In a society where female role models consist of airbrushed and computer manipulated images, women struggle with body image and sometimes take weight-loss habits to extremes to reach unhealthy goals.
To fight this issue on the college front, the Student Counseling and Testing Services is sponsoring a “Women and Body Images” group headed by Claire Van Ogtrop and Beatrice Tatem, both counselors at the center.
The support group will meet Wednesdays starting Sept. 15, from 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Sanderson Center for about 13 weeks.
“We recognized that there was a need on campus to discuss body issues not associated with eating disorders,” said Tatem, a national board certified and licensed counselor and psychologist. “This group gives women a way to look at different body images in a positive way, where they can celebrate it,” she said.
By focusing on issues such as eating behaviors, thought patterns and self-esteem, Van Ogtrop and Tatem say they hope the women can gain an increased acceptance of themselves internally and externally
“When we don’t like ourselves on the inside, we don’t like what we see on the outside,” said Van Ogtrop, a licensed clinical social worker. “We hope these women can find acceptance of themselves for who they are so that they will have freed up mind energy that they can use to reach their full potential.”
Guest speakers such as Jennifer Fuller, a licensed health educator at the Longest Student Health Center, will also collaborate with the group to discuss what constitutes healthy eating and dispel myths regarding body image.
Fuller said if fad dieting or use of dietary supplements is common within the group, she will discuss the risks involved.
“The failure rate with dieting is between 90 and 95 percent,” she said. “A lot of times diets don’t work; they’re set up this way.”
Van Ogtrop thinks that the group is a place where women can come together to discuss their body image issues without feeling ashamed, she said. “They start to see that, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not alone’.”
In the first session each person is asked what her goals for the group are, Tatem added.
“My goal is that their goals are realized,” Tatem said.