DBT Plus! A Training for Eating Disorder Dietitians: Building Skills while Reducing Harm through a Social Justice Lens

Self-Paced Course with 20 CE Credits for Registered Dietitians

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• $599 non-member
• $499 EDRD pro member

EDRD Pro members always save $100 off enrollment. Not yet a member? Join here.

Consider a Bundle: DBT Plus! with our Binge Eating Disorder Course for 20% off each course.

This course will:

• Give you foundational training on key DBT skills to use with clients.
• Shed light on how to become more conscious of an individual's needs so DBT skills to thoughtfully and effectively utilize DBT in eating disorder treatment.
• Emphasize the importance of honoring lived experiences with navigating systemic oppression as well as pervasive invalidation and devaluation.
• Highlight emerging research in the area of individualizing DBT to reduce harm.

Are you already enrolled in our DBT Course?

Students who enrolled in DBT Version 1.0 workshop (2022) are eligible for a 50% discount. Please email [email protected] to receive the discount.

DBT skills can create significant positive changes in our work with clients. You will finish this course knowing when and how to use core dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills and counseling strategies within the dietitian scope while also understanding the limitations of traditional DBT around anti-fat bias and harm from racism. This is a neurodiversity-affirming and gender-affirming program.

This is an expanded version of our original DBT 1.0 course. DBT Plus! includes 6 new modules taking into account how provider privilege, research bias, and blind spots may unintentionally create harm.

Instructors: Designed specifically for eating disorder dietitians, this course is led by an RD and therapist duo, Stefanie Boone, MS, RD, CEDRD-S (she/her), and Dr. Nicole Riddle, Psy.D, with contributions from Tammy Baghdassarian and Stacie Fanell, LCSW.

Stefanie Boone, MS, RD, CEDRD-S (she/her)

Stefanie Boone, MS, RD, CEDRD-S (she/her) is a nutrition therapist for adults and adolescents of all genders. She has worked with clients in her Private Practice in Santa Monica individually and in groups for the past 20 years, using a combination of philosophies centering around Intuitive Eating, HAES, DBT, and RO-DBT to help clients heal their relationship with food, exercise, and body image. Stefanie also has an added specialization in treating eating disorders in those with co-occurring mood disorders and addictions. She has held positions as Lead Dietitian at several treatment centers for Eating Disorders, Dual Diagnosis, and Addictions.

Stefanie received her undergraduate education in dietetics and Masters of Science Degree in Nutrition from California State University, Northridge. She has spoken at numerous professional events, conferences, and panels on nutrition therapy for eating disorders in past years. Stefanie is one of the contributing authors of Real World Recovery: Intuitive Food Program Curriculum for the Treatment of Eating Disorders, and she has written articles for Today’s Dietitian, The Behavioral Nutrition newsletter, and the Huffington Post. She lives in Santa Monica, CA, with her husband and 16-year-old son, and has a cat named Bagel.

Dr. Nicole Riddle, Psy.D (she/her)

Dr. Nicole Riddle received her Psy.D. in clinical psychology from PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium in Palo Alto, California. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.

During her fellowship, she provided individual therapy, inpatient and outpatient medical consultation, brief neuropsychological assessment in the inpatient medical setting, supervised doctoral candidate students, and co-facilitated a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) course for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinicians.

She trained in evidence-based therapies, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), CBT, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as applied to working with patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, post-partum depression, chronic pelvic pain, and eating disorders in both outpatient and inpatient medical settings.

Dr. Riddle received additional training in CBT, as well as individual and group DBT therapy, at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Administration. She participated as a clinician on the Marin County Mental Health DBT clinical team, provided DBT-informed treatment as a pre-doctoral intern at Boston Medical Center’s forensic inpatient psychiatric hospital, and participated as a clinician in the DBT for Binge Eating Disorder study at Stanford University Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic.

She is trained as a National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD) Family Connections leader.

Dr. Riddle is bilingual in Spanish and English and is a current member of the American Psychological Association.

At Clearview, Dr. Riddle is the clinical director of the Women’s Center. She coordinates care for the program, engages in ongoing training of the clinical team and program aides, facilitates DBT skills groups, and provides individual therapy using DBT. Dr. Riddle also runs an ongoing DBT skills course for families of clients at Clearview Women’s Center.

Tammy Baghdassarian (she/her)

Tammy Baghdassarian is the Executive Director and co-founder of Keystone Treatment in Los Angeles. Keystone specializes in treating eating disorders, disordered eating, and mental health utilizing an intuitive eating philosophy and evidence-based approaches, including dialectical behavioral therapy. Keystone is recognized for being a highly individualized program that can work with clients to stop the cycle of going in and out of treatment.

Tammy obtained her degree from Vanguard University. She has been comprehensively trained in DBT by Dr. Charles Swenson and Dr. Alan Fruzetti. Prior to opening Keystone Treatment, Tammy had worked in the eating disorder and mental health field for the last 12 years. She was Operations Director and Special Projects Coordinator at The Bella Vita; developing and licensing residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs as well as coordinating website design, content management, and events. After leaving The Bella Vita in 2013, she went on to consult at multiple programs in the area working on program development and licensing. It was during that time she realized that if there was going to be change brought to the eating disorder field, a new approach and program was necessary.

She has also worked at Clearview Treatment where she developed their managed care program and assisted in developing the program and curriculum. Tammy trained clinicians and staff on working with insurance companies, utilization review, and developed protocols for ensuring clients were at the lowest level of care possible. She also led the charge for getting Joint Commission accreditation prior to leaving and beginning Keystone Treatment. Tammy is a board member of IAEDP Los Angeles and is passionate about creating safe spaces for people in all bodies.

Stacie Fanelli, LCSW (she/her)

Stacie Fanelli, LCSW is a therapist with Revolutionary Eating Disorder Psychotherapy and Consultation in California. She practices with an anti-oppressive lens and weaves lived experience as an AuDHDer into an interpersonal approach to supporting fellow neurodivergent folks struggling with their relationship with food and body. Stacie has experience working at all levels of care and shares her perspectives on the intersection of autism, ADHD, and eating disorders as well as implications for treatment on her Instagram, @edadhd_therapist. She is also part of a group that facilitates Liberation Lunch, a biweekly Instagram Live meal support session open to all, and she leads a free monthly eating disorder peer support group for autistic and ADHD adults.

Jennifer Bieler, LMFT

Jennifer Bieler is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She earned her Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California (USC) and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with Honors from St. Mary’s College of California.

Jennifer is a proud queer therapist working closely with the LGBTQ+ community and Transgender and Nonbinary folx. In addition, she is a neurodiversity-affirming therapist. Her specialties include but are not limited to: trauma, addictions, relationships, eating disorders and personality disorders. She is trained in a variety of trauma therapies, including Attachment-Focused (AF) EMDR, somatic therapy (Trauma Resilience Model, TRM), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), and Post-Induction Therapy (PIT), formally trained by the Meadows Treatment Center. Lastly, Jennifer is specifically trained in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP).

Jennifer worked at the renowned Los Angeles LGBT Center and other treatment centers focused on trauma, drug addiction, eating disorders and love & sex issues. She received specific training in “problematic sexual behaviors” from the Society for the Advancement for Sexual Health (SASH), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Jennifer has extensive experience practicing both adherent DBT as well as DBT-informed individual and skills groups at different treatment centers.

Jennifer is an eclectic psychotherapist, integrating complementary therapies and techniques to offer a highly personalized approach to each client. She works through the lens of attachment theory and mindfulness to help each person attain personal growth they are committed to accomplishing. She fearlessly and passionately supports and empowers her clients to reach their full potential and heal.

Module 1: Weaving in DBT for Dietitians by Stefanie Boone

• The importance of using DBT skills thoughtfully to reduce harm to those with marginalized identities
• Acknowledge how clinician bias and unexplored privilege can warp DBT delivery and impact the effectiveness of the intervention
• Acceptance and Change Dialectic through the lens of oppression and intersectionality
• Issues with Implicit bias in the Dietitian/Nutrition profession

After completing Module 1, attendees will be able to:

1. Define what affirming care means.
2. Describe the inherent strengths and weaknesses of DBT in addressing implicit bias.
3. Name an important type of pervasive invalidation that was not adequately addressed in the biosocial model of emotion dysregulation.

Module 2: Emerging Ideas: Antiracism and Gender Affirming DBT for Eating Disorders by Nicole Riddle and Stefanie Boone

• Biosocial Model and Traumatic Invalidation
• Antiracist protocols in DBT
• Current research on LGBTQ-affirming DBT
• Using these concepts to reduce harm caused by anti-fat bias in eating disorder and DBT treatment

After completing Module 2, attendees will be able to:

Module 3: Navigating Implicit Bias by Stefanie Boone and Nicole Riddle

• Strengths and Weaknesses of DBT in navigating implicit bias
• Addressing therapist/RD privilege in session
• Mindfulness skills clinicians can use in session to recognize countertransference around issues of therapist privilege
• Effective vs ineffective use of Validation

After completing Module 3, attendees will be able to:

Module 4: Rethinking DBT Skills Through an Inclusive Lens by Stefanie Boone and Nicole Riddle

• Adaptations of Distress Tolerance and Emotion Regulation Skills
• Potential Pitfalls of Radical Acceptance
• How Opposite Action and Checking the Facts can miss the mark
• PLEASE Skill – is healthism and privilege inadvertently baked in?

After completing Module 4, attendees will be able to:

Module 5: DBT and Weight Stigma an interview with Tammy Baghdassarian

Here we will learn directly from Tammy’s experiences as an individual and as a professional integrating DBT into the eating disorder treatment space. We’ll hear about how Tammy went about designing a treatment program with inclusivity as a priority, why and how she thinks DBT is effective when working with eating disorders, how to be dialectical about Intuitive Eating and ED treatment in general, and how she supports her clinicians to see and unlearn anti-fat bias.

After completing Module 5, attendees will be able to:

1. Refer to the dialectic of acceptance and change in situations in which a client is not able to let go of pursuing weight loss.
2. Give an example of “not validating the invalid.”
3. List 3 ways to make an eating disorder treatment program more inclusive.

Module 6: DBT, Eating Disorders, and Neurodiverse-Affirming Care, An Interview with Stacie Fanelli

In conversation with Stacie, we will discuss multiple ways in which standard ED Treatment and standard DBT skills can be inadvertently invalidating to neurodiverse individuals. Stacie will share effective strategies that clinicians can use to make DBT and ED Treatment more affirming. Other topics that will be covered include the relationship between masking and eating disorders, treating ARFID through an ND-affirming lens, and the importance of asking questions to learn about how our neurodiverse clients experience the world.

After completing Module 6, attendees will be able to:

1. Explain why asking an autistic client “how are you feeling?” can be a very overwhelming question.
2. Explain how treating ARFID can inadvertently encourage masking.
3. List 2 aspects of neurodiversity-affirming care.

Module 7: Inclusive and Affirming Care for LGBTQIA+ Clients, an interview with Jennifer Beiler

Stefanie and Jen talk about how clinicians can increase their awareness and sensitivity when it comes to providing inclusive care for LGBTQIA+ clients. We will learn about factors to consider with, regard to gender identity and sexual orientation. Eating disorders in the context of sexuality and gender identity for different population groups is also discussed.

After completing Module 7, attendees will be able to:

1. List 3 stressors more commonly associated with the LGBTQ+, transgender, and nonbinary communities.
2. Identify possible intersections between a Client’s eating disorder and Gender Dysphoria.
3. Discern when acceptance strategies are needed in cases where the Eating Disorder is adaptive