SEMINARS OFFERED

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               Stepping Up to the Plate:

There is no greater resource for the recovering child, the professional team, and the healing process than enlightened and empowered parenting. It is up to responsive parents to turn their love into action, paralleling the forward momentum of stubborn and insidious disorders that rob families of their child and the child of her Self. Parents learn to use themselves optimally in finding expert care and in putting together an effective treatment team in support of their child's recovery; and collaboratively in carrying out their role as most valuable players on the treatment team in support of the child, the treatment and recovery processes. The inclusion of parents, families and loved ones, (particularly with child patients and near-adult children) insures that the family system changes alongside the recovering child, offering efficacy in the pacing and sustainability of recovery.

With a focus on parenting for successful outcomes, this workshop will teach
what parents need to know to:

• Determine criteria for choosing effective team professionals; learn what you are listening for in prospective candidates, and to trust your instincts

• Help their child engage in treatment and stay engaged.

• Participate in treatment; parental roles and the nature of support will vary throughout the process

• Listen actively, to child, to team, and to recovery

• Recognize recovery signs when they see them

• Shepherd the recovery process to its completion; not stopping till their child is THERE.

• Communicate effectively with the treatment team, encouraging professionals to speak with each other for purposes of trouble-shooting.

• Seek support for themselves, along with professional consultation

Experiential component:
This workshop with and for parents and loved ones will be experiential, devoted to voluntary participation in a multi-family educative-support group of up to approximately 25 people, to be facilitated by Abigail Natenshon. Coming together in a "fish bowl" format surrounded by the remaining workshop participants, this configuration will allow for growth and learning on the part of participants and observers alike. The experience will offer opportunities for families to speak and listen to each other, and among themselves, and for Abigail to address some of the pressing concerns of workshop participants.
 
Click to read article

RE: Infancy and Early childhood

The Obscure
“Eating” Disorders
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. 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. Feeding problems are real; they are hard-wired and neurological. 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. Typically the result of sensory integration disorders or other neurological syndromes, eating problems that underlie more pervasive neurological problems are wholly reparable if recognized early on and treated effectively at a time when the brain is most malleable. A knowledgeable and proactive response sets the stage for the prevention of clinical eating disorders later in life.

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 sign s 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. Eating disorders are the product of "nature," (heredity, inborn temperament, anxiety and compulsivity,) as well as "nurture," (the child's modeling after parental attitudes and behaviors, beliefs and lifestyles); enlightened and empowered parenting and child care can virtually "immunize" a child against developing these diseases.

RE: Children, Teens and Young Adults

Body size acceptance is not related to weight or actual body size, but to self-esteem and emotional health.  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 schoolwork and friendships; 25% of first grade girls have already been on diets. It is up to parents to insure that children grow up with all the emotional tools and resources they need to love and accept self and body. Body image concerns may be precursors to eating 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.

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 many cases, a parent’s fears, insecurities or preoccupations with food and body image are as central an influence on a child’s relationship with food as what they eat. Children are keen observers, and parents are potent teachers, teaching best by example. 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 able to impart these important life lessons to their children.

    Eating Healthfully in a Food Phobic World

Learning to eat healthfully in a society than mandates thinness and that promotes widespread misconceptions about healthy eating is not easy these days.  Even more complex is the job of teaching healthy eating habits and a healthy exercise lifestyle to our children. Children are “quick studies;” parents are their most potent teachers, teaching best through example. Parents need to become educated about what healthy eating is, and about how to communicate with their children to counteract self-destructive eating mythologies and promote eating health. If you or your child believes that fat-free is healthy eating, that junk food is “bad”; that people should only eat when they are hungry; that dieting is the best way to lose weight; or that “nobody eats breakfast,” you will benefit from this workshop.  Healthy eating is a way of life, a healthy relationship between food and the self that requires the capacity for sound judgment and decision-making, accurate self-perception, self-regulation and -care. Mastering the art of healthy eating underlies effective functioning in all other spheres of life, forming the backbone of the loving and connected family and virtually immunizing children against the onset of clinical eating disorders.
 
 

• Confront their child

• Confront disease

• Confront recovery

• Confront themselves and each other as parents

• Confront the child's health professionals

Empowering Mothers Through the Child’s Recovery

When disempowered mothers have the opportunity to create a constructive alliance with their child through appropriate involvement in the child’s eating disorder treatment and recovery efforts, they typically parallel their child’s emotional growth. This workshop explores the proposition that promoting appropriate, empowered and proactive parenting during a child’s eating disorder recovery empowers mother, child, the recovery process, and the parent/child relationship, while preventing relapse.

Participate Testimonial:
"I've gleaned a new and mature appreciation for many of the elements of the observant lifestyle. One book in particular has been inspiring me lately-- its a book of quotes by the "Rebbe" Schneerson called "Bringing Heaven Down to Earth: 365 meditations of the Rebbe". Its a book of 365 thoughts to read daily and digest throughout the day. you would really enjoy this book I think. Its been amazing to me to look through it because each of these snippets of wisdom are so profound, such mind-blowing little nuggets of insight, and then I realize that the only place I've heard information in this format before is with you! It just goes to show that the foundational elements of our religion and heritage penetrate everything that we do, explicitly or not, whether we are aware of it or not. And its also amazing the ways in which elements of Jewish thought and spirituality can be interpreted through the lens of eating disorder recovery."
...KRB, a client and a student of Judaism

For more information or to request a workshop, contact Abbie