My Body-Peace® approach & ethical statement:
There are many approaches that women can choose from when they are wanting to feel good in their body and at ease with food. I’d like to share my approach to working with women as well as the ethical guidelines that I use to help create a safe and reliable container for our work. I realize that this work is unique in it’s approach and may feel new to some clients.
I don’t believe in convincing or cajoling you into this work. Women are constantly being sold the “right” way to be in their body – and it’s destructive to the connection we have with ourselves.
This journey to creating a compassionate and respectful relationship with your food and body is something you get to choose when you are ready. My intention is to give you foundational information so that you can see if my approach resonates with you. My work is grounded in the following statements.
You are the expert of you. You have so much wisdom and life experience. You are the guiding force of this journey.
- My intention is always to provide a space for healing and growth.
- There is no “right” body shape. By embracing your own brand of beauty, you can give your body the compassion, relaxation and permission ‘she’ needs to feel radiant.
- Your body is the book of your life. You have a food and body story. And by unpacking the story as well as learning to listen and read your body’s symptoms and messages, you will have access to your wisest teacher.
- There is no one “right” way of eating. Recognizing what foods make your body hum with ease and pleasure, paves the way for stepping away from food rules (what you should and shouldn’t eat) and step into food harmony.
- The journey to body and food ease is a path of growth and personal development. This work is not about fixing. It’s about caring for yourself – and in the process, gaining a more profound and rewarding relationship with yourself.
- My approach is strength based. This means that I know you have many inner strengths and resources. We’ll tap into these strengths in our work together.
- Wellness is a day-by-day journey, not a destination.
- I want more for you than weight loss. The desire for weight loss is a desire for feeling at ease and good in your body. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight and certainly we all want to feel good in our body. However if we only focus on our weight and weight loss, we are limiting our experience of body peace to a very small window of acceptability and usually relegating ourselves to an experiences of restriction.My work is weight inclusive. This means success is not determined by the number on the scale. If you are interested in pursuing weight loss, I will open-heartedly explore this topic with you with depth and honesty, so that you can make choices that most support you. I am not for weight loss or against weight loss. I am neutral about your weight. I am however, passionate about you feeling at home in your own body.
- I believe that everyone is entitled to live in their body – AS IS – without judgment, bias or blame. I appreciate that you may be feeling the painful gap between wanting to love and care for yourself as-is, and yet still believing that if you change your body with deprivation it will be more lovable. I take the position that the more we care for our body the more we create a compassionate and loving relationship with our body, the better we feel – emotionally and physically.
I hold our work as important and sacred in these ways:
- I will start each appointment on time. Your time is just as valuable as mine and I do not want to keep you waiting.
- I will be fully present during our session and will actively listen to your experience.
- I acknowledge my privilege as a cis-gendered woman of “average” size. I am always doing my own exploration to learn and grow. I will continue to examine my own implicit biases and address those through trainings and conversations with individuals who can help me understand different narratives that are not my own.
- I will meet you in a way that works best for you, whether it’s on the phone or live-video-chat or in person if possible.
- My practice is grounded on my work as a Health & Psychology of Eating Coach and therapist. It’s deeply informed by the Body Trust ® approach, self-compassion, Intuitive Eating and had it’s deep roots in the Body-Peace® work that has grown out of my 30 years of working with women and their relationship with their bodies.
- I acknowledge the incredible shame that so many women have about their body and I do not perpetuate it. I will not and do not judge women on what they eat, what size they are or what fitness they are. I will not judge women on how they express their gender or sexuality, what race or class they are or what the status of their health is. I am committed to supporting women in healing from body-shame.
- I believe that the issues that women face – trying to have a compassionate and engaged relationship with their body – are not intrapersonal (having to do only with yourself),they are inter-societal. We are impacted by our culture’s ideals. Our society has a powerful and often destructive impact on how women feel in their own skin. Our work does not happen in a vacuum, we include the impact of our diet-culture and the culture in which you were raised, as we work towards healing your sense of self.
- I support your desire to feel good in your own skin.
If my approach touches you and resonates with you, I invite you to check out my programs or find a time to chat with me about how I can support you.
