Dismantling Weight-Stigma in Counselling Using the Weight Inclusive Approach and Self-Compassion

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dc.contributor.authorCooper-Wall, Felicia
dc.date.accessioned2025-06-06T23:49:46Z
dc.date.available2025-06-06T23:49:46Z
dc.date.issued2025-04
dc.description.abstractIn our society it is unsafe to be fat. Fat people experience weight-based discrimination on a daily basis from everyone around them – especially from medical and mental health providers. Our hatred of fatness has patriarchal and racist roots; however, people have been wrongly convinced that it is founded in concerns about health. Anti-weight bias is the cause of much physical and mental turmoil for people living in larger bodies, and if these biases go unchecked, they are often perpetuated by mental health practitioners. Despite the growing research that outlines the harms of diet culture and anti-weight bias, there is still a gap in the research and education for counsellors about how to navigate conversations about body size with clients. Further, antiweight bias is an intersectional issue: it has deep historical roots in white-supremacy and sexism. This capstone project aims to speak to the gap in knowledge by offering mental health practitioners tools for practicing in a more weight-inclusive manner. Counsellors educating themselves and their clients about the harms of anti-weight bias and fostering self-compassion has been found to have greater health outcomes for clients than losing weight. This capstone seeks to increase awareness about the harms of the weight-normative approach, and give counsellors a deeper understanding of a way forward that seeks to empower and uplift every body.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11803/3595
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisher.institutionCity University of Seattle (CityU)
dc.subjectanti-weight bias
dc.subjectweight normativity
dc.subjectweight inclusivity
dc.subjectdiet culture
dc.subjectself-compassion
dc.subjectweight-based stigma
dc.subjectintersectionality
dc.subjectfatphobia
dc.titleDismantling Weight-Stigma in Counselling Using the Weight Inclusive Approach and Self-Compassion
dc.typeCapstone
thesis.degree.disciplineCounselling
thesis.degree.grantorCity University of Seattle (CityU)
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Counselling
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