Opal: Food+Body Wisdom

02/01/2025

13 years ago today Opal began to meet a Seattle community need for a higher level of care eating disorder treatment center. We have evolved and changed in SO many ways but we still remain a female owned, clinician led eating disorder treatment clinic that offers Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient for adults seeking freedom from diet culture. We are a teenager today! What will the teen years bring ?

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: ⁠
⁠
Who: For ALL preteens 9-12 and a grown-up. For families who are looking to create healthy conversations around food and exercise. ⁠
⁠
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
⁠
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
⁠
Interested? head over to greatconversations.com and look for Body Talk under programs.⁠
⁠
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. ⁠
⁠
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
⁠
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...

03/10/2021

Health at Every Size has always been central to the work we do at Opal and we consider it to be a vital piece of eating disorder recovery and to changing the broader dialogue about bodies.

Our annual "Introduction to Health at Every Size" training is an opportunity for those who are curious about HAES to get exposure to its research, applications, and social justice roots. This can be useful for clinicians, but also for parents or loved ones in ED treatment, athletic coaches and movement teachers, parents, school teachers, or anyone with an interest in a counter-cultural narrative to health.

If you are interested in joining us register here: https://www.opalfoodandbody.com/event/introduction-to-health-at-every-size-pre-recorded-webinar-and-live-qa/

The pre-recorded training will be available when you register and the live Q&A portion will be on March 23rd. On that day, Opal's Julie Church will be joined by Opal Dietitian Alyssa Davis and friend/colleague of Opal, Dr. Erin Harrop.

We hope to see you there!

Alt text: "Health at Every Size" is written in big green letters. Under that, in smaller black lettering it reads: We value the way the body works and will encourage all clients to trust oneself and their body’s wisdom, regardless of one’s size or shape.

03/09/2021

Dance instructors, yoga teachers, fitness instructors – are you looking for a space for ongoing community and support around creating inclusive, body-positive, non-diet movement spaces? Join Opal for this monthly virtual hangout Opal therapist and former professional ballet dancer, Josh Spell - a lunch time meet up for informal conversation and connection. Together, we’ll go deeper into learning and applying ideas for challenging the status quo of what it means to teach and to be a student in these spaces. This open dialogue will give teachers the chance to bring up topics on creating safe and inclusive movement spaces for all bodies and identities. This can include Health at Every Size, body positivity, body neutrality, fat acceptance, diet culture, eating disorders, social justice, inclusivity, and more. ⁠
⁠
We hope that this group will provide a space to process bias, exchange ideas, share feelings and thoughts with the goal that our time together will help us all continue to align with our “why” as instructors. ⁠
⁠
When: Third Thursday of the month from 12pm-1pm PST⁠. Starting March 18th!
⁠
Who: Dance, yoga, fitness instructors and others who teach or want to teach movement practices and have a desire to create more inclusive spaces for these practices. ⁠
⁠
Price: Free⁠
⁠
Where: Virtual via zoom ⁠
⁠
RSVP: Please be sure to rsvp for each meeting that you plan to attend. Follow the "events" link in our bio and click on March 18th. ⁠ https://www.opalfoodandbody.com/event/stretch-your-learning-over-lunch/2021-03-18/
⁠
Stay in the loop: If you’d like to join the community but can’t make this meeting, please email [email protected] to be added to our mailing list. ⁠
⁠
Alt text: The background is white with a green and grey circular shapes. A box that looks like a phone calendar alert says "March 18th: Up next. Stretch your learning over lunch. Join our community of movement teachers for conversations on creating safe, inclusive, body-positive, non-diet movement spaces."

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/

03/02/2021

What is a diet-based approach to eating ? ---- Any approach to eating that has someone look outside of their own preferences and desires for food for the purpose of changing their body size/shape or fitting a predetermined eating plan.

What is a non-diet approach to eating ? ---- To approach eating in a way that is authentic, connected, embodied and with permission/freedom, regardless of how that might change (or not change) one's body size/shape.

When someone is looking for hope on the other side of disordered eating or eating disorders, a non-diet approach is foundational. The truths in the above image allow for a relationship with food and body that is life-giving, connected, and yes, healthy.

In the spirit of national eating disorders awareness week (last week) we want to name the importance of having a non-diet mentality to eating disorder treatment and recovery. Yes, this approach can be done at all levels of care and for all types of struggles with eating and eating disorders diagnoses.

What did we miss? Anything to add?

Alt text: On a white backdrop, a title reads: what we mean by a non-diet approach to eating disorder recovery. There are 12 cartoon-like images of different foods each with a different caption. A bowl of noodles with the caption: all foods fit. A cupcake with the caption: no good or bad foods. A slice of pizza with the caption: permission to eat what you crave. A slice of watermelon with the caption: exploring who you are as an eater. A taco with the caption: weight is not a measure of health. A piece of sushi with the caption: learning your hunger and fullness cues. A hamburger with the caption: Trusting yourself with food. A donut with the caption: no counting of calories or macros. A bowl of cereal with the caption: enjoying foods you ate as a kid. A fast food take out bag with a picture of a hamburger and the caption: eating foods available and accessible to you. A picture of a cutting board and assorted vegetables with the caption: learning to prepare and try new foods. A bag of chips with the caption: eating without guilt or shame.

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.