Endorsement
“Ms. Natenshon is a gifted and engaging presenter in the area of
eating disorders and its treatment. Her grasp of the material,
ability to synthesize important insights and impart them in a
highly "usable" manner is impressive and inspiring. Her clinical
sensitivity and passion for her subject empowers her audience to
leave feeling enhanced and prepared to face clinical challenges.
By combining clear thinking, concrete tools and a wealth of
clinical experience, she helps you understand not only what to
do when treating this population, but why."
- Ava Carn-Watkins, Ph.D.
Assistant Director, Graduate Program in Counseling Psychology
The
Family Institute at Northwestern University Center
for Applied Psychological and Family Studies
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learn about Full- or Half-day Training Options
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About Eating Disorder Treatment
Creating Alliances for Recovery: Parents Partnering with
Health Professionals to Heal Eating Disordered Children
In a call to action, Abigail H. Natenshon, MA, LCSW, GCFP
inspires and empowers parents of children, adolescents and young
adults with eating disorders to become self-advocates first,
ultimately enabling them to become advocates for their child,
and a timely and effective recovery process. Claiming that
parents are the “magic bullet” in bringing about successful
treatment outcomes, Abigail points to the familiar and gentle
skill and art of listening as the parents’ greatest resource for
intervention, once refined and honed. As a coach and advocate to
parents, she encourages parents to listen actively, purposefully
and with the heart to:
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Themselves, and to their capacity for response-ability
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Their child, to help her better listen to herself
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Their child’s professionals, to be assured that they are
listening to them.
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The unique nature of the eating disorder recovery process,
which is oftentimes incomprehensible and counterintuitive,
and typically deceptive.
Her message to parents enhances and streamlines the work of
health professionals as well, dramatically cutting the recovery
time and the cost of treatment services to these children; the
insurance industry, too, benefits by parents becoming as
informed as they can be. Enlightened and proactive parents are
the greatest of all assets to any eating disorder treatment
team.
Click to read article
RE: Infancy and Early childhood
Eating Disorders in the Very Young Child:
What
They Mean for Parent and Child and
What they require for cure
Four and five year olds who exhibit food fears, food refusal,
weight-related rituals, or compulsive eating habits are most
likely not suffering from clinical eating disorders, but from
anxiety, confusion about what healthy eating is, and a
temperament and genetically determined susceptibility to
developing a clinical eating disorder in years to come. The
sooner parents recognize, understand, and effectively respond to
early signs of eating dysfunction, the better the child’s
chances to avoid the lethal consequences of clinical disease and
resolve the underlying emotional issues that drive them.
Click here for
more information.
Feeding Disorders and Picky Eating in Infants and Children
Picky eating and food refusal in young children is typically not
a matter of food preference, a passing stage, a bid for
attention or a demonstration of attempts to gain power and
control. Feeding problems are real and not signs of obstinacy or
willfulness; they are hard-wired and neurologically based. In
all too many case, because they do not typically affect a
child’s growth pattern, they are not identified by pediatricians
as being a cause for concern. Typically the result of sensory
integration disorders or other neurological syndromes, their
far-reaching effects are nutritional, interpersonal, behavioral
and developmental, altering the sense of self and self-esteem,
family relations, sociability, as well as academic and
professional performance. These problems need to be recognized
early and treated effectively in childhood, while the brain is
most malleable. When
not addressed in childhood, picky
eating children grow to become picky eating adults.
Click here for
more information.
RE: Latency age Children,
Teens and Young Adults
Body Image Concerns: A New Face to Childhood Fears
Combating body image fears fortifies a child’s healthy
connection to self and to family
The true indicator of a healthy body image is the child’s sense
of security, confidence and well-being - not her ability to fit
into size 2 jeans. It
has been reported that 80% of girls in grades three through six
have bad feelings about their bodies, an issue diverting
attention from school work and friendships; 25% of first grade
girls have already been on diets.
Body size acceptance is related to self-esteem and emotional
health; combating body image fears fortifies a child’s
healthy connection to a secure sense of self. It
is up to parents to insure that children grow up with all the
emotional tools and resources they need to remain immune to
unhealthy peer and societal pressures in learning to love and
accept self and body.
Body image concerns or distortions are likely to be connected to
the genetics of clinical eating disorders; they may act as
precursors or exacerbate these disorders. Even
when they do not lead to clinical disease, they deserve
attention so the child can learn to enjoy a healthful
relationship with food, with the self, and with loved ones.
Click here for
more information.
Monkey See, Monkey Do
The Role of Parents in Establishing a Healthy Eating Lifestyle
in a Food Phobic World
Learning to eat healthfully in a society
that mandates thinness and promotes widespread misconceptions
about healthy eating can be challenging. Even
more complex is the job of teaching healthy eating habits and a
healthy exercise lifestyle to our children. Children are keen
observers; parents are their most potent teachers, teaching best
through example. Parents need to become enlightened about what
healthy eating is, and about what and how to communicate with
their children to counteract misleading eating mythologies. A
healthy relationship with food reinforces pivotal life skills,
accurate self-perception, self-regulation and self-care and may
even prevent the onset of a clinical eating disorder in a
genetically susceptible child.
Parental attitudes about eating and weight control wield
significant influence on the development of a child’s eating
patterns.How parents feel about themselves and their own relationship
with food are critical forces in determining how children learn
to feel about themselves, particularly with regard to eating and
weight management. In some instances, a parent’s fears,
insecurities or preoccupations with food and body image may
influence or trigger the onset of an eating disorder in the
genetically susceptible child.
By becoming knowledgeable about healthy eating, aware of one’s
own personal attitudes, biases and beliefs, and mindful of their
consequences in raising children, parents take charge of their
own lives, their parenting, and the physical and emotional well
being of their children. By rectifying misconceived beliefs and
attitudes of their own, parents develop healthier eating habits
and exercise lifestyles and become better equipped to impart
these important life lessons to their children.
A Workshop with and for Youngsters
What’s On Your Mind?
A
Workshop with and for Kids
In school settings, prevention of eating disorders has been
proven to be better facilitated through education about healthy
eating, rather than through descriptive "Don’t do what I did"
lectures that inspire experimentation with pathological
behaviors. This workshop teaches school children
how to eat healthfully at school and at home; thereby
facilitating ED prevention even in genetically predisposed
individuals.
Natenshon addresses students' concerns about healthy eating,
healthy weight management and body image… in themselves, family
members, and peers.
Conducted in a group format, discussion allows children to
express themselves freely, to listen and learn from each other,
to support friends with eating and body image concerns; they
learn how to approach peers whose problems have gone undetected,
and/or their own parents in seeking assistance for themselves,
or in securing appropriate parental support and intervention
through treatment and recovery. Most importantly, children learn
that eating disorders can be prevented and are highly curable
when treated early and effectively.