February 2025
Presentation for the Rochester City School District Educators and Staff
coming soon!
January 2025
Presentation for the Caregiver Support Group offered by the Western NY Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders
The Caregiver Support Group led by Michelle Morales (parent-peer mentor) meets online weekly (Wednesdays at 7pm EST).
January 2025
Didactic Training for Project ECHO Eating Disorders on Injectable Weight Loss Medications
As the Clinical Psychologist for the Project ECHO Eating Disorder team, I have the opportunity a few times per year to give a didactic presentation on topics of interest to the provider community. Injectable weight loss drugs are definitely a topic of interest and it is understandable!
There are many concerns and unknowns about the use of these drugs in individuals who are in eating disorder recovery. While we do not have peer-reviewed data to look at, continuing to talk with other providers about what we are seeing in practice is hugely important.
November 2024 -
Training for Rochester City School District (RCSD) Faculty and Staff Continuing Education
In early November I had the opportunity to join Jen Dry-Desanto (WNYCCCED Care Manager) and Ellen Bennett (of KMB for Answers) to work with faculty and staff from RCSD to increase their knowledge about eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, anti-fat bias and prevention. This two hour presentation was interactive throughout and educators brought a huge range of questions as well as discussion.
We spent a much of the evening talking about prevention including what schools can do to create a safer school environment for all bodies, how schools can teach about food/nutrition in ways that reduce anti-fat bias (implicit and explicit) and suggestions for teachers/staff to work on for themselves as well.
November 2024 -
Training for Rochester City School District (RCSD) Faculty and Staff Continuing Education
September 2024 -
Keynote address for Genesee Valley BOCES Eating Disorder Awareness and Prevention Training Conference
Several individuals representing many agencies across Upstate/Western NY have been meeting for the past year to plan this conference that was offered to school nurses, teachers, athletic directors, coaches, consumer science teachers, physical education teachers, school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists as well as administrators.
The Keynote provided an overview of eating disorders, signs and symptoms to look out for, and what schools can do to support students who are struggling.
The Keynote ALSO focused on PREVENTION including what schools can do to create a safer school environment for all bodies, how schools can teach about food/nutrition in ways that reduce anti-fat bias (implicit and explicit) and suggestions for teachers/staff to work on for themselves as well.
August 2024 - Training with Fayetteville-Manlius School District
Had a great opportunity to talk to school psychologists, school counselors and school social workers from the Fayetteville-Manlius School District (central NY) about supporting students of concern and proactively creating an environment where all bodies are safer at school.
This district has staff members that regularly attend Project ECHO Eating Disorders for School-Based Personnel (Tuesday AM 8:30 1x/month) who reached out to the team for more training and support.
August 2024 - Training with Psychology and Social Work Interns at Univerity of Rochester Counseling Center
Annual training .
June 2024, Guest Facilitator with The Emilee Connection
I am fortunate to have an invitation from the founder’s of The Emilee Connection to facilitate their upcoming adult eating disorder support group. This is an open, no-cost group, please reach out via theemileeconnection.com to register if you are interested and please follow their social media for more opportunities to support this cause
June 2024, Overview of Eating Disorder Treament and Role of Family and Family Therapist in Recovery
Requested presentation for URMC Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, Medical Family Intensive
March 2024: Presentation on Anti-Fat Bias and Eating Disorders for k-12 PE and Health Education Teachers
This was a particularly energizing presentation on a really challenging topic. For this presentation I shared background about what anti-fat bias is, how it can show up in schools in particular and how it is related to eating disorder risk. We also discussed basics about eating disorders and how to talk to students of concern. The most lively part of this discussion was about how we talk to students about nutrition and exercise at school, and how we can do this in ways that are simultaneously educational and also not shaming.
This was a challenging topic to navigate and I am grateful to the educators in attendance for the work they do daily as well as the energy that they gave to this topic.
March 2024: Presentation on Eating Disorders and Breastfeeding for Project ECHO Eating Disorders
For this presentation I shared background about the prevalence and symptoms of eating disorders, the benefits of breastfeeding, and a review of the existing (limited) body of research about this topic. This led to a review of what providers can do to educate, screen and support mothers prior to conception, during pregnancy, and particularly post-partum about the way that their eating disorder recovery may be impacted by the many demands and changes associated with breastfeeding. Attendees included nurses, physicians from family medicine, pediatrics, adolescent medicine, psychiatry and breastfeeding medicine, therapists from the community, researchers from abroad (Europe), registered dietitians, social workers, peer mentors and trainees from many disciplines.
Fall 2023: Two Part Presentation on Anti-Fat Bias for k-12 teachers and staff
For this presentation I gave an overview of anti-fat bias - what it is, how we got here, how it is negatively impacting all of us in different ways, and most importantly, what educators and individuals working with our children can do about it now. This is a topic that receives very little attention, particularly in the context of other conversations about DEI topics and biases. While it receives very little attention, the impact is actually quite widespread and significant.
Summer 2023: Assessment, Conceptualization, and Management of Eating Disorders in College Mental Health Settings
Every year I have been lucky to have the opportunity to work with the new cohort of trainees at the University of Rochester Counseling Center to increase their competence and confidence in working with individuals with disordered eating and eating disorders. I was fortunate this year to be able to do this training alongside my colleague Dr. Katie Harmer who is a family medicine physician in the community. The incoming cohort includes trainees in psychology and social work who will spend the year ahead at the counseling center and then head out into various different settings to continue their work.
Summer 2023: Psychodynamic Process Group for Women in Midlife Impacted By Eating Disorders
This presentation for the Project ECHO Eating Disorder Provider community gave me an opportunity to share the research supporting the idea of group therapy for women in midlife impacted by eating disorders and also to discuss the practical considerations with other providers who are considering running a similar group in their community.
Spring 2023: Review of High Impact Research Findings from ED Literature in 2022
This presentation for the Project ECHO Eating Disorder Provider community covered a broad range of research findings that were released in 2022. As a group we were able to discuss recent research and consider how it applies in the context of ongoing clinical work.