*Note* This scheduling program was not designed by folks who do a lot with APA Style and unfortunately it defaults to listing authors in alphabetical order. We cannot fix this for this online schedule, but the author orders are posted in the order submitted in the printed program available via pdf here.
In this workshop we explore what feminist psychotherapists can learn from The Body Positive’s model for cultural transformation. Elizabeth Scott, psychotherapist and Co-director of The Body Positive will share powerful resources developed through 25 years of listening to middle school, high school and college-aged women as we worked together to resist body hatred, recover from eating disorders, and build Body Positive communities. The Body Positive is a non-profit organization that transforms cultural ideas about body image, weight, and identity through peer leadership in collaboration with secondary schools, community organizations, and colleges. Together we reverse our passive internalization of aggression directed at our bodies, and embrace beliefs and actions that promote confidence and excellent self-care. We begin to transform the violence directed at our bodies by speaking truth to power, and this starts by learning to confront the critical voices inside ourselves. We challenge thin privilege and its intersections with race, gender and class and declare our own beauty and worthiness. With fierce self-love we are equipped to stand up to the critical voices inside and outside of our bodies and transform them into powerful allies. We use creative arts to expand our imaginations related to beauty, beginning with the beauty in one's own ancestral inheritance. Because our path is based on individuals learning to trust their own bodily wisdom, it can be used by people from diverse cultures, body sizes, and gender identities. Results from research on The Body Positive’s leadership model conducted at Stanford University will be released in spring of 2015. In this workshop psychotherapists will learn about The Body Positive’s five powerful competencies that support the development of a peaceful and satisfying relationship to the body.