Disordered Eating Behaviors: Identify and Treat the Underlying Trauma

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Faculty

Lori Kucharski, PhD, LMFT-S, LPC, CEDS-S Related seminars and products

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Lori Kucharski, PhD, LMFT-S, LPC, CEDS-S, is a licensed therapist practicing since 2004 in residential treatment facilities, crisis and outpatient mental health, and private practice. She owns and operates a training, consulting, supervision, and clinical practice. She is a Certified EMDR Therapist, Approved Consultant, and Training/Credit Provider as well as an AAMFT-Approved Supervisor, a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist/Supervisor, and the EMDR regional network coordinator for Colorado Springs, CO. She taught MFT and Counseling courses in graduate programs and specializes in complex trauma, attachment, disordered eating, dissociation, and body image with all ages from a systems perspective. She presents locally and nationally on these topics and advocates for ending social and cultural stigma and discrimination around body size, ability, and appearance.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Lori Kucharski has an employment relationship with the EMDR Center of the Pikes Peak Region. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Lori Kucharski is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the Colorado Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, EMDRIA, and the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals.

Objectives

2. Build a thorough understanding of childhood trauma, attachment, dissociation, and the researched, causal link to disordered eating.
3. Utilize evidence-based, assessment tools and interventions for disordered eating, trauma, and dissociation, as well as spouses/partners and families/caregivers.
4. Examine the history of eating disorder treatment, disordered eating in the United States, and the socio-political/cultural factors involved in disordered eating.
5. Diagnose and treat non-DSM-5® disordered eating.
6. Evaluate personal behaviours or counter-transference that could be impeding treatment efficacy.
7. Apply case studies and conceptualization for incorporating body-positive terminology, awareness and intervention.

Outline

Prepare Yourself for Every Stage of the Therapy Process

• Intake Strategies for Successful Therapeutic Intervention
  • Looking beyond anorexia, bulimia and bingeing
  • Conclusive questions for improving your client intake
  • Red flags of disordered eating
  • Address common issues that may not be in DSM-5®: Orthorexia, compulsive overeating, diabulimia
  • Digging for the roots: is the disordered behaviour a result of previous trauma?

Implement Comprehensive Clinical Assessments 

• How to choose the right assessment for your client
  • Specific assessments for the spectrum of disordered eating and trauma
  • Additional tools for depression, trauma, or other comorbid conditions
• How and when to use assessments for tracking progress
• Frequency considerations – get what you need without client burnout
• Collaboration within the treatment team

Techniques and Interventions to Transform Your Therapy

• Non-diet paradigm to transform your client’s relationship with food
  • Health at Every Size (HAES)
  • Intuitive eating
  • Respect, love and nurturance for self
  • Reframing your approach as the clinician
• Trauma-informed tactics for each stage of counselling
  • Trauma Specific Evaluation of Intake Procedure: what NOT to say/do
  • Process and treat trauma and dissociation
• Determine the appropriate order of interventions
• Avoid re-traumatization
• Therapeutic techniques that assist in stabilization
  • EMDR
  • IFS Mapping: Address the various mindsets of each patient
  • Attachment focused work: Self and others
  • Art and sand tray interventions, journaling/logging
• Therapeutic approaches for stabilization
  • Evaluate the Window of Tolerance
  • Incorporation of Polyvagal Theory to increase client stability
  • Prevent overwhelming trauma symptoms

Put It All into Action: Considerations for Implementation Into Your Practice

• Overcome common blocks in therapy
• Systemic vs. individual: When to include family/partners
• Self of the therapist exercise: Countertransference, bias
• Case discussions and video demonstrations
• Effective documentation for ongoing treatment
• Risks and limitations

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Psychologists
• Addiction Counsellors
• Case Managers
• Registered Dietitians & Dietetic Technicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals