Neurodiversity Affirming Approaches in Relation to Food and Body 6-Part Series

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* Approved for 9 CPEUs by the CDR
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We envision a world that celebrates differences. One where all professionals working with neurodivergent people offer affirming care and a sense of belonging.

Join us for this six-part series delivered by seven presenters over six weeks.

6-part weekly online series
7 speakers
90-minute live presentations (recorded)
May 13 to June 17, 2022
Approved for 9 CPEUs by the CDR

We aim to support professionals like you who are passionate about increasing access to care and reducing harm.

This six-part weekly online series is geared towards dietitians and other professionals whose work aligns with the neurodiversity paradigm or are interested in building a more inclusive and neurodiversity-affirming practice. We hope this series will offer the tools and understanding needed to support the unique needs of neurodivergent clients experiencing a difficult relationship with food and body.

We believe that neurodivergent people are experts in neurodiversity, and we encourage providers to learn from teachers who are part of the neurodivergent community. Many presenters in this series are openly neurodivergent and bring a crucial perspective towards building a liberatory practice. Join us to learn from them and interact with them in live (recorded) 90-minute sessions that address a number of different topics.

Part 1. Understanding Neurodiversity Affirming Practice

Presenter: Sonny Jane Wise, BA
Date & Time: May 13th 2:00-3:30 pm ET

As an autistic ADHDer with lived experience of an eating disorder as well as professional experience in mental health, Sonny Jane has a unique perspective to offer to clinicians and professionals.

The neurodiversity paradigm is a specific perspective on neurodiversity that recognises neurodiversity as a natural form of diversity and the idea of a normal or healthy brain is a social construct. The neurodiversity paradigm exists as an alternative to the pathology paradigm which is why neurodiversity affirming practice recognises all the variations in the human brain like learning, mood, attention, processing, relationships as normal differences and shouldn’t be pathologized or viewed as wrong or abnormal.

In this webinar, we will explore what being neurodiversity affirming looks like in practice and how clinicians can create an affirming space for neurodivergent clients. As majority of the education and training around Autism and other neurodivergences is often biased, outdated and based on harmful misconception, we will also unpack some common stereotypes you might come across as well examine how ableism often comes up within our field.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to identify key applications of neurodiversity affirming practice
Participants will be able to challenge stereotypes and ableism against Autistic and ADHD
individuals
Participants will be able to define the terms neurodiversity affirming
Participants will be able to name five things that can help create a neurodiversity
affirming space

Meet Sonny Jane Wise

Sonny Jane (they/them) is multiply neurodivergent - or more specifically, an Autistic ADHDer living with Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder. They're also an internationally recognised lived experience educator, consultant and advocate who's passionate about neurodiversity and supporting neurodivergent individuals.

Sonny Jane is a former peer support specialist with experience in developing and implementing peer support programs and guidelines and started one of the first private peer support practices in Australia back in 2019. They hold a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology as well as a Graduate Certificate in Counseling and Psychotherapy and have utilized their professional experience and lived experience for speaking engagements, workshops, conferences and consulting with organizations and services.

Part 2. Abolition in the Field of Eating Disorders: An emerging framework

Presenter: Jennifer Wang-Hall, PHD
Date and time: May 20th 12:00-1:30 pm ET

This presentation, “Abolition in the Field of Eating Disorders: An emerging framework” will provide education on the abolition as a framework for understanding individual experiences of eating disorders as outcomes of an unjust world and various systemic forms of oppression including racism, misogyny, and capitalism. It will examine the ways in which these forces contribute to both the development and experience of disordered eating. Additionally, this webinar will explore issues that exist within current treatment paradigms both in their often carceral nature (mirroring the prison industrial complex) and inaccessibility. Common treatment modalities are emblematic of the limited sources through which they have been developed, which come from a psychocentric and pathologizing framework. Finally, living abolition will be discussed in regard to creating a just world wherein eating disorders are less common and their treatment is more just, as well as the implementation of just and anti-carceral treatment.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify societal and cultural influences that contribute to the development of eating disorders.

2. Understand the intersection of these forms of oppression in relationships with food and body.

3. Recognize the problematic components of current treatment modalities.

4. Discuss ways that abolition can be central to creating a world without eating disorders.

Meet Dr. Jennifer Wang-Hall

Dr. Jennifer Wang-Hall is a licensed psychologist in California who has treated eating disorders at all levels of care since 2011. Working in various treatment centers and teams with differing approaches, Dr. Wang-Hall has trained in a multitude of approaches. She now approaches eating disorder treatment with an eclectic lens, individualizing care to each person’s unique needs. Dr. Wang-Hall also specializes in eating disorders within the context of societal and cultural factors that influence individual and community relationships with food and body. Dr. Wang-Hall approaches eating disorders from a feminist and interpersonal lens, which attends to community resource and support building. She integrates attention to systemic oppression related to ableism, white supremacy, misogyny, cis heterosexism, capitalism, and settler colonialism in her care of individuals from all backgrounds struggling with eating disorders. Currently in private practice, Dr. Wang-Hall offers individual and group therapies, live meal support, trainings and consultation for providers, and online social media education. She is passionate about accessible, compassionate care for all people struggling with food and body concerns.

Part 3. Nutrition and Neurodivergence: How Conventional Nutrition Approaches Miss the Mark

Presenter: Josée Sovinsky, RD RP
Date and time: May 27th 12:00-1:30 pm ET

The recent discourse around nutrition in neurodivergent communities has largely focused on ways to “cure” neurodivergence through specific nutrients, foods, and diets. Concurrently, broad nutrition messages aimed at the general population are largely produced without considering the needs of neurodivergent people. These two trends, stemming from ableist, capitalist, and healthist standards often lead to neurodivergent people developing a relationship with food that is filled with guilt, shame, and feelings of failure.

In this webinar, we will explore how current nutrition approaches are failing to meet the needs of neurodivergent people and communities, and how this acts as an important barrier in developing a supportive relationship with food for many neurodivergent individuals. We will also explore how nutrition and public health professionals can reinvent their messaging to consider neurodivergent traits, while limiting further ableist nutrition discourse.

Learning Objectives

1. Better recognize ableism and healthism in nutrition messaging

2. Explain how current nutrition messaging negatively impacts neurodivergent communities

3. Identify neurodivergent traits to be considered when developing nutrition approaches

Meet Josée Sovinsky

Josée Sovinsky (she/her) is thin, white, queer cis woman with ADHD. She is both a Registered Dietitian and a Registered Psychotherapist based in Ottawa, ON. She is 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. She loves reading historical fiction, re-watching episodes of Star Trek, baking French Canadian desserts, and discovering new flavours of tea.

Part 4. All Bodies, All Brains: Exploring the Intersection Between Body Liberation and Neurodiversity

Presenter: Taylor Saunders, MSW, LSWAIC
Date and time: June 3rd 12:00-1:30 pm ET

While terms like “body positivity” are becoming increasingly popular on social media, the conversations about bodies, health, and inclusivity leave much to be desired. As helping professionals often supporting clients recovering from eating disorders, we know that our clients face many structural challenges that go beyond how our clients feel about their own bodies. The way our clients’ minds and bodies are viewed and treated has a direct impact on their ability to heal from disordered eating. We are living in a culture saturated with messages about the proper, non-pathological way to have a body and a mind. In this presentation, we will explore the intersection between neurodiversity and body liberation while learning tools to help our clients not only cope but thrive in society that makes self-acceptance difficult.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the societal origins and impact of weight stigma in society, particularly the medical community, and its impact on clients.

2. Understand the relationship between ableism, weight stigma, and other forms of oppression.

3. Be able to identify at least one intervention that addresses weight stigma in the therapeutic relationship.

Meet Taylor Saunders

Taylor Saunders is a clinical social worker who focuses on helping clients overcome issues related to disordered eating. She also has experience helping neurodivergent clients empower themselves through building a positive identity, engaging with their community, and taking control of their lives. Taylor lives in a larger body and identifies—proudly—as fat. Taylor is passionate about helping other understand the importance of dismantling weight stigma along with all other forms of oppression that contribute to the development and maintenance of mental health disorders. One of Taylor’s favorite slogans from the Disability Rights Movement is “Nothing about us, without us.” She is passionate about bringing this sentiment forward to the body liberation movement and eating disorder care. Taylor strongly believes that all bodies are good bodies and deserve the right to access equitable, shame-free healthcare.

Part 5. Out of Spoons: A Dialogue about Disability and Neurodiversity

Presenter: Naureen Hunani, RD
Date and time: June 10th 12:00-1:30 pm ET

Variations in cognitive functioning are natural but can become disabling when living in a society designed exclusively around neurotypical needs and expectations. When working with neurodivergent people, providers must understand disability, its history, and how disability justice is foundational to providing neurodiversity-affirming care.

This presentation will explore the intersections of disability and neurodiversity. We will review the different models of disability, including the social model and how it relates to the neurodiversity movement. We will cover the spoon theory and its application as a self-pacing strategy to support nourishment. Providers will be invited to reflect on their privilege(s) as an initial step towards dismantling neuronormativity, sanism and ableism in their practice.

Learning objectives

1. Understand the different models of disability.
2. Name the ten principles of disability justice.
3. Identify the five pillars of the Neurodiversity Affirming Model™.

Meet Your Host and Presenter Naureen Hunani

Naureen Hunani is a multiply-neurodivergent (autistic, ADHDer, dyslexic) registered dietitian with over 17 years of experience. She is the founder of RDs for Neurodiversity, a neurodiversity-informed online continuing education platform for dietitians and helping professionals.

She has a private practice in Montreal, Canada, where she treats children, adults and families struggling with various feeding and eating challenges through a trauma-informed, weight-inclusive and anti-oppressive approach.

Naureen has extensive experience working with neurodivergent families, including autism spectrum, ADHD, sensory processing differences and other forms of neurodivergencies. She is a supporter of early diagnosis of feeding differences and advocates for inclusion and acceptance. She has had the privilege to share her knowledge at national and international conferences and is incredibly passionate about helping professionals build neurodiversity-affirming practices.

Part 6. What if we are Our Bodies?: A Neurodiversity Affirming Approach to Body Image

Presenters: Nev Jones, M.A, M.A, PHD and Emily Shira Collings, MS, NCC
Date and time: June 17th 12:00-1:30 pm

Although body dissatisfaction is a major driver of eating disorders and disordered eating, body image is often not addressed in a meaningful way in eating disorder treatment settings. Many conventional interventions for body image do not take the complex needs and challenges of neurodivergent people into account and are inaccessible to people with a number of diagnoses. They also often fail to take into account the complex ways that ableism targeted at neurodivergent people intersects with fatmisia and contributes to body image distress in neurodivergent people. Conventional interventions tend to frame the body as a distinct and separate entity from the mind and self, which can lead to individualistic interventions focused on appreciating the physical functions and sensations of one’s body. Given that many neurodivergent people’s bodies do not physically function in neuronormative ways, this can be alienating and contribute to internalized ableism.

This webinar will introduce participants to ways of conceptualizing the relationship between one’s mind, body, and physical and interpersonal environment that can be utilized to support a neurodiversity affirming approach to body image. The presenters will draw inspiration from 4E cognition, a concept from philosophy of mind that asserts that our cognition is deeply influenced by and connected with other sources outside of the brain, including one’s body and physical, social, and cultural environment. They will share how this concept can be useful in challenging notions about what constitutes “excess” that underlie both fatmisia and ableism. Participants will learn strategies they can use to implement these conceptualizations in clinical work and have an opportunity to try a hands-on activity and apply some theoretical ideas firsthand.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand how current conventional approaches to body image can be inaccessible to neurodivergent people

2. Understand two frameworks for conceptualizing the relationship between mind and body that can be utilized to support body image in a neurodiversity affirming way

3. Learn strategies for applying these frameworks in clinical practice with neurodivergent people

Meet Shira Collings

Shira Collings, MS, NCC (she/they) is a pre-licensed therapist in the Philadelphia area. 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.

Meet Nev Jones

Nev Jones PhD is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and a mental health services researcher. She brings an interdisciplinary background to her work (BA and MA in philosophy, MA and PhD in psychology, postdoctoral fellowship in medical anthropology) and extensive personal and family experiences of disability, neurodivergence and eating disorders. Much of her work has focused on developing and implementing meaning-centered interventions in the context of neurodiversity/unusual experiences/extreme states.

Frequently asked questions

Do you offer equity pricing?

Yes, we do offer equity pricing. If you are a member of an under-represented group and would like to have access to equity-based pricing, please email us, and we will send you a code.

Do I have to attend the live presentations?

While there are benefits to attending the live sessions, we recognize that this may not be possible for everyone and for every presentation. Recordings will be available on the portal within 24 hours, and you will have access for 30 days after the series is delivered.

What is your refund policy?

As with most educational organizations, we don't offer refunds for courses.

Is the series only geared towards dietitians?

Any professional working with neurodivergent people experiencing a difficult relationship with food and body can benefit from attending.

How long will I have access for?

You will have access for 30 days after the series is delivered.