The Midlife Shift: Rethinking Women’s Health, Body, and Nourishment

This intermediate-to-advanced level continuing education workshop provides an interdisciplinary, trauma-informed framework for understanding and treating disordered eating and eating disorders during midlife, with emphasis on perimenopause and menopause. Participants will examine the intersection of hormonal and metabolic changes, relational trauma, attachment dynamics, and sociocultural influences, including weight stigma and systemic bias.

Using the clinical framework of regulate → relate → reason, this training integrates psychotherapy, nutrition science, and medical perspectives to support ethical, culturally responsive, and evidence-informed care. Participants will gain practical skills in assessment, diagnosis, interdisciplinary collaboration, and treatment planning for midlife populations.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify at least four presentations of eating disorders and disordered eating in midlife and older adults.

2. Explain at least two reasons eating disorders are underdiagnosed in midlife populations, including the impact of weight stigma and age bias.

3. Describe the regulate → relate → reason framework and its application to trauma- informed care.

4. Apply trauma-informed nutrition principles to at least one clinical case involving perimenopause or menopause.

5. List at least three metabolic or hormonal changes associated with menopause that influence eating behavior and body composition.

6. Explain the relationship between hormonal changes and chronic disease risk.

7. Demonstrate the use of at least one screening or assessment tool appropriate for midlife clients.

8. Identify at least two barriers to treatment in midlife populations and corresponding strategies to address them.

9. Describe at least two culturally responsive considerations when treating eating disorders in midlife (e.g., weight stigma, cultural views of aging).

10. Outline at least two best practices for interdisciplinary collaboration in treating disordered eating.

This program is intended for licensed mental health professionals, social workers, counselors, psychologists, dietitians, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers working with adult and midlife populations.

Info:  Midlife as a biopsychosocial transition
 Disordered eating as relational intimacy disorder
 Trauma, attachment, and nervous system foundations

Info:  Perimenopause and menopause overview
 Hormonal and metabolic changes
 Chronic disease risk
 Cultural variations in menopause experience
 Weight stigma and systemic bias

Info:  Regulate → Relate → Reason framework
 Nutrition as nervous system intervention
 Case example with interdisciplinary integration

Info:  Screening tools and diagnostic considerations
 Underdiagnosis in midlife populations
 Barriers to care and culturally responsive strategies

Info:  Interdisciplinary Q&A
 Audience case consultation
 Ethical and collaboration considerations

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