Call: 911 or 336.758.5911
Call us: 336.758.5273
Visit us: 117 Reynolda Hall
Note: beginning October 21, 2019 walk-in clinic hours will be held Monday-Friday for initial visits.
Call us: 336.758.5273
The Body Project is a dissonance-based body-acceptance program designed to help high school girls and college-age women resist cultural pressures to conform to the appearance ideal standard of female beauty and reduce their pursuit of unrealistic bodies. The Body Project is supported by more research than any other body image program and has been found to reduce onset of eating disorders.
Wake Forest University is proud to help facilitate peer-led Body Project groups. If you are interested in The Body Project coming to talk with your group on-campus or in serving as a group facilitator, please email Emily Palmieri at palmieet@nullwfu.edu.
Why the name? Besides being super WFU-style punny, at a much deeper level our hope for you is that you are/ become awake to your body’s worth, it’s intuitively wise signals for hunger, satiety, and fullness, as well as your body’s desires to move, stretch, and rest in ways that nourish your body and soul. We also hope you awaken to the value and beauty of diverse bodies.
We were all born into bodies that differ in shape, size, color and appearance features. Cultural influences, family, life experiences and other factors often get in the way of embracing unique appearances, especially during college. We are here to support you in your relationship with your body. We want it to be a healthy, compassionate, and authentic relationship… and we understand that it’s much easier said than done. Wherever you are on your journey, let us help. Please check out the prevention and treatment resources at Wake Forest University and consider signing up for upcoming events and training’s as they come available. In addition, please take advantage of our resources list and linked websites for valuable information and tools.
This weekly 90-minute group is dedicated to the support of students in the recovery process of eating disorders and disordered eating. Please email Emily Palmieri or Denisha Champion for information regarding this group.
Wake Forest University offers a multidisciplinary treatment team for students struggling with eating disorders and supporting their recovery. We know that addressing eating concerns is a multifaceted process. The EAT team officers support for the physical health complications, nutritional deficits, and psychological barriers often present in eating disorders. The current members of the EAT team at Wake Forest University are listed below.
The EAT team, Student Health Services and the University Counseling Center strive to practice from a Health at Every Size perspective that does not equate health with weight. Living in a fat body can be very healthy and living in a thin body can be very unhealthy, contrary to many people’s understanding. Yes, I just used the word fat. We are reclaiming that word as a descriptor not an identity. Just as you have fingernails, you are not fingernails. Additionally, size diversity is something that is very much linked with genetics and parto of a multicultural identity.
Dr. Linda Bacon, a respected researcher with degrees in psychotherapy and exercise science, wrote the book Health at Every Size: The surprising truth about your weight and brought the objectivity of science into how we talk about body size while providing overwhelming evidence-based research support to the HAES movement. When healthcare providers focus on measurable indicators of assessing health (e.g. glucose levels and blood pressure) instead of weight, we have a more accurate understanding of your health and needs. Well-being and healthy habits are more important than any number on the scale. Here are a few tips towards participating in a Health at Every Size mindset as recommended by Dr. Deah Schwartz from the National Eating Disorders Association website (adapted for our use):
A documentary about the marketing of unattainable beauty around the world.
“Sex sells. What sells even more? Insecurity. Multi-billion dollar industries saturate our lives with images of unattainable beauty, exporting body hatred from New York to Beirut to Tokyo. Their target? Women, and increasingly men and children. The Illusionists turns the mirror on media, exposing the absurd, sometimes humorous, and shocking images that seek to enslave us.”
On October 18th 2017 at 6:00 PM in the Pugh Auditorium, WFU Counseling Center was proud to host film-maker Elena Rossini for a live screening and discussion with the writer and director herself. Those who attended asked live questions to Ms. Rossini as well as a team of professionals who work with body image and disordered eating. If you missed it, now worries! Click on the link to the film’s webpage and watch online! Be part of the revolution by becoming an Illusionists Ambassador! Talk with you friends and family, Dr. Emily Palmieri at the UCC, or another Health at Every Size (HAES) counselor or dietician you know to process personal reactions it stirs. AND KEEP YOUR EYE OUT FOR FUTURE EVENTS!
Create an intentionally positive feed (pun intended) by tailoring those you follow to allow a flood of positivity, light, healing, and hope into your day. Here are a few starting points to follow: