About this course

Learning Objectives

• Explain the impact of weight stigma on trauma and eating disorder development.
• Identify key strategies for utilizing IFS to heal trauma related to weight stigma.
• Demonstrate clinical applications of IFS interventions in addressing weight stigma through case examples and recorded demonstrations.

Learning Levels

• Intermediate

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Theresa Chesnut, LCSW, CEDS-C

  Founder and CEO of The Chesnut Group

  Theresa Chesnut specializes in the treatment of Eating Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD), and issues related to anxiety, depression and stress. Her focus embraces the optimization of athletic performance as well as the resolution of conflicts arising within the family, particularly those pertaining to adolescent growth. Her therapeutic orientation is holistic, strength-based, and grounded in both psychodynamic and Internal Family Systems (IFS) theories. Theresa has worked with adolescents and adults for over 30 years, managing her clients’ challenges with Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorders. Previous to her having formed her own private group practice, she held the position of Clinical Director at The Healthy Teen Project (HTP), an adolescent, eating disorder-specific outpatient clinic. Before her tenure at HTP, Theresa held many roles over her 13-year stint at a national eating disorder residential treatment center, including Program Director, Lead Individual and Group Therapist, Program Director, Director of Regional Marketing, and supervising master level interns. She was also instrumental in a senior management role, starting new programs, training new staff, overseeing operations, creating policies and procedures for programs, and expanding existing practices into new geographic locations. Theresa lectures locally and nationally, both in person and virtually, on therapeutic interventions targeting the entire eating disorder recovery process. Over the last 3 decades, Theresa has lectured on college campuses as well as to allied professionals covering the state of the art of symptom identification and eating disorder prevention, therapeutic interventions. She has been trained in Family Based Therapy (FBT), Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), and has been an Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist for 2 decades; additionally, she has assisted in Level One Trainings. Theresa served as a Board member of the national Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) from 2009-2017 and held board positions as the Secretary, Vice-Chair, and Chair. Additionally, she sat on several committees including the Conference Committee and Weight Stigma Awareness Week." Theresa currently runs an annual event - The Tri-State Eating Disorder Conference in Evansville, Indiana. She maintains group practices in California and in Indiana. The practice offers practicum internships for Masters level students. She is one of IADEP’s Certified Eating Disorder Specialists, in addition to being one of their Supervisors. Although she maintains her private practice in Northern California, she resides in Evansville, IN where she is a proud grandmother to 4 grandchildren and her therapy Shepadoodle, Stevie Nicks.

• 

  Chevese Turner

  As CEO of the Body Equity Alliance, Turner leads efforts to engage in advocacy and activism, provide education, coaching, navigation and communications, advise best practices, and influence public policy on issues related to eating disorders, weight stigma and weight discrimination, and health equity.

  Turner's dedication to public health began when she was part of a team working to ensure cancer patients had ongoing access to critical treatments. Driven by her own struggles and recovery, she founded the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) to address the unmet needs of people with the most prevalent eating disorder. After 10 years of pioneering work, BEDA merged with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) in 2018 after noteworthy milestones that included working to add binge eating disorder (BED) to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s 5th Edition (DSM-5), developing a national awareness week addressing weight stigma and intersecting oppressions, creating industry-leading educational programming, and public policy work at the state and national levels. More work in the healthcare arena, education around moving past social determinants of health to health equity, and a dedication to healthcare as a human right has prepared her to help clients make important shifts in their own work.

Disclosure

References

• Riemersma, J. (Ed.), & Schwartz, R. C. (Eds.). (2023). Altogether us: Integrating the IFS model with key modalities, communities, and trends. Pivotal Press.
• Catanzaro, J. (2023). Unburdened eating: Releasing blocks to nourishing relationships with food and body using Internal Family Systems. Trailhead Publications.
• Pershing, A. (2018). Body of truth: Healing trauma and freeing yourself from the tyranny of weight. North Atlantic Books.
• Pershing, A., & Turner, C. (2023). Binge eating disorder: The journey to recovery and beyond. Routledge.
• Neubauer, J. (2024). Internal Relational Illustration: A Pilot Clinical Case Study. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 52(1), 73-91.
• Redfern, E. E. (2022). In search of Self. In Internal Family Systems Therapy (pp. 209-235). Routledge.
• D’Adamo, L., Shonrock, A. T., Monocello, L., Goldberg, J., Yaeger, L. H., Pearl, R. L., & Wilfley, D. E. (2024). Psychological interventions for internalized weight stigma: a systematic scoping review of feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy. Journal of Eating Disorders, 12(1), 197. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-024-01132-7
• Leget, D. L., LaCaille, L. J., Hooker, S. A., LaCaille, R. A., & Lauritsen, M. W. (2025). Applying self-determination theory to internalized weight stigma and mental health correlates among young and middle adult women: A structural equation model. Journal of Health Psychology, 30(2), 253-267. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38679895/