclusion of race, gender identity, sexuality, body size, ethnicity, and culture…
…so, you can stay up-to-date on the most current affirming interventions!
We live in a society that rewards body shame, prioritizes being thin over being well, and promotes losing weight at all costs.
And to make matters worse, while body dissatisfaction does not discriminate, current interventions and approaches have failed to include every body in ways that account for the role of individual and collective trauma.
Toxic experiences like abuse, neglect, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and fatphobia have led clients to hate their bodies…
…leaving them stuck in a vicious cycle of shame, depression, anxiety, and dieting.
It’s time to rethink how we intervene with body image concerns.
That’s why we’ve created this one-of-a-kind Body Image Course!
The Body Image Course: Helping EVERY BODY find Peace with Food and Weight
Learn from 19 of the leading voices in the field as they guide you through the most up-to-date affirming interventions you need to skillfully and sensitively help all your clients cultivate body love, acceptance, and compassion.
Drawing on the latest research, you’ll learn transformational body image interventions and approaches that will not only significantly improve your client’s relationship with their body, weight, and food, but will also support the inclusion of race, gender identity, sexuality, body size, ethnicity, and culture.
Walk away with the necessary interventions and approaches to skillfully:
- Recognize and reverse the toxic impact of diet culture on your clients’ body image – and on yourself!
- Decrease shame responses by accounting for the impact of individual and collective trauma on body image and disordered eating.
- Apply strategies grounded in intuitive eating and Health At Every Size to decrease preoccupation with food and weight.
- Assess and treat disordered eating and body image concerns in marginalized clients, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals.
- Connect with, assess, and treat men with eating disorders and related body image concerns.
- Help clients befriend their bodies and reclaim their sexual selves after sexual trauma.
- Create an inclusive, weight-stigma-free zone in your practice.
- Incorporate body-love, body-forgiveness, and self-compassion practices to improve body image and eating concerns.
- You’ll learn cutting-edge interventions for body image concerns and disordered eating, including approaches and strategies from:
IFS • EMDR • ACT • Transdiagnostic CBT • Psychoanalytic Treatment • Spirituality
COURSE OUTLINE
Cultivating Radical Self-Love: Inhabiting with Wonder and Joy the Body You’re In
Sonya Renee Taylor, author of The Body Is Not an Apology | Click here for information about Sonya Renee Taylor
This powerful conversation will examine the importance of changing the prevailing societal structures that communicate that our bodies are unacceptable as they are. Walk away with:
- Actionable take-a-ways on how to use The Body Is Not an Apology as an intervention to help clients who struggle with their relationship to their body, food, and weight
- A new perspective on how to help your clients—and yourself—break down the barriers to healing and start a revolution towards radical self-love!
Sizing Up Our Strategies: Best Practices to Treat Body Shame and Chronic Dieting
Judith Matz, LCSW, ACSW (she/her)
Take an in-depth look at a client’s experience with multiple therapists on her journey to cultivate a healthy body image, confront weight stigma, and make peace with food. You will learn:
- How your own views toward body size and food impact what you offer clients
- Strategies to unlearn diet culture for yourself and with your clients
Untangling Weight and Health: A Physician’s Perspective
Lisa Erlanger, MD (she/her)
Explore the myths and realities of the relationship between weight and health. Through cases, research, and resources, you will be empowered to:
- Reduce weight stigma in your office
- Advocate for a weight-inclusive approach to health for all your clients
Intuitive Eating: Healing Clients’ Relationship with Food
Aaron Flores, RDN (he/him)
Intuitive eating is a path that allows clients to end the war with food, re-learn how to tune into their bodies, and develop a more peaceful relationship with food and body. Help your clients by learning:
- How the 10 principles of intuitive eating help clients feel safer in their bodies
- Specific tools to help heal clients’ relationships with food
Every Body Counts: Culturally-Attuned Care for Marginalized Individuals Struggling with Disordered Eating and Body Image
Sand Chang, PhD (they/them) | Click here for information about Sand C. Chang
Current assessment and treatment approaches for eating disorders and related body image issues have narrow parameters that do not include every body. Discover:
- Skills to successfully support inclusion by recognizing the spectrum of body image concerns and related disordered eating in a culturally-attuned manner
- How to take systems of oppression and marginalization into account in your clinical work
Black Women, Body Image, and Eating Disorders: The Missing Links in Research and Treatment
Jessica Wilson, MS, RD (she/her)\
Racial trauma informs ways in which disordered eating shows up in Black women, who are confronted every day with the contradictory message that their bodies are “too much” for Western society and at the same that they are “not enough.” This session will help you:
- Understand how weight stigma and thin privilege have roots in racism
- Gain essential strategies for discussing race and racial harm with clients struggling with disordered eating and body image concerns
Body Forgiveness: The Intersection of Forgiveness and Self-Compassion in Positive Body Image and Eating Disorder Recovery
Ann Saffi Biasetti, PhD, LCSWR, CEDS, CIAYT (she/her)\
Recovery from disordered eating and body image issues is often solely focused on behaviour change, overlooking the important component of assisting clients with developing a relationship with their bodies. You will discover:
- How body forgiveness can decrease clients’ body objectification and shame
- A body forgiveness practice to increase self-compassion
Self Leads the Way: IFS Interventions for Treating Binge Eating Disorder, Complex Trauma, and Body Shame
Amy Pershing, LMSW, ACSW (she/her)\
The experience of complex trauma significantly contributes to binge eating disorder (BED) and body dissatisfaction. If you treat trauma, you treat BED. Sadly, few clinicians are trained in dealing with both concerns, which impacts treatment for these clients. You will learn:
- Key questions to ask to uncover whether your client has BED
- How to look at BED through an IFS lens and a plan of action to avoid harm by using somatic healing and intuitive eating and movement
Eating Disorders Treatment: Applying a Social Justice Lens for Healing and Liberation
Marcella Raimondo, PhD, MPH (she/her)\
When eating disorders occur in marginalized individuals, related dynamics are increasingly complex. This session focuses on:
- Practical interventions informed by social justice principles to ensure all individuals with eating disorders can access safe treatment options
- Self-reflection exercises and case presentations to create an inclusive and healing environment
Fostering Connection with Specific Interventions: Treating the LGBTQ+ Client Through Their Eating Disorder
Christine Vara, LCSW-C, LICSW, MDiv (she/her or he/him)\
Emerging research suggests that individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ may be at higher risk of experiencing body image concerns and disordered eating alongside barriers to appropriate treatment. Increase your understanding of the challenges that your LGBTQ+ clients face as you discover how to:
- Accurately use pronouns and address micro- and macro- aggressions
- Create safer spaces for healing
Bringing Men to the Table: Effective Interventions for Eating Disorders and Body Image Concerns in Males
Andrew Walen, LCSW-C, LICSW, CEDS-S (he/him)\
Latest research indicates that males represent up to a third of those identified with anorexia and bulimia, half with binge eating, and the majority with muscle dysmorphia. Learn specific approaches for males, including:
- How to ask questions that will uncover eating disorders and body image concerns in men
- Clinical practice goals to enhance prevention and treatment
ACT for Body Acceptance: Help Clients Confront the Barriers that Stop Them from Living the Life They Value
Diana Hill, PhD (she/her)
Hounded by unattainable white western standards about what constitutes an acceptable body, many clients stop pursuing the life they want, feel shame that they struggle with body positivity, and blame themselves for being stuck. This session will teach you ACT strategies to:
- Unhook clients’ identities from their bodies and their thoughts about their bodies
- Help clients accept the body they inhabit and use it to pursue meaningful activities even as they experience distressing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Tips for Moving Forward in Your Practice
With Judith Matz, LCSW, ACSW (she/her) / Sand Chang, PhD (they/them) / Jessica Wilson, MS, RD (she/her) / Amy Pershing, LMSW, ACSW (she/her) / Andrew Walen, LCSW-C, LICSW, CEDS-S (he/him)
- This session presents a dynamic discussion where five of our expert speakers break down your next steps to putting what you have learned into practice! They will help you:
- Understand and overcome challenges to working with body image concerns and disordered eating
- Gain practical tips and concrete strategies you can begin implementing in your practic
- No matter whose body walks through your clinic door, you’ll be ready and confident to deliver more informed, inclusive care centred on body image, eating disorders, food, and weight.
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