Reclaiming Yourself from Internalised Fat Phobia & Bias

Who is this course for?

Internalised Fat Phobia and Bias is a topic often missing from conventional body image work. If you want to take your body image work to another level or you instinctively feel there’s something you’re missing in the work you’re currently doing, give this course a go. Many of us are starting to have an understanding of these concepts yet are unsure how to translate it into something practical and actionable that influences meaningful change in our lives. This course aims to fill this gap in being educational and practical without overly complicated jargon. The theoretical foundations of the course are informed by feminist theory and trauma-informed cognitive behavioural understandings of internalised fat phobia and body image.

What can I expect?

• A compassionate, warm teaching approach
• Gender inclusive language
• Neutral descriptions of body size (no medicalised language)
• Ease of access – all written content is available as audio as well
• A self-study format where you choose the pace and access frequency
• Worksheets containing reflective prompts and questions

Outline

Introduction: Foundations for Part 1 and 2

An in-depth exploration of weight bias, weight stigma and fat phobia to prepare all knowledge levels for the practical elements of part 1 and 2.

Part 1: Weight Bias and Body Image

A focus on analysing your relationship with weight bias and how that impacts your body image. The lectures and practical worksheets in this part help you explore and reflect on specific topics to begin to dissolve assumptions held by stereotypes related to size, sexism and gender. We look at how these beliefs loaded with weight bias limit how you think and feel about your body. The reflective activities aim to go into areas you may not have considered to be impacted by weight bias.

Part 2: Internalised Fat Phobia (IFP) and Body Image

A focus on how internalised fat phobia (IFP) appears within your life and influences thoughts and feelings about your body. There is a strong emphasis on using strategies and worksheets to become aware of IFP patterns in your daily life by exploring the mental, emotional and behavioural elements of IFP. After this, we move into tools for how to appropriately and safely challenge areas which maintain IFP with a firm understanding of how IFP works psychologically. In conjunction with this there is also a recognition of the traumatic impacts of fat phobia which are a factor in the maintenance of IFP and how this may be navigated going forward.

Is this course for me?

This course is suitable for the public and for anyone who wants to explore their body image without weight bias. This course aims to be flexible enough within the practical elements to meet you where you're at. This means you will naturally bring to this course your personal experience and level of understanding, which will springboard you towards new insights about yourself and increase your sense of personal power.