Understanding Food, Body Image & Trauma in System-Involved Youth

Brooke Hailey, PhD

Training Description

This training provides social workers, foster parents, and service providers with a trauma-informed understanding of the relationship between food, body image, and adverse childhood experiences in system-involved youth. Participants will examine how neglect, abuse, food insecurity, attachment disruption, placement instability, and chronic stress shape eating behaviors, body image, and emotional regulation across development. Drawing from current research on trauma and eating disorders, the training emphasizes practical, evidence-based strategies that reduce shame and promote resilience. Attendees will leave with concrete skills to identify early warning signs, and effectively support healthy relationships with food and body image among foster youth.

Learning Objectives

• Identify at least five ways trauma and adverse childhood experiences influence eating behaviors, body image development, and emotional regulation in system-involved youth.

• Distinguish between developmentally typical eating concerns, disordered eating behaviors, and diagnosable eating disorders by applying current diagnostic concepts to three case examples.