Laura Westmoreland, LMFT, CST

Laura Westmoreland is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist who provides telehealth counseling in California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, & Utah.

Laura holds a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program. She also holds an MBA from Lindenwood University. She is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, a Certified Body Trust® Provider, and has completed Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 1,

She has been featured on the following podcasts:  The Modern Therapists' Survival Guide, Dietitians Unplugged, and The Body Image Podcast. She has presented at Rose City Center (Pasadena, CA), at Center for Discovery (Beverly Hills, CA), and at The Braving Body Shame Conference (virtual).

Prior to becoming a therapist, Laura was an award-winning Account Manager at an insurance company that offered mental health & substance abuse insurance plans as well as Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).  She has worked with clients in private sector, public sector, and with labor unions. 

Sizing Up Our Clients: Body Bias in Therapy

Friday | May 5, 2023
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
(1.5 CEs)

Workshop Description:

Therapist’s education includes diversity and cultural awareness training on topics related to religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. While these trainings investigate the above-named intersections, they are frequently silent on body diversity. 

An overvaluation of body shape and size can lead to internalization of societal narratives regarding health which can result in body bias. Are we, unknowingly, causing harm to our clients with our unexamined body bias or by commenting on their appearance or their body shape and size?

In this workshop participants will identify the biases held about certain body shapes and sizes. We will interrogate the conflation of health with body size, the adoption of BMI as an indicator of health, and the subsequent impacts of weight stigma. Attendees will discuss how they can create a weight inclusive practice.  

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Participants will be able to demonstrate an awareness of their biases around weight, shape, and size.
• Explain 3 effects of weight stigma.
• Identify 2 ways to create a weight-inclusive practice.

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