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Synopsis:
Over 40% of adults and 90% of adolescents have been shown to experience body dissatisfaction, at great social, personal and economic expense. A recent report commissioned by The Butterfly Foundation found that 4.1 million Australians (>15 years) experienced body dissatisfaction in 2023 alone.
Body image work is a skillset all clinicians will need in their clinical practice, and yet oftentimes clinicians feel ill equipped to implement strategies to promote change in this space and mitigate known harms to body image. Unfortunately, commonly used approaches see body image as an internal construct, through which body image is purely due to faulty thinking and behaviours to be changed through traditional approaches such as cognitive challenging; however, there are many broader societal and cultural factors that exacerbate body dissatisfaction that infiltrate into the therapeutic space and clinical practice.
Drawing on research, practice guidelines, and extensive clinical experience as trainers, supervisors and clinicians, this workshop will explore ways clinicians can work towards fostering a sense of safety for their clients through use of language and terminology, creating safe therapeutic environments, understanding and challenging your own internalised ideas of bodies and shape, knowing ways lived experience can be drawn on to build body satisfaction, and building awareness of understandings and stances that promote body inclusivity.
Drawing on self-reflection, group tasks and the provision of avenues for further learning, this workshop will be thought-provoking, compassionate, interactive and pragmatic so clinicians can walk away and apply these principles to the benefit of their clients.
