Moving Towards Liberation: An exploration of weight bias in the field of Mental Health

Course Description:

Exploration of liberation frameworks, size justice and body oppression with clients, colleagues and peers. In a world that values thinness, diet culture, and eurocentric beauty standards, clients and clinicians of all sizes can find themselves wrestling with painful issues of shame and worthiness in relation to their bodies. It is clients of size (fat/higher weight) who often receive hostile messages which are culturally pervasive, internalized from a young age, and can impact across the lifespan. It is of vital importance to also understand the less hostile ways in which fatphobia, weight stigma and body oppression may show up in the field of mental health. Presenter will introduce an anti-oppressive theoretical framework to guide discussing size justice and body oppression with clients, colleagues and peers. Participants will be invited to self-reflect on their own experience with both internalized and externalized fatphobia.