Graduate Catalog
Eating Disorders Certificate
According to statistics compiled by the National Institute for Mental Health, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any diagnosable mental illness in the United States. Eating disorders and disordered eating are one of the largest undiagnosed and untreated problems facing mental health and medical practitioners today, yet training specific to eating disorders is rare. Approaches to working with eating disorders and disordered eating have also shifted over recent years, with less emphasis on the medical aspects and more emphasis on societal and contextual aspects that lead to issues with body shape, body size, and ways of trying to control the body. This latter approach integrates social justice principles and values with the incidence of eating disorders and disordered eating.
Given lifetime prevalence rates of eating disorders and associated concurrent disorders, it is inevitable that professional mental health practitioners across a wide array of settings will be faced with clients presenting with these problems. There is a strong need for training approaches that look at both the problem behaviors as well as the societal biases and structures that contribute to issues with food and eating.
Eating Disorders Certificate
The Eating Disorders Certificate Program is an online 9-credit course of study that provides the comprehensive knowledge base required to work professionally with clients experiencing disordered eating. Participants join with practitioner faculty in small classes for discussion, study, and field experience. This program is appropriate for graduate students completing master's degrees in counseling or therapy, as well as mental health and addictions practitioners, nutritionists, or medical personnel working in the field. Interested applicants who wish to take any of the courses in the Eating Disorders Certificate Program must apply for the the certificate, even if they don't intend to take all of the courses to complete the certificate. There is no time limit related to completing the certificate.
Certificate Requirements
A minimum of nine semester hours, distributed as follows:
Required Courses
| CPED 572 | Introduction to Eating Disorders | 1 |
| CPED 573 | Fat Studies & Health at Every Size | 1 |
| CPED 574 | Body Politics | 1 |
| CPED 575 | Treatment of Eating Disorders | 1 |
| CPED 576 | Treatment of Negative Body Image | 1 |
| CPED 577 | Nutrition | 1 |
| CPED 578 | Family Therapy in the Treatment of Eating Disorders | 1 |
| CPED 580 | Mind Body Connections in the Treatment of Eating Disorders | 1 |
| CPED 581 | Eating Disorders in Transgender and Gender Expansive Populations | 1 |
Courses
CPED 572 Introduction to Eating Disorders
Content: Etiology of eating disorders, including biological, cultural, and environmental factors. Assessment and diagnosis of eating disorders, appropriate levels of care and a thorough overview of medical complications.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 573 Fat Studies & Health at Every Size
Content: Explores the interdisciplinary field of scholarship in Fat Studies that aims to debunk weight-centric misconceptions and countering mainstream narratives. Examines fat bias, fat shame and weight-based oppression as a social justice issue that intersects with other systems of oppression. Introduction to the paradigm of Health At Every Size, a weight-neutral approach to health promotion that emphasizes size diversity, intuitive eating, and joyful movement. HAES is also an important paradigm in working with people who experience disordered eating.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 574 Body Politics
Content: Considers the relationship between body and power in global consumer cultures, the gendering and objectification of bodies, and the commodification of bodies in looksist societies. Raising awareness of body politics in the counseling process is reviewed to promote individual and relational wellbeing.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 575 Treatment of Eating Disorders
Content: Evidence-based approaches to treating eating disorders, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy and more.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 576 Treatment of Negative Body Image
Content: Research related to the impact of negative body image on all populations. Ways in which negative body image is developed and maintained. Special focus on people meeting criteria for eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Evidence-based treatment strategies to help clients make peace with their bodies.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 577 Nutrition
Content: Nutritional aspects in the treatment of eating disorders. Nutritional rehabilitation for underweight clients. Nutritional therapy, intuitive and mindful eating.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 578 Family Therapy in the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Content: Disordered eating and eating disorders in children. Family therapy treatment strategies including the Maudsley method and other approaches. How to foster healthful eating in families.
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 580 Mind Body Connections in the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Content: Mindfulness, yoga, and somatic approaches to improving body image, embodied experience, and introspective awareness and the ability to identify, feel, and regulate emotions - critical components of the treatment of eating disorders and negative body image
Prerequisites: None.
Credits: 1 semester hour.
CPED 581 Eating Disorders in Transgender and Gender Expansive Populations
Content: Explores the interdisciplinary field of scholarship that explores best practices in working with transgender and gender diverse clients (TGDCs) experiencing eating disorders and/or disordered eating (Eds/DE). This course will also include an introduction to understanding the intersections of TGDCs, neurodivergence and EDs/DE. Ultimately, this course will explore the prevalence of EDs/DE in transgender communities, address gaps in current models based on cisgender populations, and provide TGD and neurodivergent affirming considerations that reduce barriers to care, and increase and provide ethical, competent, and gender-affirming care for all gender diverse clients.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Admission to an LC graduate degree program or the ED certificate program
Credits: 1 semester hour.