Speaking - Carmen Cool

Bodies. Truth. Care. Justice.

Speaking & Teaching

Perspective-shifting presentations

I’ve spoken internationally about weight stigma, Health At Every Size ®, challenging mainstream paradigms, and building connections that are movement building and community-changing.

I blend humor, and meaningful stories with extensive research, and practical takeaways. I love to breathe a sense of freshness into the ways we relate with our bodies and food.

“Carmen Cool is my go-to voice, consultant, and educator in all things anti-fat bias and weight stigma in contemporary psychotherapy.”

“Carmen’s work has been at the forefront in our field in making visible how diet culture and healthism creates body based oppression in people’s lives. Carmen also embodies her own beliefs in the work she does, and I have always found her to be encouraging, creative, authentic, and a creator of possibilities in helping clinicians and clients move toward a body liberation focus.”

Chris Hoff, PhD. LMFT

The Radical Therapist

Popular Presentations

The Trauma of Weight Stigma: Moving from Anti-fat Bias to Weight Inclusivity in our Work

We are failing to counter body injustice around the systemic hatred of fat in our communities and our profession. Weight bias impacts people across the weight spectrum, and is a form of oppression that we can - and need to - do something about. We must all confront our feelings about fat, seek to learn about weight and size from a cultural lens, and dismantle the weight-biased beliefs that we all hold.

In this presentation, we will discuss the medicalization/moralization of weight and health, the danger of traditional clinical assumptions about size, the impact of "thin privilege", recognizing and treating weight-related trauma , and how to use a Health At Every Size ® approach to provide ethical, compassionate and weight inclusive care.

Just Practice: Integrating Anti-oppression And Activism Into Psychotherapy

Moving between the roles of clinician and activist has healing and liberatory potential for our clients, ourselves, and the world. We have to deconstruct all of the oppressions that determine the ways in which we value people, and whose bodies have more access to rights and resources.

In this presentation, we will discuss the benefits and challenges when we move between treatment provider and activist. We will have critical conversations and question prevailing norms in our profession, engaging in reflective practices in order to work in a more socially responsible and transformative way and move our work in the direction of justice.

Training the Resistance: Engaging Young People In Eliminating Weight Stigma

Teenagers can be powerful and influential players in the work of transforming cultural attitudes and beliefs about body size, health, and weight. When teens transform their own relationships with their bodies, they can become activists and change their peer culture. Bringing together Health At Every Size ® and Social Justice Youth Development, we will explore how activism around body liberation can be both a healing and prevention tool for teens.

In this presentation, you will learn effective strategies to bring young people into the conversation about eating disorders and weight stigma, become familiar with the evidence for a peer to peer model in adolescent populations, and the importance of a social justice approach when working with young people.

“Carmen Cool has that rare ability as a presenter to share so fully and authentically with the audience...”

“...that participants are transported to a place of possibility and a deeper awareness of themselves in the process. Carmen interacts with workshop participants in the same way she interacts with the people with whom she works—with deep respect, openness, and the ability to truly see others in their fullness and wholeness.”

Ellen Frankel

Author

Some Places I've Spoken

Conferences

The Renfrew Center Foundation
Academy for Eating Disorders
NEDIC Annual Conference
 Iaedp Conference
Binge Eating Disorder Association
International Weight Stigma Conference
Body Love Conference
National Eating Disorders Association

Others

Quest University
Regis University
Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action
 University of Denver School of Social Work
Explore More Summit
Metropolitan State College
Concordia College
University of Wyoming
Girls Coalition of Minnesota
 Institute for the Psychology of Eating
Rocky Mountain College Health Association
North American Institute of Clinical Herbalism

Featured Interviews

I would love to bring body justice to your next event.

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