Finding Security with Food & People in an Increasing Digital World

iaedp Tampa Presents:

ARTIFICIAL ATTACHMENTS:

Finding Security with Food & People in an Increasing Digital World

There is a new digital landscape. AI and other technologies have become more than just tools to increase efficiency. Technology has become a kind of artificial attachment or substitute attachment figure, to soothe feelings of insecurity. This presentation offers an overview of how our insecurely attached world is pushing clients to abandon real-life bonds for relational stand-ins, to relieve dysregulation and loneliness. At a time where consumerism and technology emphasize profits over human connection, we will discuss the ways in which repairing our relationship with food, along with increasing deep social bonds, is an antidote to the disconnection.

Objectives

Following this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Explore the origins of human beings’ relationship to food and its influence on evolution, culture, as well as relational experiences with food over centuries.

1. Identify the ways in which diet culture messaging, embedded in internet marketing and social media, promotes disconnection from our true self as well as a denial of our innate hunger cues

1. Identify the ways in which technology has altered the stages of food production, harvesting, and packing, as well as the ways in which digitalization of the supply chain for food is also steadily shaping our eating habits.

Info: Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S, CEDS-C, is a licensed clinical social worker and supervisor in Texas, New York, and Massachusetts. She is an IAEDP approved Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant. Kathryn spent her early career and completed postgraduate training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in New York City. She incorporates relational and attachment-based methods into her work with clients. Her experience includes working with LGBTQ+ teens in the NYC foster care system, community mental health clinics, as well as primary therapist and IOP Program Coordinator at an eating disorder treatment center. Kathryn co-owns a group therapy practice called CALM Counseling in Austin, Texas.

Info: Vanessa Scaringi, PhD, CEDS-C, is a licensed psychologist in Austin, TX. Vanessa co-owns a group therapy practice called, CALM Counseling where she works with adolescents, young adults, and adult populations. She primarily sees individuals in working on recovery from eating disorders or body image issues. Vanessa also runs interpersonal process groups where clients can heal in community with others. Vanessa has dedicated much of her career to working in the eating disorder field. She is a relational psychologist who strives to understand the context of one’s eating disorder. By facilitating insight, Vanessa works with her clients to identify patterns and behaviors that interfere with living the life they want. Vanessa also strives to instill a sense of hope, as she has found this is an important part of the change process.

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