This course explores the interdisciplinary field of scholarship in Fat Studies that aims to debunk weight-centric misconceptions and countering mainstream narratives.
Participants will examine fat bias, fat shame and weight-based oppression as a social justice issue that intersects with other systems of oppression.
This course includes an introduction to the paradigm of Health At Every Size (HAES), a weight-neutral approach to health promotion that emphasizes size diversity, intuitive eating, and joyful movement. HAES is also an important paradigm in working with people who experience disordered eating.
This course is part of an Eating Disorders Certificate Program.
Sarah Alexander is the owner and founder of Brave Acorn. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1995 with a double major in Psychology and Women’s Studies. Sarah began practicing full-time as a therapist in 2001, received her Master of Social Work degree from Portland State University in 2005, and has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Oregon since 2008. Sarah has worked in a community mental health setting for substance abuse, a day-treatment setting for eating disorders, a university counseling center, and an outpatient trauma treatment center. Sarah teaches graduate counseling students in the Eating Disorder Certificate track at Lewis & Clark Graduate School and was president of the board for the Columbia River Eating Disorder Network from 2017 to 2019.
