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Digital Seminar

Trauma and Emotional Eating: Must-Have Integrative Interventions to Reduce Shame, Improve Body Confidence & More


Speaker:
Diane Petrella, MSW
Duration:
6 Hours 23 Minutes
Language:
Presented in EN, subtitles in EN and FR, handouts in EN and FR
Format:
Audio and Video
Copyright:
Jun 20, 2025
Product Code:
POS150185
Media Type:
Digital Seminar


Description

Clients often perceive their emotional eating as a lack of willpower …

… when it has actually served as a resourceful way to soothe trauma-related feelings that have been too hard to bear.

So they come to you complaining about themselves – that they’re undisciplined, that they can’t succeed at a diet, that they hate their body.

And while part of you knows that discipline and diets aren’t what your clients really need, it can be all too easy to stay focused on changing their eating behaviours.

Watch Diane Petrella, MSW, expert clinician and author of the highly acclaimed book Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors, to learn a body-supportive, weight-neutral, trauma-informed, and spiritually-inclusive integrative approach to transform clients’ relationship with food. You’ll learn:

  • Effective strategies for soothing trauma-related emotions
  • Integrative techniques to decrease self-punishment and self-doubt
  • Easy-to-implement intuitive and mindful eating skills to shift clients’ relationship to food
  • Step-by-step tools for increasing body confidence
  • AND MUCH MORE!

PURCHASE TODAY to guide your clients out of shame cycle and into an empowered relationship with food.

 

Credit

Program Information

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.



Canada Credit - *

NOTE: Tuition includes one free CE Certificate (participant will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, and others.

Continuing Education Information:  Listed below are the continuing education credit(s) currently available for this non-interactive self-study package. Program content is reviewed periodically per accrediting board rules for currency and appropriateness for credit. Credit approvals are subject to change. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether self-study is an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. 
For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before purchase.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession.  As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.  

For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

 


Canada Credit - ---

Earn up to 6.25 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession. 


Canada Credit - Canadian Counsellors and Psychotherapists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This self-study activity is approved for 6.0 credit hours.


Canada Credit - Social Workers - National ASWB ACE

PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2023 - January 27, 2026. Social workers completing this course receive 6.25 Clinical continuing education credits.

 

Course Level: Intermediate Format: Recorded asynchronous distance. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.

 

Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities approved by the ASWB for ongoing professional development.


Canada Credit - Canadian Psychologists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This program is approved for 6.0 self-study continuing education hours. Full credit statement at: www.pesi.com/cpa-statement


Canada Credit - Other Professions

This self-study activity qualifies for 6.25 continuing education clock hours as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.


US National Boards - Addiction Counselors - NAADAC

This self-study course has been approved by PESI, Inc., as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #77553. PESI, Inc. is responsible for all aspects of their programming.

This self-study course offers 6.0 continuing education contact hours in the Counseling Services skill group. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance.


US National Boards - Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Clinical Nurse Specialists – ANCC

PESI, Inc. is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Nurses completing these self-study materials will earn 6.25 contact hours. Expires: 06/18/2028.



Handouts

Speaker

Diane Petrella, MSW's Profile

Diane Petrella, MSW Related seminars and products


Diane Petrella, MSW, is a clinical social worker and holistic licensed psychotherapist specializing in the effects of childhood trauma, emotional eating, and body confidence. Early in her nearly 40-year career she co-developed the first child sexual abuse treatment program in Rhode Island and was a forensic expert witness for sexual assault cases. She has worked with children, adolescents, and adult survivors. Diane has helped thousands of people overcome early trauma, create a respectful relationship with their body and food, and connect with their inner Wise Self for sustained healing She is the author of Healing Emotional Eating for Trauma Survivors: Trauma-Informed Practices to Nurture a Peaceful Relationship with Your Emotions, Body, and Food.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Diane Petrella maintains a private practice and receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Diane Petrella is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

 


Additional Info

Program Information

Questions?

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.


Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.


Objectives

  1. Evaluate the relationships between early trauma, attachment ruptures, and nervous system regulation with relation to emotional eating.
  2. Determine the impact of weight stigma and body insecurity on clients who emotionally eat.
  3. Utilise interventions that support clients’ ability to self-soothe without food.
  4. Identify interventions to increase clients’ self-compassion.
  5. Choose guided imagery practices to help clients access their inner wisdom.
  6. Evaluate therapist biases related to food and body size that could impact treatment.

Outline

Emotional Eating After Trauma
When Food has Regulated Feelings
  • Relationship between trauma and emotional eating
  • Early trauma, attachment, and nervous system dysregulation
  • Emotional eating as both a refuge and source of pain
  • Impact of trauma on body image
  • Paradigm shift – body positivity versus body support
  • Help clients honour how food and eating help
  • Emotional eating behaviours as a path to heal childhood pain
  • Case study
Treatment Preparation
Increase Readiness for a Non-diet Paradigm
  • Explore client experiences of weight stigma and fat phobia
  • The relationship between weight and health – a dilemma
  • Essential psychoeducation
  • Assess your clients’ relationship with food
  • Decrease shame during assessment
  • Controversy around food addiction
  • Determine appropriate level of care
  • Co-occurring mental health and medical issues
  • How and why to access and use clients’ spiritual/religious beliefs
  • Case Study
  • Experiential exercise – guided visualisation to connect with inner Wise Self
Trauma-Informed and Spirituality-Inclusive Interventions
Access Inner Wisdom for Sustained Healing
  • Parasympathetic activation practices for self-calming
  • The 90-second rule of emotions
  • Four-step practice for mindful processing of feelings
  • Self-compassion interventions for self-punishment
  • Transform trauma-induced self-doubt into empowering self-trust
  • Create emotional distance between past and present
  • Increase clients’ self-protection
  • Improve interoceptive body awareness for body confidence
  • Body wisdom practices
  • Intuitive eating principles to shift clients’ relationship to food
  • Overcome difficulties with intuitive eating skills
  • Help clients take power over trigger foods
  • Case study
  • Experiential exercise: guided visualisation to connect with body wisdom
Putting it all Together
Additional Clinical considerations
  • Explore therapist implicit bias and assumptions
  • Impact of therapist’s own trauma, eating, and body image issues
  • The role of psychotropic and weight loss medications
  • Collaborate with clients’ medical and other healthcare providers
  • When clients need specialised eating disorder treatment
  • Help clients create an emotionally safe sanctuary
  • Continuum of healing
  • Limitations of the research and potential risks

Target Audience

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychiatrists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counselors
  • Other Mental Health Professionals
  • Nurses
  • Physicians

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