What does an Occupational Therapist know about body image?
I don’t recall the concept of ‘body image’ itself being a part of the core OT undergraduate training however self-care DEFINITELY was and as I have spent my career working with young people and more recently thinking about how I raise my own children, I’ve delved into understanding body image: how to talk about it, how to challenge negative thinking patterns around it, how to deal with what peer groups talk about and how to manage self-care routines and the impact they can have on the family bathroom and morning routines … and sibling/parent conflicts!
While people’s weight and muscle tone may vary over time, one’s actual appearance is ultimately impossible to change. Our body image can absolutely be re shaped. Body image or how we think about our appearance can have a significant impact on daily occupations (there’s that Occupational Therapy role again!). The impact on how people spend their time, how they interact with others, their confidence and emotional well-being can all be affected.
It’s highly unlikely that anyone will go through life without some appearance concerns, but making sure they don’t start to consume you, stop you from doing things or going to great, expensive and time consuming lengths to change you is what we’re aiming to teach teens about.
The underpinning work to transform body image is around beliefs, values, perceptions, self-esteem, avoidance, fears, relationship with food and attitudes unintentionally handed down from our parents. Being able to maintain this amongst peer group dynamics can be extremely challenging for young people. In short - it’s complex!
Positive body image messaging has an important role in working towards shifting the diet and weight loss social media frenzy, and we believe that digging deeper will create more sustained change. Those images or quotes that move you - move you for that moment but so often do not integrate or shift the more entrenched messages - we have to work a bit harder for the magic to happen – but it can happen!
We are confident that spending three hours in an intimate group space will be inspiring, educational and sow the seeds for ongoing growth. We will help teens to accept their body, be grateful for their body and help them to limit and challenge the appearance concerns that pop up along the way.
To sign up to the workshop on the 1st October 1-4pm for teen girls at Alceme Yoga Studio email myf@hobartwonderings.com or fill out the contact section on this website.
Prevention and early intervention.
Occupational Therapy - helping people engage in what matters most to them.