Price: $345 USD
Join us for this five-part series delivered by six presenters over five weeks.
5-part weekly online series
6 speakers
5 (90-minute) live presentations (recorded with 90-day access)
March 15 - April 19, 2024 (see details below)
Approved for 7.5 CPEUs by the CDR
This 5-part webinar series is developed for mental health and healthcare providers supporting ADHDers struggling with feeding and eating challenges, including eating disorders.
The series offers a unique opportunity to learn from teachers and clinicians with lived experience and is geared toward providers striving to build inclusive and liberatory practices. The majority of our speakers are openly neurodivergent and have lived experience with ADHD. Together, we will explore important topics, such as neurodiversity-affirming ED care, nervous system regulation, accommodations, supporting interoception, capitalism, ADHD and EDs, and IFS parts work.
We hope this series will give you the tools and confidence needed to offer ADHD-affirming care to your clients. We believe that together, we can create the change required to enhance the lives of neurodivergent people struggling with nourishment.
Presenters: Shira Collings MS, LPC (she/they) and Stacie Fanelli, LCSW (she/her)
Date and Time of Presentation: March 15 (1:00-2:30 pm) ET
This presentation will explore the complexities of diagnosis as it pertains to neurodiversity affirming eating disorder care. Stacie and Shira will discuss the risks and benefits of diagnosis, as well as the barriers to diagnosis that many neurodivergent people face. Participants will have a chance to explore and reflect on the ways that diagnosis can support individuals in accepting and accommodating themselves, yet at the same time can reinforce the idea that acceptance and accommodation are conditional upon a diagnosis. The presentation will introduce a neurodiversity affirming approach to diagnosis in the context of eating disorder care.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will gain an understanding of the costs and benefits of psychiatric diagnosis.
Participants will be able to describe a neurodiversity affirming approach to diagnosis within eating disorder care.
Participants will identify tangible strategies for troubleshooting systemic diagnostic-based barriers to accessing care.
Stacie Fanelli (she/her) is a clinical social worker and therapist working primarily in the intersection of neurodivergence and eating disorders. She leans heavily on lived experience as a late-discovered autistic ADHDer in sustained eating disorder recovery, as well as ongoing continuing education in anti-carceral and affirming treatment approaches, to support individuals and families in pursuing their visions for recovery.
Stacie has worked at all levels of care in treatment of eating disorders and developed an interest in addressing concerns specific to neurodivergent populations through advocacy and education after observing poor treatment outcomes and further harm perpetuated in programs that were designed around neurotypical needs.
In her outpatient work, she utilizes elements of various cognitive modalities but emphasizes relationship and deconstruction of oppressive systems as primary tools for healing internalized capitalism, ableism, and fatphobia. She remains committed to providing education through social media, trainings, and upcoming writings to eating disorder professionals on de-pathologization of neurodivergent traits as well as to neurodivergent professionals on incorporating anti-diet and fat liberation lenses into their work.
Shira Collings, MS, LPC (she/they) is a licensed therapist in Philadelphia. She received her Master’s in Counseling and Psychology with a specialization in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Troy University and her Bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in working with clients with eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image distress. Their therapeutic approach is rooted in the Health At Every Size paradigm and body liberation, and it is also informed by mad studies, disability studies, feminism, and queer and trans liberation. They are passionate about integrating social justice into the therapeutic process. In addition to their clinical work, Shira presents and consults on weight inclusive and neurodiversity affirming approaches to eating disorder care.
Presenter: Sam Silverman, LMFT (they/them)
Date and Time of Presentation: March 22 (1:00-2:30 pm) ET
In this workshop, Sam will discuss coping tools for nervous system dysregulation, with an emphasis on accommodations, transitioning tasks, and making decisions. This presentation will focus on the ways that, in particular, ADHD, OCD, and/or Autism impact our nervous systems both in the context of specific experiences (e.g. sensory overload) and the trauma of neurotypical societal expectations (e.g. shame from doing things “wrong”). This nervous system distress then impacts our motivation, decision making, planning, and ability to cope with tasks of daily living. The presenter will go over specific tools to help clients identify dysregulation, soothe dysregulation, and cope with transitions between tasks. Sam will draw on, in particular, examples related to eating, meal planning, and food-based accommodations. The goal of this talk is to help participants and those they support create a more loving relationship with themselves, challenge “supposed tos”, create a more accessible path to self-care, and identify more tools to meeting their needs.
Learning objectives
Participants will gain an understanding of how to better support themselves and/or their clients in identifying areas for accommodation around eating and tasks of daily living.
Participants will be able to identify at least common barriers to emotional regulation around decisions and transitions.
Participants will have a brief understanding of ways to minimize distress around decisions and transitions as well as coping tools if distress arises.
Sam Silverman (they/them) is a white queer, non-binary, AUDHD, and disabled therapist. They use they/ them pronouns. They have conducted therapy and facilitated groups in addiction, mental health, and eating disorder treatment with adults and teens. In 2020, Sam transitioned to providing therapy in private practice. The therapeutic modalities Sam draws from most often are ACT, IFS, somatic, mindfulness, and experiential techniques. While Sam always attempt to approach therapy through an inclusive, intersectional lens they are open to critical feedback on their work and open to collaboration/ skill sharing with others.
Price: $345 USD
Presenter: Josée Sovinsky, RD, RP (she/they)
Date and Time of Presentation: April 5 (1:00-2:30 pm) ET
While ADHD and eating disorders may seem unrelated at first glance, research and narrative drawn from lived experience have demonstrated significant overlaps and interactions between these two experiences, especially in the context of modern capitalism.
In this presentation, we will examine how ADHD and eating disorders can influence each other, and how the capitalist system, with its focus on productivity, competition, and perfectionism, often exacerbates the challenges faced by ADHDers with eating disorders. We will outline how this oppressive system further creates barriers to growth and safety, and often contributes to individuals perceiving themselves harshly and negatively. We will also explore how therapists, dietitians, and healthcare providers can support individuals as they navigate the intersection of these identities and experiences from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective.
Learning Objectives
After this presentation, participants will be able to:
Better recognize the ways in which ADHD, eating disorders, and capitalism interact.
Explain how capitalistic values uphold eating disorders and ableism.
Utilize assessment and discussion questions to better identify how capitalism is impacting the people they support.
Josée Sovinsky (she/they) is a white, French Canadian, thin, bi, and genderqueer woman with lived experience of mental health struggles and neurodivergence (ADHD). She is both a Registered Dietitian and a Registered Psychotherapist based in Ottawa, ON. They are the co-founder of the Blossom Counselling Centre, which is home to a team of dietitians and therapists who support adults with eating disorders, body image, self-esteem, ADHD, and anxiety. Josée’s practice aims to be weight-inclusive, gender and sexuality affirming, neurodiversity-affirming, and trauma-informed. She blends person-centered therapy, ACT, and feminist therapy to create a space where clients can explore their values, understand their concerns within the context of social structures, and move towards their version of a meaningful life.
Outside of school and work, Josée loves to perform and is involved in community musical theatre. They love reading queer fiction, re-watching episodes of Star Trek, and discovering new flavours of tea. Josée is also "Maman" to the sweetest baby, and loves incorporating gender creative and gentle parenting approaches while supporting this tiny human's growth.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD (she/her)
Date and Time of Presentation: April 12 (1:00-2:30 pm) ET
Interoception gives us information regarding the internal state of our bodies. In weight-inclusive care, interoceptive awareness is often explored when supporting clients to access adequate nourishment. While understanding our inner experiences is crucial to enhancing a person's well-being, the mainstream application of "interoception enhancement" reinforces ableist thinking and neuronormative ideals around how to exist in a body and the "best" way to feel sensations. Conventional modalities also fail to explore how our environment and external experiences inherently impact our inner experiences. This presentation will challenge the "gold standard" tools such as the hunger/fullness scale and oversimplified recommendations like "eat when you are hungry". We will explore why these tools may not be appropriate for neurodivergent people, particularly ADHDers and folks who have experienced trauma. We will look at affirming ways to support interoception and nourishment without comparing inner experiences to a "normal" way of feeling sensations. A case study will also be discussed to demonstrate concrete examples to support folks with interoceptive differences.
Learning Objectives:
Define interoception and its role in feeding and eating.
Explain how neuronormative ideals around interoceptive awareness can harm neurodivergent people and create barriers to accessing nutrition.
Identify two ways to support interoception in ADHDers.
Naureen Hunani (she/her) is a multiply-neurodivergent registered dietitian with over 18 years of experience. She is the founder of RDs for Neurodiversity, a neurodiversity-informed online continuing education platform and community for dietitians and helping professionals.
She has a private practice in Montreal, Canada, where she supports people struggling with various feeding and eating challenges through a trauma-informed, weight-inclusive and anti-oppressive approach. She is the creator of the Neurodiversity Affirming Model®, a framework developed to disrupt, challenge and dismantle the current oppressive models that exclude the feeding and eating experiences of neurodivergent and disabled people. Naureen has extensive experience working with neurodivergent children, adults and families. She has had the privilege to share her knowledge at national and international conferences. In 2023, she received ASAN's Nothing About Us Without US Award. She is passionate about supporting pro-justice and weight-inclusive professionals striving to build liberatory practices.
Presenter: Sand Chang, PhD (they/them)
Date and Time of Presentation: April 19 (1:00-2:30 pm) ET
In this workshop, Dr. Sand Chang (they/them) will discuss addressing ADHD, eating disorders, and trauma with an Internal Family Systems (IFS) and trauma-informed lens. Topics discussed may include masking as protection, the vulnerability of parts that experience rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), common provider reactions/parts, and key tenets of IFS. Dr. Chang will provide examples of how an IFS and trauma-informed approach might be applied in clinical interactions.
Learning objectives:
Describe two key assumptions of IFS as pertaining to symptomatology.
Describe how the concept of masking relates to the protective system in IFS.
Name two common manager part strategies that may show up in the intersection of ADHD and eating disorders.
Sand Chang, PhD (they/them/their) is a Chinese American nonbinary psychologist and DEI consultant who works at the intersection of trans health, eating disorders, trauma recovery, and body liberation. They are a Level 3 Certified IFS therapist, IFS Institute Assistant Trainer and Approved Consultant, Certified Body Trust Provider, Certified EMDR therapist, and Co-Founder of Queer and Trans Internal Family Systems (QTIFS). Learn more about Sand at sandchang.com.
Price: $345 USD