9-Part training
7 x 2-hour live sessions, a lived experience ARFID panel (1.5 hours) and a 1 hour discussion session on Depathologizing ARFID
Approved for 15 CPEUs by the CDR
Bonus module with guest speaker Kris Scover, RD (they/them)
Bonus session with Shira Collings on Depathologizing ARFID
All sessions are delivered live and will be recorded
Extended one-year access
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: May 1, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
Module 1 focuses on the history of the neurodiversity and disability justice movement, the principles of the neurodiversity paradigm and the social model of disability. We will explore how different systems of oppression impact neurodivergent people and their relationship to food and their bodyminds. Participants will learn key principles needed to build a neurodiversity-informed practice.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: May 8, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
This session will explore factors that put neurodivergent people at risk for developing eating disorders. We will cover how neurodivergent traits impact food choices and eating. The session will allow participants to understand the overlap between neurodivergence, feeding differences, eating disorders and feeding challenges.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: May 15, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
In this module, participants will understand the importance of redefining ARFID through a disability and ND-affirming lens. Together, we will critically examine the DSM criteria related to ARFID and explore ND-affirming approaches to support people. Participants will be offered tools to implement the Neurodiversity Affirming Model® into practice.
Panellists: Dani Shapira, Amanda Wagner, RDN and Sam Dylan Finch
Date: May 22, 2024
Time: 12:00-1:30 pm ET
This module offers a unique opportunity for participants to learn from advocates with lived experience and engage with them. We will cover topics such as treatment, masking, invalidation and moving beyond desensitization. There will be an extended Q&A session, which will allow participants to have deeper conversations with the panellists.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: June 5, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
In this module, participants will learn how sensory differences can impact food and eating. We will also explore techniques and tools needed to support people with decreased interoceptive awareness. Guiding clients with executive functioning differences and the impact of stimulants on food and eating will also be explored.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: June 12, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
This module will cover how masking, trauma and burnout can make eating inaccessible for neurodivergent people. We will discuss ways to support ND folks with ARFID access to nourishment during times of high stress and exhaustion. We will also explore the usage of spoon and fork theory and discuss the importance of unmasking, stimming and experiencing sensory joy as a restorative practice.
Guest Speaker: Shira Collings, MS, NCC
Date: June 25, 2024
Time: 12:00-1:00 pm ET
In this session, providers will have the opportunity to discuss the de-pathologization of ARFID. Shira Collings will facilitate a discussion of how the neurodiversity paradigm can be applied to ARFID in order to facilitate accommodation and acceptance of this neurotype rather than providing treatments that can exacerbate disordered eating. Provides will explore ways they can work with clients with ARFID in a non-pathologizing way and learn practical strategies for affirming care.
Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date: June 26, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
This module will explore different ways providers can help clients implement accommodations so they can nourish their bodies guilt-free and shame-free. We will challenge mainstream ideals around recovery and lean into the neurodivergent eating and feeding experience, the power of validation and self-acceptance.
Guest Speaker: Kris Scover, RDN, LD
Date: July 3, 2024
Time: 12:00-2:00 pm ET
Join Kris Scover, RDN, LD, as they explore the many things that ARFID can teach us about ourselves, eating disorder treatment, and the concept of recovery. They will highlight case studies and lived experiences (including their own lived experience) in an interactive presentation that will dig deep into the theory of ARFID, neurodivergence, and eating disorder treatment reconstruction.
Guest Speaker
Meet Shira Collings, MS, LPC (she/they)
Part 7. Depathologizing ARFID
Shira Collings, MS, LPC (she/they) is a pre-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.
Description of this session:
In this session, providers will have the opportunity to discuss the de-pathologization of ARFID. Shira Collings will facilitate a discussion of how the neurodiversity paradigm can be applied to ARFID in order to facilitate accommodation and acceptance of this neurotype rather than providing treatments that can exacerbate disordered eating. Provides will explore ways they can work with clients with ARFID in a non-pathologizing way and learn practical strategies for affirming care.
Guest Speaker
Meet Kris Scover, RDN, LD (they/them)
Part 9. Title: What ARFID Teaches Us: Case Studies & Lived Experiences
Kris is a registered dietitian and public speaker who specializes in working with neurodivergent, gender-expansive, and queer clients who are seeking an agentic approach to eating disorder care. Kris is queer, trans, non-binary, and multiply neurodivergent, and their work is shaped by these identities and their desire to improve access to inclusive eating disorder care. They are particularly passionate about changing the way ARFID is conceptualized and treated in eating disorder spaces, a passion born from their own personal experience with ARFID as well as the experiences of their clients. Kris practices from an anti-diet, fat-positive, trauma-informed perspective at their private practice, NourishedED.
Description of their talk:
Join Kris Scover, RDN, LD, as they explore the many things that ARFID can teach us about ourselves, eating disorder treatment, and the concept of recovery. They will highlight case studies and lived experiences (including their own lived experience) in an interactive presentation that will dig deep into the theory of ARFID, neurodivergence, and eating disorder treatment reconstruction. They will also address the complex intersection of ARFID with various eating disorders, neurodivergences, and chronic health conditions. Attendees will learn about the long-lasting damage that "gold-standard" eating disorder treatment has on ARFID clients and the way that ARFID treatment reconstruction can drive larger eating disorder treatment reconstruction.
Presenters: Dani Shapira, Amanda Wagner RDN and Sam Dylan Finch
Date: May 22, 2024
Time: 12:00-1:30 pm ET
Building a neuro-affirming practice starts with learning from people with lived experience. Mainstream ARFID support often reinforces neuronormative ideals around eating, which can be incredibly harmful to neurodivergent people and a barrier to healing. In this session, panellists will discuss neurodivergent-affirming approaches to ARFID and the barriers ND people face when accessing adequate nutrition.
Panelist
Sam Dylan Finch (he/they) is a writer, content creator, and lived experience advocate, leveraging the power of digital media to shift the conversation around mental health, neurodivergence, and queerness. His work has been featured at Alma, the Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Healthline, Psych Central, and more. Learn more at SamDylanFinch.com.
Panelist
Amanda is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), UESCA Certified Running Coach, and avid runner. She lives in Chicago with her husband and cat. She was diagnosed with ARFID in late 2021 after an upsetting health event. She has also dealt with sensory preferences with food and eating most of her life, struggles with emetophobia, and had a body image based eating disorder in the past. She finds it rewarding to help people with ARFID by drawing on both her personal experiences and professional expertise as a dietitian. While living with ARFID has been challenging at times, she was able to reach her career goals of becoming a dietitian in 2022 (after previously being a high school science teacher) and a UESCA Certified Running Coach in 2023, as well as return to competitive training and running. She currently works as the owner of her own private practice Amanda Wagner Nutrition, as a certified running coach helping runners train for races up through the marathon, and she facilitates support groups twice a month through Lauren Sharifi's Adult ARFID Community Support Groups.
Panelist
I am Dani Shapira and my pronouns are he/they but also I'm flexible. I am 30 years old and have struggled with some sort of disordered eating my entire life. Being autistic, ARFID was something that intensely impacted my childhood, and I later developed anorexia in late middle school. I also have chronic illnesses, many of which are severe, that interact with my eating disorder in complex ways. I believe strongly in a harm reduction approach for myself, and it has greatly improved my life. I like to talk about the complexities of disability, chronic illness, medicalized fatphobia, and neurodivergence and eating disorders and how they interact. I run a home bakery (CookieTiam.com) and have a blog (https://danishapira.home.blog/) that I frequently muse about the complexities of it all in my life!
I am also a hospice dog caregiver, currently raising a new service dog, and am working on permaculture skills to eventually build a self sustaining (as much as we are able) living space to give us a sense of peace and independence to cope with our challenging health issues.
Orientation:
April 30, 12:00-1:00 pm ET
Regular Classes:
12:00-2:00 pm Eastern Time
May 1, 8, 15
June 5, 12, 26
Modules with guest speakers:
May 22, 12:00-1:30 pm ET
June 25, 12:00-1 pm ET
July 3, 12:00-2:00 pm ET