About the Presenter

Adrienne Ressler MA, LMSW, CEDS - The Renfrew Center Foundation

Adrienne Ressler MA, LMSW, CEDS is the National Training Director for the Renfrew Center Foundation.  As a senior staff member, she has designed and conducted hundreds of training seminars for professionals throughout the United States and internationally on eating disorders and body image disturbance, sexual abuse and depression.

Adrienne serves on the Board and is a Fellow of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. She is a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS).
Adrienne received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, where she also served on the faculty in the School of Education.

She is a Licensed Master's Social Worker and has extensive training in gestalt therapy, transactional analysis and psychodrama, as well as the body-centered therapies of Bio-energetic Analysis and Alexander Technique.

Adrienne has earned international recognition for her expertise on body-image disturbance in women and has had her work published in The International Journal of Fertility & Women's Medicine and Pulse, the official publication of the International Spa Association. She is a co-author of the chapter "Reframing Body Image Identity in the Treatment of Eating Disorders" in Healing through Relationship: Fostering Body-Mind Integration.  Adrienne has appeared on the Today Show and Good Morning America Sunday.  Adrienne served as co-curator of "Awakening the Silent Voice" (a six month gallery exhibit of patient art at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale.)

About the Program

The eating disorders of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorder affect many thousands of individuals each year and have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

Body dissatisfaction, a key element in all eating disordered individuals, is now considered normal behavior in our society. No group is spared from the ravages of this severe illness - its effects are far-reaching medically, psychologically and financially. Quality of life for the sufferer as well as the family is profoundly compromised as is quality of effectiveness in the workplace. 

This training for Value Options will address those factors that lie beneath the symptomotology of the eating disorder that must be addressed in order for recovery to take place. An exploration of the relationship between chemical dependency and eating disorders will be addressed in the context of the effects of the culture as well as pre-disposing conditions that heighten risk factors.   Strategies to effectively identify and secure appropriate levels of care for sufferers will be provided as well as tips for creating a workplace environment that reduces the risk of promoting eating disordered behaviors.
 

Outline

1. Introduction and Overview
   
2. Beneath the symptoms
   
3. Risk Factors
   
4. Body Image Issues
   
5. Co-Occuring disorders
   
6. The Effects of the Image Makers
   
7. Questions & Answers

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