Rising Strong In Life After An Eating Disorder

Lombardi, Jennifer

Sunday, March 26, 2017: 10:00 AM-12:30 PM

Del Mar II (Green Valley Ranch)

Background: Combining research and clinical knowledge with the clients’ perspective, this unique presentation explores what it means to fall into an eating disorder—and how to be brave, embrace vulnerability, and rise strong in life after. Experiential activities based on the work of Brenè Brown, LMSW, PhD, will be provided.

Objectives: 1. Identify five truths about how the eating disorder and related conditions show up in clients’ lives. 2. Describe what Dr. Brown’s “Shitty First Draft” (SFD) means and how it relates to the eating disorder story. 3. Describe two steps that can help clients to turn process into practice.

The Backstory: how the eating disorder and related conditions show up in our clients’ lives (0–15 minutes)
1. Brief etiology
2. Myths vs. facts
Owning the Eating Disorder Story
1. The Reckoning. (15–40 minutes)
  1. Coming to terms with the truth about who we were before ED and related conditions
  2. Identifying the “fall”
  3. Signs and symptoms of a “fall”
  4. Knowing why the eating disorder behaviors made sense
    1. Emotional numbing
    2. Armoring up
2. The Rumble (40 - 70minutes)
  1. SFD – and why ED loves that story
  2. Rumbling with shame & blame, and grief
3. The Revolution (70 - 105 minutes)
  1. Owning our story
  2. How values light the way
  3. The anatomy of trust
  4. Turning process into practice
Question & Answer (105 - 120 minutes)

In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer with eating disorders. Even when individuals experience the freedom of recovery, they often feel shame about having struggled with an eating disorder as well as common co-occurring conditions like substance abuse and PTSD. Those in recovery have difficulty owning their stories and often end up suffering in a new way as they try to manage life after the illness. As author Brenè Brown, Ph.D, LMSW, has noted, “the irony is that we attempt to disown our difficult stories to appear more whole or more acceptable, but our wholeness actually depends on the integration of all of our experiences, including the falls.” Dr. Brown’s work, The Daring Way™, is a highly experiential methodology developed to help men, women, and adolescents learn how to show up, be seen, and live braver lives. The primary focus is on developing shame resilience skills and developing daily practices that transform the way we live, love, parent, and lead. In this workshop, Jennifer Lombardi, MFT, CEDS, a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator-Candidate, will discuss research in the areas of shame and experiential avoidance as well as the impact of these variables on risk and the recovery process. Specific attention to interventions and skills development will be included, providing attendees with an understanding of how to introduce, explore and utilize these concepts with clients who struggle with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and related conditions. Author Jenni Schaefer will share her personal experience of overcoming an eating disorder as well as PTSD and learning—with the help of treatment professionals—how to both own her story and flourish in life after mental illness. Combining research and clinical knowledge, along with a clients’ perspective, this unique presentation reviews what it means to fall into an eating disorder—and how to be brave, embrace vulnerability, and rise strong in life after.

Primary Presenter:

Jennifer Lombardi, MFT, CEDS, CDW™F-C, FBT Certified

Jennifer Lombardi is a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator-Candidate and a National Recovery Advocate for Eating Recovery Center. Previously, she served as Executive Director for three years and as Chief Admissions Officer for more than five years at ERC California. Jennifer is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice at Empathic Way Treatment Center in Rocklin, California. She provides individual, couples and family counseling to those struggling with eating disorders, mood disorders and trauma. Recovered from anorexia herself, Jennifer lectures extensively on the topics of eating disorders, exercise compulsion, and body image issues to patients and professionals.

Co-Presenter:

Jenni Schaefer, BS

A National Recovery Advocate of Eating Recovery Center’s Family Institute, Jenni Schaefer is a bestselling author and internationally known speaker. She has appeared on shows like Today and Dr. Oz, as well as in publications ranging from Cosmopolitan to The New York Times. Jenni’s books include Goodbye Ed, Hello Me and her latest with Harvard Medical School, Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem? Her first book, Life Without Ed, which launched her as a leading light in the recovery movement, has been released in a tenth anniversary edition and audiobook. Visit JenniSchaefer.com.

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