Conference presentations ...

I've been preparing a presentation for a Conference I'm going to on Tuesday; Mental Health and Young People; Promoting a Positive and Healthy Body Image."  It's been organised by the Public Policy Exchange
 (click here for more info Public Policy Exchange) as a follow up from an All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image last year.

Central YMCA played a big role in this APPG Body Image group, and a colleague and myself became involved via the YMCA.  We developed and facilitated some workshops for Key Stages 1 & 2 pupils in primary schools.  We fed back our experiences to YMCA and they were included in the published report:  'Reflections on body image'.  More details can be found by visiting  www.ymca.co.uk/bodyimage/

This conference is a bit of a first for me.  I've presented at a number of conferences over the last 3 or 4 years as part of my PhD, but each of those has been one which I've had to apply to present at.  This is the first one for which I was approached by the organisers and invited to attend.  I'm sure it comes from the work I did last year as part of the APPG Body Image inquiry; but it's a privilege to be invited to present.

It feels like a recognition of my developing expertise and all of the research I've engaged in over the last few years.  And that feels good; especially as I head towards the end of my PhD.

It also got me thinking about just how many conferences and events I've presented at.  I used to be absolutely terrified of public speaking, and yet now, I gladly put myself forward for it.  I still feel some nerves, but I'm sure that's normal.  My research and what I'm learning from it, excites me so much, that I want to share it with others ... at conferences, and hopefully, eventually, in print.


This is the list of conferences I've attended & titles I've presented over the duration of my PhD to date ...

2010   BACP Research Conference, London
Poster Presentation: “The impact of working with eating disordered clients on the counsellor’s sense of self: a pilot study”

2010   VITAE Public Engagement Event, Newcastle Poster Presentation:  “Working with eating disordered clients: Might it eat away at the counsellor?”

2010   York St John University; Research Methodologies Conference
Paper:  “The evolution of a methodology: An exploration of counsellors’ embodied subjectivities when working with clients presenting with eating disorder symptomatology”

2010  Newcastle Counselling Association
Workshop Presentation:  “Dispelling fears: The importance of research in counselling”

2011   BACP Research Conference, Liverpool
Poster Presentation:  “Changing the researcher, changing the research:  The impact of  exploring the embodied subjectivities of counsellors working with clients with eating disorders”

2011   VITAE Public Engagement Event, Durham
Petcha Kucha Presentation:  “The effects on counsellors of working with clients who have eating disorders”

2011   York St John University; Research Methodologies Conference
Paper:  “Giving the researcher a voice: Autoethnography as a vehicle for reflexivity”

2011   NCCCTC Conference, Newcastle
Paper Presentation:  “Embodying change work and eating disorders”

2012   BACP Research Conference, Edinburgh
Paper:  “The embodied counsellor: Exploring the counsellor’s embodied subjectivity when working with clients presenting with eating distress”

2012   VITAE Public Engagement Event, York
Poster Presentation:  “How amazing is your body?!  From the counselling room to you … “

2012   Newcastle Counselling Association
Workshop Presentation: “The embodied counsellor: Reflections on the therapist’s body and relationship with food”

2013   York St John University Faculty of Life & Health Sciences; Faculty Research Seminar
Presentation:  “An exploration of the counsellor’s embodied subjectivity when working with clients presenting with eating disorder symptomatology: Methodological progression and key findings to date”

2013  Mental Health and Young People; Promoting a Positive and Healthy Body Image; A Public Policy Exchange Symposium, London
Paper Presentation: “Embodying change: An embodied approach to working with body image”

Worlds colliding; worlds merging

I had an interesting dream a couple of nights ago when three distinct eras of my life all merged into one scenario. This dream has stayed with me and made me think about how different elements of our lives can all come together and lay the foundations for a new way of living or being …

Over the last few months, my life has felt like it was made up of three separate and distinct parts … my employed work within the NHS, my PhD and the current studying I’m doing around NLP. Recently, I’ve become aware as to how at least two of those parts are merging together and forming something new …

The learnings I’m taking away from NLP are feeding into my private practice and the work that I do with clients presenting with eating disorders and related issues. I’m seeing lots of possibilities for working with clients around weight loss and eating or body image issues incorporating various NLP techniques and approaches into my current understandings and ways of working. This, in turn, is feeding into my ideas for my new website, ‘Embodying Change,’ which will be live very soon...

And surprisingly, the world of NLP has collided and merged with my PhD world … Researching the topic of eating disorders and sharing my research with others, is ensuring that I’m increasingly becoming known (at least locally) as ‘an eating disorders specialist’. For a while, some time back, I decided I didn’t want to be known simply as an eating disorders specialist; I worried it might limit me. However, I’m increasingly recognising that my personal experience and understanding, combined with the vast amounts of literature I’m reading for my PhD, and the therapists I’m interviewing, are filling me with a unique & privileged mix of knowledge. And I want to share this with others …

Through people I’ve met connected with NLP, I’ve been invited to present at a conference next month in Newcastle where I’ll be talking about ‘effective change work with clients presenting with eating disorders.’ This is the inaugural conference of NCCCTC (Northern Changeworkers, Counsellors, Coaches & Therapists Conference; www.nccctc.co.uk) and it’s so exciting and feels like a huge privilege to have been asked to present at this conference.

It also feels like this is where, for me, the worlds of eating disorders, PhD and NLP all come together as one … it feels like this is where the separate parts of myself collide and merge. I have the opportunity to share my passion with others; to talk about eating disorders, embodied experience and how I work with clients. It’s a chance to share my knowledge and understanding which is continuously developing as I integrate counselling theories, NLP and hypnotherapy approaches, the experience of specialists I’m interviewing, books & articles I’m reading and my own personal interpretations. It’s also for me, where ‘Embodying Change’ takes its first breath in the world…

The coming month feels like a hugely exciting one for me … I’m presenting my academic research as a poster presentation at BACP’s Research Conference in Liverpool on 6th & 7th May, and then the following weekend (14th &15th May), I’m presenting at NCCCTC.