Meals:

Breakfast, Lunch & Snacks will be provided with the cost of the registration fee. Please include any dietary restrictions in your registration form. We will try and make accomodations where possible.

Continuing Education:

6.5 hours of continuing education are pending for RD/LD through the Commission on Dietetic Registration.

6.5 hours of continung education are pending through the State Board of Behavioral Health for LPC and LMFT.

6.5 hours of continuing education are pending through the Oklahoma Board of Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors for LADC

6.5 hours of continuing education have been submitted and are pending through the Oklahoma State board of Licensed Social Workers for LCSW.

Accomodations:

A discounted rate will be available through a local hotel. Check back for details shortly.

ADA Accomodations:

If you need assistance registering for this conference, please contact us via phone at 405-896-0599 or via email at info@okeatingdisorder.org

All facilities are ADA accessible. If you need special assistance at the conference please contact us prior to the conference so that we can make any necessary arrangements.

Vendors:

Non Profits- Free vendor tables are available for all non profits who wish to show case your organization or program. Please reach out to us at info@okeatingdisorders.org for more information.

For Profit Programs- Vendor tables are available for $200. If you are a sponsor of our Conversations of Hope annual Gala we would like to extend a free table at our Educational Symposium this year. Please contact us at info@okeatingdisorders.org for more information.

Lecture Abstracts:

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Being Different Makes a Difference: Eating Disorders among Diverse Populations

Paula Edwards-Gayfield, LPCS, LPC, CEDS, NCC

Participants will learn to identify symptoms of eating disorders using DSM-V criteria and assessment tools (i.e. comprehensive assessments, family dynamics, consultation with professionals). Current eating disorders research will be reviewed and discussed. Ms. Gayfield will highlight how the lack of information regarding diverse populations (i.e. age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, gender identity, disability status) has affected eating disorders presentation and treatment. Media and literature will be used to highlight symptom presentation in this population. Participants will explore how to create inclusive environments for diverse populations and identify effective treatments. Biases within the professional community and their impact on recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse individuals with eating disorders will be discussed.

Paula Edwards-Gayfield, LPCS, LPC, CEDS, NCC, is the Regional Assistant Vice President at The Renfrew Center, overseeing clinical and administrative operations at several locations. A Licensed Professional Counselor in Oklahoma and LPC Supervisor in North Carolina, she received her Master’s degree in Counseling from the UNC at Charlotte. Ms. Edwards-Gayfield has extensive experience working with adolescents, adults and families, with special interest in the treatment of eating disorders, women’s issues, relationship concern, mood and anxiety disorders, and life adjustments. A National Certified Counselor, she is a member of the American Counseling Association, the Oklahoma Counseling Association, Oklahoma Eating Disorder Association, and is certified with the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp). Ms. Edwards-Gayfield is a frequent presenter at local and national conferences with a primary focus on eating disorders and diversity.

BREAKOUT 'A' SESSIONS

Recovering Resilience: Increasing Cognitive Flexibility in Recovery- Ryanne Mitchell, LPC

Cognitive rigidity is a hallmark symptom of eating disorders. Much research has been devoted to differences in brain structure and increasingly rigid processing in patients with eating disorder. This seminar will explain how this rigidity develops and is maintained in response to under-nourishment, contributing traits, and describe strategies to increase general patient cognitive flexibility to enable them to use these skills in the service of recovery.

Assessment and Treatment of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder- Michelle Jones, Ph.D

Since its inclusion in the DSM-5 in 2013, awareness and recognition of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) has increased dramatically. As ARFID is increasingly diagnosed among patients with eating disorders, comprising up to 22.5% of treatment populations (Nicely et al., 2014), it is crucial for providers to have familiarity with the assessment and treatment of this disorder. This presentation aims to provide treatment providers with a review of diagnostic features and subtypes and an overview of treatment approaches for ARFID. A detailed discussion of case examples relevant to the information presented will also be included.

Wise Eating: a DBT informed model to help patients identify an adequate style of eating- Tere Rivera, RDN, MS, FAED, CEDS

The presentation will provide a description of the concept of “Wise Eating” which presents the eating behavior (style of eating) into a dialectic. Mechanical eating and Intuitive eating are on the extreme opposites of this dialectic. Patients benefit from this concept as they learn that Wise Eating is a dynamic process that allows patients to identify and accept the need to eat closer or further from their inner cues. This ability may be determined by patient’s vulnerabilities and other physical and health indicators that will be reviewed during this presentation.

BREAKOUT 'B' SESSIONS

Family Therapy for the Treatment of Eating Disorders- Leslee Marcom, Ph.D, CEDS

The presentation will help the audience better understand the importance of family involvement in eating disorder treatment, as well as a brief introduction to EFFT and how to utilize EFFT in family sessions. The audience will also learn about family empowerment and how to get families involved in treatment.

Exercise As Medicine in the Treatment of ED: History, Holes and Hopes- Brian Cook, Ph.D

Although exercise is a well-established effective intervention for many psychological and physical health issues, it is usually overlooked as a potential adjunct to eating disorders (ED) treatment. A possibility as to why therapeutic exercise has been overlooked in ED treatment may be the potential for unsupervised, compensatory exercise performed during times of severe nutritional deficiency to exacerbate ED pathology. This overly cautious view is not supported by the emerging literature on the therapeutic potential of exercise in ED treatment and further alienates individuals with ED from taking control of their own recovery. It also ignores initial clinical successes in managing excessive exercise in ED. Accordingly, I will review the history of attempts to manage excessive exercise and use exercise therapeutically in ED treatment. Several reasons exist that may explain the lack of focus on how to manage exercise in ED. Therefore, I will also discuss the major holes in both clinical and research attempts to using exercise therapeutically. Specifically, I will review how various terms are often incorrectly used interchangeably and consequently have guided clinical and research discussions about patterns of body movements in ED. Definitional clarity is important because recent improvements in assessment of body movements have elucidated possible methods for the management and therapeutic use of exercise in ED treatment. Recent advancements in assessments have resulted in encouraging clinical and research efforts. Thus, I will conclude by providing hope for clinicians and individuals with ED alike by reviewing recent data from an evidence-based program for the therapeutic use of exercise in ED treatment. This program is based on evidence-based protocols which provide a framework for how to change the functional relationship of exercise from compensatory to therapeutic.

The Paradoxical Relationship between common "Healthy Eating" diets and Micronutrient Deficiencies- Brittany Hunter, RD, LD

In this lecture, we will focus on "healthy lifestyle" ideals sold by clean eating and other common diets, and juxtapose these with the positive impact that the non-diet approach and some convenience/processed foods can have on macro and micronutrient intake, food safety, preparation time, price, and food sustainability.

BREAKOUT 'C' SESSIONS

Implementing Accessible Yoga and Mindfulness Techniques with our Clients- Grace Evans, LPC, RYT

This presentation will discuss how to implement yoga practices in the challenging work of therapy for eating disorders. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness have become “buzz-words” in our field. Does it really work? How can we get our patients and clients to practice these techniques? Various authors and researchers have presented compelling arguments for the practice of yoga with anxiety, depression, and trauma. This presentation will discuss those findings and how to implement practical techniques with our patients. This presentation will address the benefits of yoga in working with people with eating disorders as well as potential risks and contraindications. This will be an interactive and hands-on experience offering yoga and meditation practices and how to implement these with clients. The presentation will also discuss Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy and interventions and practices to initiate the relaxation response. Participants will learn how to use meditation, breath retention, movements, and mudras to help patients learn to cope with and manage difficult situations and emotions. In yoga we learn to respond to discomfort and stressful situations with awareness, tolerance and noticing our breath rather than with maladaptive coping skills. This presentation will identify how to assist our patients to respond to stressful situations in a new way.

Somatomap: A new mobile tool for measuring body image disturbance in psychiatric disorders- Christine Ralph-Nearman, Ph.D

Body-related disturbances are key features of several psychiatric illnesses, with prognostic and therapeutic relevance, but the majority of measures are limited to language-based descriptions of patients’ body-related experiences. To address this limitation, we created Somatomap, a mobile tool that graphically assesses affective, interoceptive, and appearance-based concerns across smartphone, tablet, and computer platforms. A visually based entry allows individuals to indicate areas of body concern by drawing on a two-dimensional avatar (Somatomap 2D), and specifying the concern type, intensity, as well as associated moods, feelings, compulsions, behaviors, and perceptions surrounding isolated areas. A report interface provides real-time snapshots of topographical distributions (‘Somatomaps’), allowing graphical exploration of body concern characteristics and their interaction with affective, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms. Additionally, we developed three-dimensional avatars (Somatomap 3D), allowing individuals to manipulate individual body parts. This provides clinically-relevant, quantitative assessments of body-related perceptual distortions. We have acquired Somatomap 2D and 3D data in clinical and non-clinical samples, revealing distinctive body-related concern patterns in both. Usablity ratings showed that avatars were easy to use, and felt to closely reflect individuals’ actual body concerns. Ongoing work with Somatomap 2D and 3D aims to identify novel, objective, and clinically-relevant measures of body-related perceptual distortions across psychiatric disorders.

Developing Resilience in an Invalidating Environment: Treatment Trends with Experienced and Internalized Weight Stigma in Adolescents- Malorie Sweeney, MS, RD and Lauren Hoover Rios, MA, LMFT

The harmful effects of experienced weight bias, both implicit and explicit, may lead to the development of internalized weight stigma. Experiencing this stigma during childhood and adolescence has been shown to have lasting effects on adult body image concerns. Research indicates an increase in self-stigmatizing beliefs in higher weight children. Healing internalized weight stigma throughout the course of treatment is imperative. Addressing both internal and external weight bias is important in recovery work. This presentation will examine the potential for protective factors in the development of increased resilience for individuals and their greater community, while also acknowledging that some may be returning to an invalidating social environment. To this point, we will also discuss how to teach the individual to better navigate in situations where the returning environment continues to be invalidating.
The goal of this presentation is to look at adolescent mental health and co-occurring eating disorder symptomology through the lens of resilience. It will explore how to remediate developmental ‘misses’ that contribute to limited resilience, without placing blame within the family system – because adolescent work is inherently also (at least) some family work. This presentation will highlight the power of a single positive relationship while acknowledging the exponential benefits of a greater support network. Because this specific population experiences increased invalidation and support historically has been limited, we will be discussing ways in which to strengthen support networks and continue dialogue to support a paradigm shift for those around them. The role of family, school, providers and community in resilience building will be explored; and approaches for strengthening both the individual and the system will be discussed. The presentation will also touch on internal and external vulnerabilities, and the ways in which these can be addressed. We will seek to answer the question: What type of resilience model is required for this specific population?

BREAKOUT 'D' SESSIONS

Living In The Gray: Skills To Help Clients Move Through Phases of Recovery- Stephanie Waitt, Ph.D, LPC

Black and white thinking is a common mental roadblock individuals in eating disorder recovery will encounter. These thought patterns prevent clients from moving through Carolyn Costin's 10 Stages of Recovery and will keep clients stuck and unmotiavated for change. This training will identify common thought patterns that keep clients stuck in each recovery phase and will highlight specific evidenced-based therapeutic techniques to help clients successfully progress through the phases of recovery.

Self-compassion for our Bodies: Understanding and assisting transgender youth with body/weight dissatisfaction and eating related pathology- Rebekah Freese, LCSW, Ph.D

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mortality Weekly report youth who report having gender identity concerns often report dissatisfaction with their body, indicating that their body is a source of their suffering. Distorted body image and disordered eating impacts individuals along the gender identity spectrum and the impact for youth can be particularly unique. A recent study by Diemer et al, 2015, found transgender college students had four times a greater risk of being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa than compared to their cisgender female peers and two times the risk of engaging in eating disorder behaviors such as purging.

To prevent future development of other psychiatric conditions, understanding the clinical presentation of transgender youth, learning strategies to incorporate gender identity discussions and intervening with compassion and acceptance can provide a sense of hope and recovery from further eating disordered behaviors.

What Does Weight Have To Do With It? A neuron to nutitrition guide for setting weight goals in the in-patient setting- Claire Gish, MS, RD/LD, CEDRD-S and Scott Moseman, MD, CEDS

This workshop will explore combining the art and science of determining concrete nutrition restoration weight goals for eating disorder patients. We will take an in-depth look at neurobiological, medical, and nutritional markers as well as professional experience to formulate weigh goals. Practice based audience interaction and discussion of brand new research elucidating fMRI changes seen in individuals before and after nutritional restoration.