The Power of Enlightened Parenting in Healing a Child's Eating Disorder

A 5-Part Educative Webinar Series

Presented by
Abigail Natenshon LCSW, Psychotherapist, Eating Disorder Expert, and Author

This 5 part workshop and training series will provide you the know-how, impetus, permission and confidence you need….in yourself, in your parenting, and in a convoluted recovery process… to parent your child effectively through this most pivotal and transformational time. Having gone through this process together with your child, the breadth and depth of your relationship together will be enhanced for life.

Eating disorders are difficult diseases to detect and to understand. Even more perplexing is how to respond to them and to your afflicted child. It may feel as though you don't know your child anymore…that he or she has been taken hostage by the dictates of a tyrannical eating disorder. What may have started out as benign enough quirks or habits around eating and weight management may have morphed into dangerous and lethal dysfunctions that impair your child's capacity to learn, to interact with others, and to healthfully develop and mature emotionally.

Parents confronting an eating disorder in their child no longer need not feel lost or frightened.

Shed your guilt. As a parent, it's easy to feel that whatever problems your child suffers are the result of your having done something wrong. Parents are not to blame for their child’s eating disorder. There is a lot they can do, however, to heal their child once afflicted, or prevent the worsening of a condition that may ultimately trigger eating disorder onset.

Perhaps you've heard that eating disorders cannot be cured, that "once anorexic, always anorexic" Don't believe it. When enlightened parents learn how to respond effectively and leave no stone unturned, when help is optimal and effective support is forthcoming, eating disorders are completely and fully curable in 80 percent of cases. The more complex cases can be vastly improved and managed with on-going care.

Parents of disordered children need to:

·          Become knowledgeable

·          Become proactive

·          Take charge in an intelligent and appropriate way until such time as the child is capable of resuming self-care, self-regulation and self-control.

The sooner you define the problem, the sooner you will be able to find lasting solutions. Early problem recognition and sensitive and knowledgeable parental participation in recovery are two of the most significant factors in achieving a timely and sustained recovery. Parents who are not part of the solution run the risk of becoming part of the problem.

Knowledgeable, proactive and collaborative parenting is a critical factor in insuring effective and timely ED recovery. Eating disorders are family system disorders; their behaviors take place around dinner tables, in family bathrooms, in the course of daily living. Enlightened parents enjoy the potential to mentor the child, family, and team in facilitating an effective and timely recovery process. In seeking health professionals to work with your eating disordered child, parents need to find experts who are supportive to the notion that parents and families are MVPs on any treatment team, who will encourage family participation in the healing process through the family therapy process.

This workshop will offer you insights into:

·         Your child, who may be struggling with an eating disorder or on the verge of developing one.

·         The eating disorder itself, and its implications for your child and family members who suffer the effects of the ordeal of disease and recovery, along with your afflicted child.  

·         Your own self, as the mentor and advocate that you need to become for your child, his or her recovery, and his or her professional team.

The workshop series describes why, and how, you as a parent need to become involved in your eating disordered child's recovery efforts.

·          It will help you prepare yourself to take action by teaching you what you need to know, and to do, to help your child.

·          It will teach you to become an astute observer of your child, as well as listener; the first step in your diagnosing your child's eating disorder is defining the problem as the first step towards resolving it.

·          It will help you to refine your instincts and skills in communicating with your recovering child, to learn to support your child appropriately throughout every stage of recovery.

·          It will help you to become a more effective parent; to better bond with, and separate healthfully from, your developing child.

When brought to a successful outcome, the eating disorder recovery process results in your child’s “getting her self back;” and the family and parents “getting their child back.”

Stepping Up to the Plate:
The Power of Enlightened Parenting in Healing a Child's Eating Disorder

A Webinar Series

Parents are invited to participate in all or chosen segments of this five part Webinar series. The fee per segment is $50 for a 90 minute segment, each segment consisting of 45 minutes of lecture presentation and 45 minutes of questions and answers.


Session One
Facing the Challenge:
Preparing yourself to prepare your child to heal

Segment goals:

·         To prepare parents to prepare themselves to understand and face the eating disorder, their afflicted child, and the effects of this illness on the entire family.

·         To teach parents to identify what they see in their child, and to recognize signs that may not be readily observable.

·         To help parents gain the skills they need to become effectively responsive to signs and symptoms, to confront and bring their child to recognition, acceptance and professional care.

·         To refute myths about eating disorders and misconceptions about parents being to blame in causing these diseases, thereby dispelling parental guilt.

Session Two
Expanding your Eating Disorder I.Q.
Educating yourself prepares you to educate your child throughout the treatment and recovery process, about these disorders, and about how to anticipate and handle the experience of treatment and recovery.

Segment goals:

·         To educate parents about eating disorders and their implications in order to understand more fully the complexities of the child's experience.

·         To develop insights into a parent’s own emotional responses and preparedness in handling their own personal challenges.

·         To educate parents about what to anticipate upon entering the treatment process, and how to work with the process, the child, and the team.

·         To inform parents about their role in recovery, sweeping out “the elephant under the chair.”

·         To inform parents about what qualities to seek in procuring the most expert professional care for their child and family.

Session Three
Treatment Nuts and Bolts

Treatment needs to be timely, diverse, integrative, motivational and respectful of the family system.

Segment goals:

·         Learn what needs to happen in eating disorder treatment, how, when, why, and at what pace.

·         Discover the unique obstacles to eating disorder recovery.

·         Understand the unique nature of eating disorder change in an integrative process

·         Determine whether your child's treatment is as effective as it could be.

·         Understand what treatment progress looks like.

·         Learn whether there may be more you could be doing with or for your child to enhance recovery outcomes.

Session Four
A Parent's Personal Journey

Parents and families suffer from the existence of an eating disorder within the family system, in tolerating its effects on the child, as well as impact on every member of the victim’s family and social system.

Segment goals:

·         To become knowledgeable about how best to support your child throughout the treatment and recovery process and to manage your child, the disorder, the family response, and the professional team.

·         Discover your own attitudes about food, weight and exercise, and whether they might in some respects, affect your recovering child.

·         A parent’s emotional and behavioral accurate self-appraisal provides an opportunity for personal growth, as well as a deeper connection with your child.

·         Identifyyour own counter transference issues throughout the recovery process.

·         Improve your communications with your child and the parent/child relationship.

Session Five
Recovery and Beyond

Recovery from an eating disorder is a complex and on-going process that occurs on many levels, at once, or over time.  A deceptive process, it fluxes and varies throughout its natural course, and at times may become hard to read and assess.  It is not unusual for behaviors that appear to signify “failure” to actually reflect growth and progress.

Segment goals:

·         To recognize and repair a stuck recovery process.

·         To recognize when a successful recovery progress may take on the appearance of failure.

·         To recognize that anything less than a complete recovery from an eating disorder is not a sustainable or lasting recovery and is not good enough for your child.

·         The many faces of recovery: recounting recovery stories

Note that online teaching sessions can be enjoyed by a single parent, by both parents simultaneously, or by the entire family.

Dates to be determined.

Cost per session:  $75

Cost per series of 5 sessions: $300

For individuals who are unable to attend a live broadcast of these educational webinars, for the same cost, arrangements can be made to offer hard copies of any or all of these lectures and the PowerPoint presentations.

Contact Abbie to register for the full course or specific segments.