Becoming a Fat Positive Psychotherapist

If there were something you could do to improve the safety and well-being of your clients who live in fat bodies, would you make the effort? 

My name is Sarah Landolfi and I’m a psychotherapist, consultant and trainer. I specialize in working with fat clients in therapy, and I offer something unique to these folks: lived experience of fatness and of navigating our anti-fat world.

I derive incredible joy and fulfillment from collaborating with fat folks in psychotherapy as they courageously confront anti-fatness and begin living more connected, enlivened lives. 

Also called anti-fat bias, anti-fatness refers to “…the attitudes, behaviors, and social systems that specifically marginalize, exclude, underserve and oppress fat bodies” (Gordon, 2020, p. 10)¹. 

In order to confront and challenge anti-fatness, we need a roadmap: Fat Liberation principles provide one. Fat Liberation demands “…a world wherein fat people aren’t discriminated against or marginalized for their fatness, and as such, people aren’t categorized by the size of their bodies” (Harrison, 2021, p. 4)². I believe that holding a Fat Liberation lens is crucial to providing effective psychotherapy to fat clients. 

I am also passionate about educating therapists on anti-fatness and Fat Liberation. Here are a few ways I am doing that these days:

1. Workshops 

On Friday, February 24th from 9 am to 4:30 pm, I will be presenting “Becoming a Fat-Positive Psychotherapist,” a 6-hour interactive, virtual workshop, in partnership with CCIH. In this workshop, we will begin to interrogate anti-fatness and the role therapists play in upholding it, challenge our assumptions, and make the first steps toward practicing psychotherapy from a Fat Liberation lens so that we may support our fat clients in the deepest possible ways. I hope you’ll join us!

Here’s what one previous training participant had to say: 

“Honestly it was the best training I’ve been to in a long time. The environment felt very open to learning for people who were brand-new to the concepts as well as people who were quite familiar with concepts but wanting to expand. I also really appreciated the intersectional lens.” 

–Betsy I., LCSW 

A recorded version of my first workshop, “What if there’s nothing wrong with my body?” Anti-fatness 101 is also available in CCIH’s Online Video Library.

2. Consultation Group for Fat Therapists 

Beginning Wednesday, May 10th, I will be offering a monthly consultation group for therapists who live in fat bodies. In this group, we will gather to build community, discuss cases, share knowledge and resources, and support one another as we navigate the anti-fat psychotherapy field (and world at large).

The group will meet in person at 5215 N. Ravenswood Ave. from 12-1:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month. (Vax + masks required). To register or to learn more, drop me a line at sarah@slandolfilcsw.com. 

3. Training & Consultation for Therapists 

I offer education and support to therapists around Fat-Positive Psychotherapy in multiple formats: 

*Individual and group case consultation 

*Customized training tailored to your needs & goals 

Book training here.

References

¹ Gordon, A. (2020). What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat. Beacon Press.
² Harrison, D.L. (2021). Belly of the Beast: the Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. North Atlantic Books.