This week, the topic is a brief breakdown of why myself and so many other therapists so often and passionately recommend journaling and writing exercises. I apologize for missing last week’s newsletter. I was not able to pull together the content on the topic of writing in the way that I had hoped. How ironic! You might be someone who openly embraces this part of your process, and most likely started journaling long before a mental health professional suggested it. Or, maybe you’re a little ambivalent, unsure of why it’s so popular, but curious. For others, writing is really not your thing and that’s of course okay too. There are so many wonderful mediums of self expression, and writing is only one option. I choose to maintain a journaling practice for myself and recommend it so highly because it’s economically accessible, adaptable to not only different people but also different moods and schedules, and is a tool for expression that also provides physiological benefits. 

You may have seen in my profile that I operate from a Health at Every Size informed framework (HAES) and thought, “what is that?” or maybe it is part of what drew you to my profile! The short explanation is that I operate from a weight neutral standpoint, but am anything but neutral when it comes to speaking out against weight and size discrimination. This means that I don’t care how much you weigh, but I care about the ways that living in a fat phobic world have impacted you. I care about your relationship to food and your relationship to your body -- not what your body looks like or the content of what you are eating. No matter what size, shape, gender, or race you are, you are worthy of dignity, respect, and care. As simple as this core principle is, the world of HAES is beautifully diverse and nuanced.