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Conferences,
Resources and Seminars Offered to Schools, Educators and Parents
Abigail Natenshon is a certified elementary and middle school teacher as
well as a psychotherapist by training. She provides seminars, tutorials and
experiential workshops for teachers, educators, school counselors, athletic
coaches, as well as students and parents about recognizing and healing
clinical eating disorders.
Beyond eating and weight control, eating disorders represent a way of life.
Often undisclosed, their diagnosis is typically first revealed in schools
through peer reporting or through a child’s growing inability to concentrate
and learn. By default, school social workers become diagnosticians and
ground floor activists, working with children and parents to educate and
counsel, as well as initiate the healing process.
School personnel transition and integrate children back into classes
after extended hospitalizations or residential stays, becoming involved as
members of the treatment and recovery team. Schools can also be instrumental
in eating disorder prevention.
Teachers, mental health workers and coaches…learn what eating disorders are
about, how they affect their students’ capacity to learn, and how to
intervene effectively to nip these
problems in the bud before they take hold and take lives. School
personnel will also learn to become valued student advocates as part of the
eating disorder recovery team.
FULL DAY TRAINING WORKSHOPS would include:
-
Power-point keynote
address
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Additional Teaching
workshops or Breakout groups for students and/or parents wanting to
share similar personal experiences
-
Multi-family group
therapy sessions, facilitated by Abigail Natenshon. Ninety minute
multi-family groups would provide self-selected workshop participants
the opportunity to experience a more profound personal sense of
community, self-awareness, and positive change. Participants choosing
not to become actively involved in the group therapy experience enjoy
the option to learn more about themselves, recovery, and the therapy
process by observing the therapy group in process through a "fishbowl"
format.
-
Workshop participants
might be offered the unique opportunity to experience body awareness and
body image transformation through an experiential session featuring the
Feldenkrais Method. This workshop segment would introduce this potent
adjunct treatment technique that has been proven to enhance personal
self-awareness, self-perception, and experiential problem-solving in
eating disorder recovery. This Awareness through Movement@ workshop can
be enjoyed by participants while seating or standing at their seats.
HALF DAY TRAINING WORKSHOPS would include:
-
Power-point keynote
address
Optional:
-
A teaching workshop.
-
A multi-family group
therapy session, facilitated by Abigail Natenshon. Ninety minute
multi-family groups would provide self-selected workshop participants
the opportunity to experience a more profound personal sense of
community, self-awareness, and positive change. Participants choosing
not to become actively involved in the group therapy experience enjoy
the option to learn more about themselves, recovery, and the therapy
process by observing the therapy group in process through a "fishbowl"
format.
-
Breakout consultation
groups for families wanting to share similar personal experiences and
discussion.
-
Workshop participants
might enjoy the unique opportunity to experience body awareness and body
image transformation through an experiential session featuring the
Feldenkrais Method. This workshop segment would introduce this potent
adjunct treatment technique that has been proven to enhance personal
self-awareness, self-perception, and problem-solving in eating disorder
recovery. This Awareness through Movement@ workshop can be enjoyed by
participants while seating or standing at their seats.
Workshop Options for School
Educators, Counselors and Coaches
Lessons That Save Lives: Educators as Advocates for Eating Disorder
Recovery
86 percent of eating disorders occur in children under the age of twenty.
There is a far greater likelihood that early warning signs of these
secretive diseases will appear in school and at home before they do in the
doctor's or therapist's office. It is critical that school
professionals understand that eating disorders are less about food and more
about how a student attempts to confront and respond to stress, anxiety and
the trials of daily living. The earliest warning signs may be seen in
a student's affect, thinking, mood, capacity to learn, and work ethic - even
before the disease begins to take its toll in physical appearance.
Recognizing and defining early disease are the first steps in prevention and
healing. Opportunities for prevention around athletic training and sporting
events are particularly critical.
Creating Recovery Alliances
through the Schools: Involving Parents in Constructive Ways
Educators are responsible for educating parents, of both healthy and eating
disordered children, so that they can in turn be responsible for mentoring
their child’s continuing health, or recovery. This workshop explores the
benefits of promoting appropriate, empowered and proactive parenting during
a child’s eating disorder recovery, even while addressing the challenges of
parenting and educating healthy children.
The latter also need to be made to understand and accept behaviors,
attitudes and social withdrawal that they see in their eating disorder
afflicted or recovering classmates.
Lectures for Parents and PTA's
Eating
disorders in the 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.
The Obscure “Eating” Disorders:
Feeding Disorders and Picky Eating in Infants and Young 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; they are hard-wired and neurological. 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. Eating
problems, particularly those that underlie more pervasive neurological
problems, need to be recognized early and treated effectively while the
brain is most malleable. A knowledgeable and proactive response sets the
stage for the prevention of clinical eating disorders later in life.
Click
here
for more information.
Lectures about Children, Teens and Young Adults
Body Image
Concerns: A New Face on Childhood Fears
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.
Jewish schools and Institutions
Teaching
Self-Love and Learning Body-Love through Jewish Teachings
This workshop discusses the nuts and bolts of eating disorders...what they
are about, and what they mean to and for our children... along with
providing practical tools and strategies to recognize these problems and
intervene effectively as mentors in promoting prevention or healing. Abbie
offers curriculum ideas for Jewish educators and youth group leaders,
promoting the power of positive relationships and human connection to heal
these problems through Jewish values and approaches to learning and problem
solving. As a follow-up to this seminar, Abbie offers her expertise as a
group psychotherapist and educator to run educative-support groups for
teachers and youth group leaders, and/or for students and parents.
Click here for an editorial letter to the JUF.
A Workshop for Young People
What’s On Your Mind?
A Workshop with, and for, Youngsters
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.
 The focus of
empoweredkidZ, is on answering children’s
questions, responding to their concerns, dispelling commonly held myths and
confusion about eating disorders, countering the effects of destructive
pro-anorexic web sites.
From Abbie’s
Mailbox
Inquiries and Testimonials
Read the following two letters to Abigail from educators and school
practitioners and her informative responses
Abigail,
Hello.
I am an Exercise Physiologist in Minneapolis, MN and I am doing a
community project for children in the Twin Cities.
My goal is to do presentations for area schools to address Self
Acceptance and Body Image. The
reason I chose school age children is that adolescence is when self
acceptance becomes a great struggle for many children and is a very critical
time in which patterns of eating, nutrition, exercise and self acceptance
form. I am working with Licensed
Nutritionists, Exercise Physiologists, Educators and other health care
providers with experience in eating disorders and body image.
Yours is a great web site full of information
on this topic. The presentations
we are doing will take place in the classroom and will last about an hour.
What recommendations do you have for this type of presentation for 8
to 12 year olds? Interactive games?
We need simple messages that let kids know they have choices about
whom they are, how they feel about themselves, and whom they want to “BE.”
Thank you for this web site and I would
greatly appreciate any insights you could offer.
Sincerely,
Reagan E. Schmitt
Dear
Reagan,
You might want to assign each participant one
of the articles to read that is posted on
empoweredkidZ.
Have each student present one main idea from the article he or she
has been assigned, perhaps the one that is most pertinent or that speaks the
loudest to him or to her personally. Then, consider organizing a group
discussion with the wider class around whatever issue or issues seemed to
engender the greatest interest.
See where it takes you. Let me
know how it goes.
Best Regards,
Abbie Natenshon
Dear
Abbie,
Your site is WONDERFUL and I plan to use it
with the small groups I’m working with on Healthy Eating.
There were so many of the young girls not eating here at the Jr. High
School I work at, that I decided to run two small groups, simultaneously.
Because I have girls at both ends of the weight spectrum I decided to
focus on Healthy Eating. I do,
however, have a question about one of your items listed as an eating
disorder “sign.” That is, when
an individual restricts his or her eating to “I only eat when I am hungry.”
Could you please explain this psychologically and perhaps physiologically?
I ask because in the past year I have been to
two different conferences for school nurses and health professionals about
children and nutrition and at both, experts advised that children be allowed
to self monitor by eating only when they are hungry and stopping when they
are full. The parents’ role is
to offer nutritious food choices, but not to force the child to eat just
because it’s “lunch time.” This
habit would be carried into adulthood and decrease the chance of being
overweight from overeating (the satiety trigger is being developed this way
as well.) This seems to be opposed to the information on your site (the
assessments.) I would appreciate any insight you have into this.
Thanks again for a great site.
M-------------
School Nurse
San Juan Unified School District
Carmichael, California
Dear M,
So glad you ask this very poignant question.
You are right in your observation that too many people have
misconstrued what would otherwise be good and practical information about
how to eat healthfully.
What you describe here is a concept known as
“instinctive eating.” Not every child has the neurological or developmental
capability to allow their instincts alone to guide them accurately in
response to hunger and satiety cues.
The judgment of the malnourished anorexic brain is unsound, based on
distorted perceptions; children with feeding disorders frequently struggle
with neurological issues that alter and distort perception, judgment and
capability. Freedom and flexibility around food management have viability
only when a person’s roots have a secure foundation in the structure of a
healthy lifestyle. The latter requires three balanced meals a day, as well
as snacks, to insure a healthfully functioning metabolism and a fit and well
functioning body.
As a rule of thumb, parents need to provide
nutritious food, along with the opportunity and expectation for the child to
eat it, ideally in the company of loved ones. It is up to the child to
determine the amount to be eaten.
This is NOT to imply that if a child chooses not to eat
at mealtimes, the parent should abide.
It is through healthy guidance and limit-setting around eating at
mealtimes that parents not only teach a healthy eating lifestyle, but also
the process of healthy self-regulation, stacking the cards against the
eventual onset of a clinical eating disorder.
Best Regards,
Abbie Natenshon
The following are excerpts from Abigail’s plea to ban fat-testing in the
schools.
This letter was directed to support a resolution by the National Parent
Teacher Association recommending the elimination of fat-testing by
caliper/skin fold or other devices, as currently used in many high schools,
junior high schools and elementary schools.
January 4, 2001
Dear Sir;
I am writing to express my support for a ban on fat-testing in the high
schools, junior highs and elementary schools.
….my experience has shown that in our fat conscious society, too many
children are highly susceptible to any influences that could cause them to
believe that they are overly fat even when they are not.
Such a belief creates a high risk factor for the development of a
clinical eating disorder. I have
personally known children as young as age 9 who report to their parents that
they are too fat, an image of self that was based on a fat caliper test that
was originally created for use on triathlon adults and that has been used
instead in the early grades.
….the incidence of disturbed body images and concerns about weight
management and appearance are preoccupying children’s minds and precluding
their ability to concentrate in school and to learn.
…The idea behind the testing is good and correct…children do need to be
concerned about the health of their bodies and must learn to eat healthfully
and exercise appropriately to achieve that end.
The means to the end with this testing, however, defeats this goal
and misses the mark, communicating a dangerous message to our youngsters.
The solution lies in schools teaching our children what healthy
eating is, not how to lose weight and develop phobias about fat in their
food and on their bodies……
Read Natenshon’s School Journal publications
Our Children, The National PTA
Magazine; October 2000; Volume 26 #2
Conquering Eating Disorders at Home and
in School: Lessons That Save Lives; a feature article by Abigail H.
Natenshon
The American School Board Journal;
Food Fright; February, 1996
http://www.asbj.com/indexes/subjectindex96.html
School Conference Leadership and Lectures
Illinois Association of School Social Workers Conference;
Eating Disorders in the Schools: Teaching Lessons that Save Lives
Recent Consultations to Schools
School consultations help teachers and administrators formulate in-school
programs for primary and secondary prevention of eating disorders for all
age groups, facilitating the creation of teaching tools, resources, programs
and support groups for eligible students; consultations may include
counseling staff about managing resistant, acting-out and vulnerable
students and their parents.
New Trier High School; Winnetka, Il.
On Creating a Body Image
Intervention Program for the Student Body; A consultation for teachers,
coaches and social service staff
Roosevelt Middle School; River Forest, Illinois
Teacher/Athletic Coach
In-service/training about eating disorders in the school
Highland Park High School, IL;
Teacher/Athletic Coach
In-service/training about eating disorders in the school
Glenbrook North High School Eating Disorders
Speech and Member of
Teaching Panel in honor Eating Disorder Awareness Week, 2000
Glenbrook South High School
In-service training for
counseling department
Northwestern University Health Fair,
Spring, 2003
Northwestern University Chemical Educators Speaker, 2000
A training program for student peer educators who deal with addictions
Testimonials from School Professionals
A school
social worker and participant in the Illinois Association of School Social
Workers Conference, 2000
“Most teachers want very much to help out but don't know how to begin. You
have offered really helpful practical suggestions that make the task before
us so much more understandable and do-able. I have been hoping for a book
like yours for years, as it is not only a wonderful resource for parents and
kids, but for teachers, coaches and school counselors, as well.”
"I just visited your site for kids. It is so informational and user
friendly!"
- J. Mardi
 Educators will find this
book an invaluable resource.
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School social workers
can direct teachers and parents to it when they require clarification
about eating disorders in youngsters.
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Children can offer it
to parents who need to better understand the problem, the child’s
experience, and what needs to be done about it.
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Teachers can use the
workbook in health classes to offer students interesting and informative
health quizzes to raise their level of self-awareness and insights.
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School personnel can
assess their own personal issues around food and eating to become better
prepared to observe and address these problems in their students.
The
Professional's Guide
to using with When Your Child Has an
Eating Disorder
Download
the
complimentary Professional's Guide for school professionals
to using When Your Child Has an
Eating Disorder: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Parents and Other Caregivers
(Natenshon, Jossey Bass Publishers) as a resource for students and
parents. The workbook will also provide educators the insight and self
awareness they require to effectively intervene with students and parents.
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