Our Work

The physical and mental well-being of millions of people around the world is being undermined every day by how they are seen and treated because of their physical appearance (e.g., weight, skin color, hair texture and style, disability). This appearance-based discrimination often causes individuals to have a severe and persistent negative attitude towards their physical appearance, which is summed up by the term body dissatisfaction.

Body dissatisfaction can trigger a wide range of negative emotions, including anxiety, depression, self-loathing, as well as physical conditions such as life-threatening eating disorders, substance abuse, relationship violence, self-harm, and suicide.¹ In the United States alone, 45 million people, ages 10 and up, experienced dissatisfaction with their bodies in 2019.² That number greatly increased during the global COVID-19 pandemic.³

To address this public health crisis, we founded The Body Positive 28 years ago. Our work helps people of all ages replace their body dissatisfaction with a life-changing perspective called “positive embodiment,” an essential developmental capacity linked to mental health and resilience.⁴ Positive embodiment refers to inhabiting one’s body in an attuned and responsive manner, equipped with critical thinking skills to address appearance-based discrimination.

We promote resilience by teaching people practical skills to support themselves with self-compassion, an attuned relationship to the body, sustainable self-care behaviors, and positive connection with others. These resources provide people with effective coping strategies to face adversity without internalizing the difficulties and traumas in their lives and experiencing self-loathing and conflicts with their bodies and self-care.

TRAINING FOR STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND TREATMENT PROFESSIONALS

The Body Positive Institute, our online education platform, offers training that supports people to embody The 5 Competencies of our Be Body Positive Model. The courses are appropriate for individuals who wish to do their own healing work, and also for people who want to become licensed to bring our life-changing Be Body Positive programs to the youth and adults in their schools, community organizations, and clinical practices.

We currently offer trainings for:

Educators in middle schools, high schools, and colleges
High school and college student leaders
Treatment providers who work in educational and clinical settings
Individuals interested in using the Be Body Positive Model for themselves, their families, and communities

NEW! BE BODY POSITIVE CLASSROOM CURRICULUM FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLS

On October 17, 2023, we released our new body-oriented, trauma-informed, social emotional curriculum for middle school educators. The curriculum offers twenty powerful lessons for grades 6, 7, and 8 (with more to come for elementary school grades!).

The program also promotes systemic changes—led by both students and teachers—that cultivate students’ bodily autonomy, agency, self-regulation, and social connectedness, all qualities that support resilience.² This curriculum is available to educators and counseling staff in middle schools and youth organizations everywhere. Learn more.

READ BELOW FOR SPECIFICS ON HOW TO ACCESS OUR LIFE-CHANGING RESOURCES

The 5 Competencies

The 5 Competencies of our Be Body Positive Model allow people to develop self-care behaviors that originate from a place of self-love instead of from fear. We developed our model through participatory action research; we listened to the stories of thousands of people who shared their lived experiences of body shame and suffering, and what they needed help with to overcome their struggles.

From there we created The 5 Competencies of our model, which have helped people in 34 countries and 45 states across the U.S. have a more positive, balanced relationship with their bodies and lives. We refined and tested our model in school programs as well as in our clinical treatment work and have found it to be effective in both the prevention and treatment of eating problems and disruptions in embodiment. Learn more about The 5 Competencies by taking the Be Body Positive Fundamentals Home Study Course. This course is available in both English Spanish. Este curso ahora se encuentra disponible en español.

Programs for Educators, student leaders, AND Youth Program Coordinators

Get trained to use our life-changing group curriculum to start a Be Body Positive program in your school or community organization. Learn how to promote healthy eating, sustainable self-care behaviors, and positive body image. We will prepare you to offer your Body Positive groups in an online or in person format. Learn More.

CLASSROOM CURRICULUM FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATORS

After 28 years of teaching positive embodiment and preventing eating disorders in high schools and universities, The Body Positive has created a culturally sensitive classroom curriculum for middle school classrooms and afterschool programs. Twenty engaging lessons per grade level teach students to love and care for their own bodies, respect and honor all bodies, and to be resilient against criticism and aggression from others. Research on this new middle school classroom curriculum is being conducted in fall 2023. Learn more.

EDUCATION FOR TREATMENT PROVIDERS

Help your clients heal from disruptions in embodiment by teaching The 5 Competencies of our Be Body Positive Model in group and individual treatment. The Be Body Positive Fundamentals Home Study Course (offered in both English and Spanish) offers proven tools to enhance positive embodiment and foster sustainable, positive self-care behaviors in both youth and adults. We will prepare you to lead our group curriculum in online or in-person settings. Additionally, once you have completed the Be Body Positive Fundamentals you are qualified to take advanced training with our Co-Founder, Elizabeth Scott, LCSW, CEDS-S. CE hours are available for Masters-level therapists and registered dietitians. Learn More.

COURSES FOR INDIVIDUALS

If you’re struggling with body dissatisfaction and want to be free of diet culture mentality, this is the course for you. The 5 Competencies of the Be Body Positive Model, offered through the Fundamentals Home Study Course, will help you make peace with your body. It offers inspiration and practical tools to transform your relationship to your body, food, and exercise in an empowering way that will also give you confidence to become a positive role model to the people you care about. This course is available in Spanish. Este curso ahora se encuentra disponible en español. Learn More.

¹Wojtara, M. (2022). The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media usage and body image perceptions in young adults. Undergraduate Journal of Public Health, 6(0). https://doi.org/10.3998/ujph.2321

²Bryn Austin, (2022). The real cost of beauty ideals: The staggering economic and social cost of body dissatisfaction and appearance-based discrimination in the United States. https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/campaigns/real-cost-of-beauty.html?utm_source=VanityURL&utm_medium=VanityURL&utm_campaign=RealCostofBeauty&utm_id=RCOB%3f

³Toulany, A., Kurdyak, P., Guttmann, A., Stukel, T. A., Fu, L., Strauss, R., Fiksenbaum, L., & Saunders, N. R. (2022). Acute care visits for eating disorders among children and adolescents after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 70(1), 42–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.09.025

⁴Piran, N. (2017). Journeys of embodiment at the intersection of body and culture the developmental theory of embodiment. Elsevier Science.