Workshop Summary: 

This workshop will focus on eating disorders with the goal of assisting providers in being able to identify and diagnose eating disorders, understand how to assess and refer clients to the proper level of care, understand the collaborative treatment of eating disorders, and to offer providers the tools to support clients in the outpatient levels of care.

Utilizing the DSM-5, the diagnoses for eating disorders will be explained, including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, ARFID, and OSFED. This will assist providers in being educated and mindful of the symptoms, aware of the tools they can utilize to assess symptoms in order to make proper diagnoses, and familiar with assessment questions to explore symptoms further. Presenters will also offer support and education on avoiding questioning/comments that may exacerbate symptoms or cause clients to mask symptoms in sessions. Presenters will educate participants on weight-inclusive approaches to treatment as well as ways to identify and navigate diet culture messaging that may be present in sessions. This will include how such messages, though often culturally normative, serve to validate the eating disorder further and negatively impact the client’s road to recovery. Strategies for such scenarios will be presented in an effort to increase each participant's comfort level in working with eating disorder clients and supporting their full recovery. 

Providers will also be educated on why it is so important to be mindful of their own relationship with diet, culture, foods, and bodies, which can cause transference in sessions—assisting providers in a non-judgmental evaluation of selves and being able to establish boundaries in sessions that create a safe place for clients to explore and process their eating disorders and body image.

Learning Objectives:  

1) Participants will be able to define the five most common eating disorders and list two screening tools used in the assessment of eating disorders.

2) Participants will be able to identify and diagnose eating disorders using the DSM and APA criteria. 

3) Participants will be able to distinguish between the five levels of care for eating disorders and match clinical presentation to the appropriate level of care.

4) Participants will be able to comprehend examples of diet culture messaging in therapy sessions and give examples of how two statements are incongruent with eating disorder recovery goals.

Speaker Bio: Mary is a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and Approved Consultant (CEDS-C) through the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp) with over 18 years of experience in the field of eating disorders. Living up and down the East Coast and consulting abroad, Mary has worked across all levels of care for eating disorders. She has served as the lead dietitian for New York University (NYU) and was selected to be the first nutrition consultant for NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus, counseling students and advising faculty and staff on assessing and treating eating disorders.

Mary has served in leadership roles across all levels of eating disorder care at various well-known treatment centers throughout the country.  After realizing the need for expert eating disorders care in her hometown, she moved back to Hampton Roads to provide nutritional care to members of the coastal VA community.  Mary is the Nutrition Director for Prosperity Eating Disorders and Wellness in Norfolk, VA, which provides Eating Disorders Treatment at the PHP and IOP levels of care. She also serves as an expert advisor for Within Health, the first fully virtual PHP and IOP eating disorders treatment program. Mary completed her master’s degree and R.D. training in Public Health Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with her public health training at the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in the Department of Infant and Young Child Feeding.

Angie is a Licensed Clinical Counselor (LPC) in Virginia and became the Clinical Director of Prosperity in Norfolk in 2021. She has worked with clients in many different settings, including hospital, residential, outpatient, and community-based. She has also worked with a wide range of diagnoses, including depression, anxiety, OCD, psychotic disorders, BPD, PTSD, and others. Angie has worked with teen clients, adult clients, clients in the  LGBTQIA+ community, families, and veterans. She utilizes aspects of CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, and other modalities when treating clients. Angie believes in assisting clients with the DBT concept of “living a life worth living.” She empowers clients by building on strengths and validating progress, focusing on understanding that every client’s journey in treatment is unique to each individual.