Working with the Body: Coming Together & Busting Myths with Jayne Mattingly

In this session of the #MentalHealthMonday Recovery Education Series, newly appointed SHE RECOVERS Trusted Advisor for Disordered Eating & Body Recovery Jayne Mattingly will invite us to work with our bodies, instead of against them by embracing weight inclusivity, body liberation, and an inclusive recovery philosophy. As a specialist in eating disorder recovery and a disability advocate, Jayne will explain the complex mythology that surrounds our bodies and dispel false narratives that often get perpetuated in our society. She will delve into the effects of diet culture, healthism, and ableism while inviting us to be curious about any implicit and/or explicit biases we may discover along the way. Jayne will also define and conceptualize the under-recognized experience of “body grief.”

In this dialogue, Jayne will guide us to:

• • Understand the “anti-diet” movement & weight inclusivity in recovery
  • Explore concepts such as food & body neutrality
  • Practice body acceptance & liberation
  • Comprehend implicit and explicit ableism & healthism
  • Body grief & the feeling of loss that comes from aging, disability, etc.

Join us LIVE for a Q & A session following the presentation.

Expand Beyond Recovery | A #MentalHealthMonday Recovery Education Session

In this session of the #MentalHealthMonday Recovery Education Series, SHE RECOVERS Dance Creator, Trauma-Informed Embodied Movement Practitioner, and Founder of her own Expand Beyond Recovery Membership, Payton Kennedy will explore why embodied practices are an essential part of a recovery pathway, patchwork or program. Payton will share the SHE RECOVERS philosophy of redefining recovery for ourselves; how we can “expand beyond recovery”; and what the future might look like for the next generation of embodied, recovering women.

Payton will guide us to:

• • Understand how including our physical bodies in our recovery can facilitate more healing, growth and expansion
  • Identify what embodied movement is and the connection between our physical selves and the environments we inhabit
  • Discover how embodied practices can help women heal from trauma, mental health issues, and substance use
  • Explore embodied movement practices designed for individual and collective healing
  • Create holistic opportunities for healing by redefining our recovery

Join us LIVE for a Q & A session following the presentation.

In this experiential session of the #MentalHealthMonday Recovery Education Series, somatic therapist and trauma expert Geri Laurence will explore how somatic practices can lead to individual and collective healing. She will explain how women can heal from trauma, mental health issues, and substance use through somatic therapy and will provide participants with personal exercises designed to nurture their own nervous systems. Geri will draw parallels between societal systems and our own internal systems, and will show us how looking to the wisdom of our bodies can help us regulate while creating more inclusive, individualized, and accessible pathways and patchworks to recovery for all.

During this engaging session of #MentalHealthMonday, Geri Laurence will help us to understand:

• Learn what systemic trauma is and how we are impacted
• Create more inclusive and accessible opportunities for healing for all by redefining recovery
• Discover how the body can often hold the key to unlocking our full potential
• Identify why a “whole systems” and somatic approach to recovery is essential to our individual and collective healing

In this presentation, Dr. Jacki Hillios, Deputy Executive Director of The Phoenix and TedX speaker, will provide insight into The Phoenix philosophy: Rise, recover, live. She will explain how women heal from trauma and substance use through the Phoenix support groups and app. Additionally, Dr. Jacki will detail her definition of redefining recovery and what the future looks like for people seeking recovery.

During this engaging session of #MentalHealthMonday, Dr. Jacki Hillios will help us to understand:

• Redefining recovery and the path forward.
• The Phoenix and their innovate model to help individuals heal from trauma.
• How strength-based solutions bring hope and allow people to live their best lives

In this presentation, bestselling author Ann Dowsett Johnston discussed how writing can be a powerful tool in recovery. Ann believes writing is a process of discovery and at the heart of good writing is finding your voice. She guided us to explore how to tell the stories that are deep within us and how doing this helps our recovery.

During this engaging session of #MentalHealthMonday, Ann helped us to understand:

• Writing as a tool of recovery
• How to excavate stories and give a voice to our secrets
• How to use your senses and silence your inner critic

In this presentation, Sarah Benton of Aware Recovery Care will discuss how pandemic-related increases in mental health and addiction concerns have impacted individuals in terms of their physical, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and social wellness. She will guide us to explore the effects of stress as well as the importance of self-care in our recovery journeys and teach us how to navigate our own personal challenges following this unprecedented time.

During this engaging session of #MentalHealthMonday, Sarah will help us to understand:

• Social isolation, physical distance and re-opening stress factors
• Types of stress
• Coping strategies
• Creating balance

Erica Hornthal invites us to rediscover our mind-body connection, stop feeling stuck, and improve our mental health through simple movement practices. Licensed clinical professional counselor, dance/movement therapist, author, advocate and practitioner, Erica will discuss her methodologies and techniques in regard to dance/movement as a healing modality. She believes dance/movement therapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the mind-body connection – a particular awareness that puts the body in the driver’s seat rather than relying solely on the mind. Join Erica in redefining what movement is and how it plays a role in our lives. Harness the power of dance/movement in creating a more expansive life and experience “the wonder and sheer magic that unfolds when claiming space in this world by showing up in your body.”

In this session of #MentalHealthMonday, Erica Hornthal will guide us to explore:

• Redefining movement – what is movement? How do we move? With focus on movement rather than “exercising” – recognizing our own relationship with movement, expanding range and capacity and interpreting our body’s unique language
• The benefits of movement for mental health – how moving more, is feeling more – how movement can shape interactions, relationships and behaviors by dispelling emotional blockages and creating space for more empathy and resilience
• Using movement to support mental health – healing ourselves through embodied movement/dance journeys, action-based and scientifically informed strategies to amplify the wellbeing of body, mind, emotions, & spirit

SHE RECOVERS Coach Aubrey invites us to consider how we may wish to navigate life in recovery in 2023 and set intentions to last for years to come. We’ll walk through our most basic values and our purpose in choosing recovery, and explore developing the language and practices we need to stay on track. Sharing about her own experience with anxiety, Aubrey demonstrates how we can use recovery management tools such as the ‘My Recovery Patchwork‘ Workbook to set any direction and stay the course, even when all we can see ahead is the very next thing.

During this session of #MentalHealthMonday, Aubrey of Wildcat Recovery Coaching will help us learn:

• How values form the guardrails that keep us oriented on our own unique path
• How the infusion of intention to daily life can boost confidence and motivation
• How language is powerful and self-talk can set the whole course of our journey

• What adverse childhood experiences are

• How adverse childhood experiences can impact us as adults

• How and why the brain changes as the result of adverse childhood experiences

• The biggest mental health risks for adults with high ACE scores

• Why individuals who suffer from lasting effects of ACEs may turn to substances such as drugs or alcohol to self-medicate and/or manage their emotional pain

• How to understand, process and recover from adverse childhood experiences

• Why connection, a sense of belonging and the support of a trauma-informed therapist may be the greatest contributors to healing from adverse childhood experiences