Opal: Food+Body Wisdom

02/15/2022

Kara is feeling lots of gratitude to Marie and Robyn, founders of Wildwood Running this week after being invited to speak at their clinic in San Fran (IRL!!!) and also recording a podcast for the Appetite (yes, we hope to release some new episodes soon!). It is so special to be a part of Wildwood's important work and mission to change the culture of sport. Excited for this next generation of athletes (and coaches) who are eager to learn and see the value of addressing mental health, team culture, disordered eating, periods, and longevity in sport!

Check out Wildwood's upcoming virtual running camps Feb 19-20 and Feb 26-27.

02/02/2022

10 years ago, Julie, Kara and Lexi took a leap of faith and opened the doors of Opal. We had 14 staff, 4 PHP clients and were filled with passion, eagerness, and lots to learn. We were all at the forefront of everything--- seeing clients, leading groups, eating with clients in meals, and going on outings. We were trailblazing weight-inclusive, higher level of care eating disorder treatment.
Fast forward 10 years later, Opal has gone through a lot of change and development. We now house about 45 staff, 18 PHP clients, a dozen or so IOP clients and we have pivoted and refined our programming and infrastructure regularly to meet Opal's needs. Although Julie, Kara and Lexi could have never imagined all they would learn in the last 10 years they hold the same deep passion for this work as they did back then. Like all relationships, we have had plenty of "good, bad and the ugly" moments- making this a place of true authenticity. And, through all the shifts and changes, clients are healing EVERYDAY in this space. The mission of Opal has been the steady and unflinching heartbeat---- it's magical to witness.

Enjoy some photos of how we are celebrating today---Opal "museum" showcasing our journey, yummy cake, and a glimpse of the roller skating party we are throwing tonight for the staff.

Ah, let's celebrate!

01/31/2022

Opal is hiring a Therapist that would offer Primary Therapy, Group Therapy and Support System Therapy (aka Family Therapy). Interested or know someone that is? Learn more here: https://opalfoodandbody.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=23&source=aWQ9MTk%3D

01/22/2022

Each month Kara and Julie offer a low cost virtual workshop series called Body Talk to pre-teens and their grown-up. This is in partnership with Great Conversations, a learning platform that helps grown ups navigate conversations with their children. Body Talk aims to empower pre-teens with information about their bodies, so that they can move and eat with confidence.

More about the workshops: ⁠
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Who: For ALL preteens 9-12 and a grown-up. For families who are looking to create healthy conversations around food and exercise. ⁠
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Eating Workshop with Julie: Conversations to build a healthy relationship with food and trust yourself as an eater⁠
-Tune into your senses⁠
-Understand your hunger and fullness cues⁠
-Personalize nutrition information for you⁠
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Movement Workshop with Kara: Conversations to build a healthy relationship with exercise and trusting yourself as a mover⁠
-Tune into your internal motivation⁠
-Know what science to pay attention to as a mover⁠
-Learn about your unique desire for moving your body⁠
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Interested? head over to greatconversations.com and look for Body Talk under programs.⁠
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Great Conversations

01/13/2022

Upcoming Event Feb 5/6: Wildwood Athlete and Coach Clinic---
Kara Bazzi, Director of Opal's Exercise+Sport Program, will be speaking on mental health and relationship with food. The hope is to help running coaches understand their impact on their athletes' relationship to food and for athletes to have some new ways to think about food. Check it out! www.wildwoodrunning.com

01/12/2022

Hello! We are back on-line! We have been in-person offering higher level of care treatment for eating disorders and decided to come back on-line in order to be back in the community conversations around Exercise+Sport, Radically-Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Health at Every Size. We are committed as ever to offering eating disorder treatment that aims to free people from diet culture and look forward to reconnecting in these on-line spaces, sharing resources, and learning together! Looking forward to reconnecting!

04/29/2021

The Appetite : #111: Talking to Athletes From an Intuitive Eating Lens: A Conversation with Maria Dalzot, RD

04/21/2021

04/06/2021

Last month was the first meetup for our new group, "Stretch You Learning Over Lunch". This is an opportunity for movement teachers to bring questions, offer support, and learn from each other in an effort to provide more inclusive movement spaces. These were some of the questions we brought to the first meeting: who/what/where has influenced your view of your body in a movement space? How have these experiences impacted your relationship with your body and movement? Considering our own experiences and then conversely, how the classes that we lead might impact others is a good place to start. ⁠
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Going forward, we hope to cover the following topics:⁠
-What does inclusivity look like in each movement space?⁠
-Responses to body comments: quick comebacks⁠
-Mirrors – how to work with and without⁠
-Movement myths⁠
-Body positivity⁠
-Teach outside lived experience and own body⁠
-Motivation for movement⁠
-Movement values⁠
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Want to join the conversation? Click here: https://www.opalfoodandbody.com/event/stretch-your-learning-over-lunch/2021-04-15/

(note: we got the date wrong in a previous version of this post).

03/16/2021

A great new resource website for health care providers and for patients. These sheets were created as a way to give weight-neutral, evidence-based care options for common health conditions.

Health At Every Size®-Based Guides for Blame-Free, Shame-Free Explanations of Common Medical Conditions Welcome to the home of HAES® Health Sheets! Accessing medical care is a process that is made difficult by the already challenging requirements of obtaining insurance, finding providers that acce...

03/05/2021

“There are so many misconceptions in track with food and body,” says Riah Bentley, therapist at Opal Food and Body Wisdom eating disorder treatment center and also a high school coach in Seattle. “It doesn’t just stop at an event. This conversation is for everybody.”

Bust Six Misconceptions About Food And Body Issues In AthleticsBy Elizabeth Carey of DyeStatMyths about eating disorders abound in sport and culture at large. “There are so many misconceptions in track with food and body,” says Riah Bentley, therapist at Opal Food and Body Wisdom eating disord...

03/04/2021

The Appetite crew sure loves the ring of the word "doctor" now in front of Erin Harrop's name! Take a walk down a short memory lane to this interview 3 years ago with now Dr. Erin Harrop, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Denver. Carter Umhau, LMHC and Julie Church, RDN join the discussion about healthism, fat liberation, and intersectionality. Dr. Harrop shares her lived treatment experience to help us understand the importance of treating symptoms rather than weight in eating disorder treatment. This conversation has become even more front and center in Health At Every Size treatment circles since its original release.

If you are interested in learning more about Health at Every Size, you can join Julie Church for her yearly Introduction to Health at Every Size training this month! Julie's training is available as a pre-recorded webinar and will be followed by a live Q&A panel with Julie, Erin Harrop and Opal dietitian Alyssa Davis on March 23rd at 12pm. You can find more information here: https://www.opalfoodandbody.com/event/introduction-to-health-at-every-size-pre-recorded-webinar-and-live-qa/

02/18/2021

Treatment at Opal involves emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual work--- both by staff and clients. Above you can see a sampling of some of the groups in Opal's partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient program. You can see our value of learning+unlearning woven in with health at every size, exercise+sport, systems of oppression, and radically open dialectical behavior therapy.

To learn more about these aspects of Opal check out www.opalfoodandbody.com or The Appetite podcast.

If you were to create your own day or week to "treat yourself" what would you include? Would you have friends+family involved? How could you explore your own body's wisdom? Would you have some rest time, aka "art of non-productivity"? What nutrition information and nutrients would you take in? Would you move your body? What would you be re-thinking? How would you learn+unlearn systems that you see need to change within yourself and outside of yourself? How would you share your story with others?

May this inspire your own treatment of yourself today.

02/16/2021

Are you a coach, parent, friend, neighbor, babysitter, teacher, tutor, or mentor to a pre-teen kid? If so, we recommend that you ask yourself, “Have you ever considered what messages you are sending to kids regarding food and movement?".

Opal's Julie and Kara will be leading these conversations with pre-teens and their grown ups through .conversations, an on-line platform for learning around all the topics that come with puberty.

Our goal is not to teach kids what to eat, or what not to eat, nor to prescribe fitness practices; we aim to empower kids with information about their bodies, so that they can move and eat with confidence.

You can join these conversations by registering for the Body Talk Workshop at www.greatconversations.com. New sessions starting next week Feb 24th OR April 19th. Spots still available.