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Digital Seminar

Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Gender Identity

Integrative Strategies to Help Clients Navigate Life in Their Bodies

Faculty:
Chris Sherman, LPC, LCPC, E-RYT 200, CPT, GFI
Duration:
6 Hours 05 Minutes
Copyright:
04 Nov, 2025
Product Code:
POS059362
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.


Description

I used to think of gender dysphoria as a wall that I could not get around when working with clients with disordered eating. A restrictive client would tell me, “I can’t gain weight or my gender dysphoria will get really bad.” I would nod because I had experienced that in my own life, and I did not know how to move forward.

Disordered eating is an epidemic in the LGBTQ community, with up to 75% diagnosed or suspected of having (age 13-24) were diagnosed/suspected of having an eating disorder (Trevor Project, 2018). Clients may say, “I want to stop binge eating, but in a smaller body, I get misgendered” or “All the laws are changing. If I’m not thin enough to pass as a woman, I will be beat up or killed as I walk down the street.” As clinicians, we don’t know what to say, because we are afraid that it’s true.

Changing body size or shape through food and exercise may be a way of shaping the body so that it feels more congruent to the client’s internal mirror. But sometimes this process of crafting the body gets in the way of life. Clients might fixate on food, obsess about exercise, fear small body changes, or avoid social situations due to body image concerns.

Sometimes gender dysphoria can be seen as a hopeless diagnosis. Instead, let’s empower clients to see gender dysphoria as a powerful coping mechanism! This strong coping mechanism is developed through trauma and lived experience. It shows us who we are, how to safely show up in social situations, and how to present authentically to the world. When utilized effectively, this coping skill can help people beat disordered eating and navigate life in their bodies.

This practical seminar is loaded with conceptual frameworks, practical exercises, and conversation topics that you can use immediately with gender-expansive clients. If you are tired of feeling defeated by the wall of gender dysphoria in disordered eating recovery purchase now!

Chris Sherman

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.



CPD

PESI Australia, in collaboration with PESI in the USA, offers quality online continuing professional development events from the leaders in the field at a standard recognized by professional associations including psychology, social work, occupational therapy, alcohol and drug professionals, counselling and psychotherapy. On completion of the training, a Professional Development Certificate is issued after the individual has answered and submitted a quiz and course evaluation. This program is worth 6.25 hours CPD for points calculation by your association.



Handouts

Faculty

Chris Sherman, LPC, LCPC, E-RYT 200, CPT, GFI's Profile

Chris Sherman, LPC, LCPC, E-RYT 200, CPT, GFI Related seminars and products


Chris Sherman, LPC, LCPC, E-RYT 200, CPT, GFI, (they/them) is a therapist specializing in the intersection of eating disorders, neurodivergence, and gender dysphoria. Chris has over 10 years of experience working with eating disorders in a variety of settings: residential, outpatient, and community-based non-profits. Their professional experience at both institutions and grass roots organizations gives them perspective on how traditional treatments often fail vulnerable populations. Their lived experience as a gender expansive, neurodivergent human drives their passion for providing effective clinical care for those with intersecting, marginalized identities.

Chris is an educator, therapist, advocate, and researcher who has conducted trainings and published on eating disorders and autism. They see clients in Washington DC and Maryland at their practice, Thrive As You Are.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Chris Sherman maintains a private practice and has employment relationships with St. Coletta of Greater Washington, Capitol Hill Sport & Health, District Flow Yoga, and Resilient Me. They receive a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. They have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Chris Sherman has no relevant non-financial relationships.


Additional Info

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepepesi.com


Objectives

  1. Formulate a treatment plan that effectively addresses gender dysphoria, gender identity, and disordered eating treatment.
  2. Utilize practical exercises and thought questions on gender identity and gender dysphoria to improve clinical outcomes.   
  3. Integrate prior knowledge of disordered eating treatment with a gender-affirming approach to client care in order to improve client engagement and treatment outcomes.   
  4. Demonstrate the spectrum of options for gender expression for purposes of client psychoeducation.  
  5. Conduct body image exercises in session with gender diverse clients.    
  6. Role play conversations with clients on gender dysphoria and eating disorders.

Outline

Disordered Eating Treatment With Gender Expansive Clients

  • Conceptual model for integrative treatment of gender dysphoria and disordered eating
  • Limitations of research and potential risks
  • Key concepts and terminology

Trauma, Gender Dysphoria & Disordered Eating

  • Trauma in the queer community
  • Reframing gender dysphoria as a coping mechanism
  • IFS for gender dysphoria and trauma
  • Disassociation and body disconnection
  • Building body awareness with resistant clients

Integration of Gender Identity into Disordered Eating Treatment

  • Neuroscience of being othered
  • Gender performance and the development of core beliefs
  • Shifting core beliefs from broken to empowered
  • Gender identity as an expression of core values
  • Utilizing gender dysphoria as a tool in gender identity development
  • The role of disordered eating in a gendered society

Navigating Emotions with Gender Dysphoria

  • Emotions in relationships
    • Microaggressions, microinvalidations, microassaults
    • Coping with misgendering
  • Emotions on the journey
    • Grief associated with transition
    • Grief associated with recovery from an ED
  • Emotions regarding body image
    • Internal mirror
    • Expanding language to express body dysphoria
    • Reframing & problem-solving body dissatisfaction
    • Problems with traditional cisgender disordered eating treatments

Gender Presentation Beyond Physical Appearance

  • Deconstructing body image in the queer community
    • Passing privilege
    • Androgeny ideal
    • Trans media representation
    • Client empowerment through social media
  • Alleviating Gender Dysphoria through presentation
    • Body sculpting and compulsive exercise
    • Medical transition and hormonal weight gain
    • Gender euphoria

Diagnosis & Treatment

  • Should I diagnose gender dysphoria?
  • Empowering diagnosis
  • Model for treatment planning
  • What recovery with gender dysphoria looks like

The Role of a Therapist

  • How do I talk to clients if I don’t have lived experience?
  • Creating space for gender exploration
  • Examining your disordered eating treatment for cisgender, heteronormative bias

Case Conceptualization

  • A client resists gaining weight because it triggers gender dysphoria and suicidal ideation
  • Client diagnosed with binge eating disorder who felt more comfortable with their body when they were larger
  • Transgender client with anorexia feels they are physically in danger when they don’t pass as a woman

Target Audience

  • Counsellors 
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • Case Managers
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Speech-Language Pathologists
  • Nurses
  • Physicians
  • Addiction Counsellors
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

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