S.O.A.R. Workshop

Sharing Ongoing Active Recovery

S.O.A.R. Workshops encourage members to share with others in a safe environment. The ideals of this program include honesty, empathy, self-awareness, mutual help and cooperation, non-judgement, and appropriate assertiveness. Transforming Lives facilitates a sense of hope, relationship building skills, belongingness, optimism, and effective communication.

S.O.A.R. incorporates a variety of interactive, process, and psycho-educational components focusing on all eating disorder and co-occurring and related issues according to the groups’ needs.

Participants:

• Participants must be in the Contemplation Stage or higher of the Transtheoretical Model of Change (see below) before they can join this program.
• If you are not a current patient of Dr. Susan Mendelsohn, you are welcome to attend the workshop.

Transtheoretical Model of Change

Precontemplation is the stage at which there is no intention to change behavior in the foreseeable future. Many individuals in this stage are unaware or under-aware of their problems.

Contemplation is the stage in which people are aware that a problem exists and are seriously thinking about overcoming it but have not yet made a commitment to take action.

Preparation is a stage that combines intention and behavioral criteria. Individuals in this stage are intending to take action in the next month and have unsuccessfully taken action in the past year.

Action is the stage in which individuals modify their behavior, experiences, or environment in order to overcome their problems. Action involves the most overt behavioral changes and requires considerable commitment of time and energy.

Maintenance is the stage in which people work to prevent relapse and consolidate the gains attained during action. For addictive behaviors this stage extends from six months to an indeterminate period past the initial action.

Cost/Payment:

• The cost for each 4-hour segment is $100, payable at time of segment - or, as a courtesy, if using insurance, my office will bill your insurance company - and you are responsible for the balance. Please contact Ann at 513.304.9245 to verify insurance benefits.

Additional Program Information:

• This is on ongoing, open program and clients are welcome to attend at anytime. The groups meet monthly for 4-hours.
• Each participant must bring their own lunch/dinner/snack according to their own needs and time of the event. Bottled water will be provided.
• Each workshop must have a minimum of eight (8) participants registered no later than a week before the date of the workshop or the workshop will be canceled for that month.

Location:

There will be two locations (Kenwood or Blue Ash) and each month the location will depend upon the type of activities and the number of participants registered to attend. Please see the private Facebook Support Group (SOAR Group) posting for detailed information for the upcoming times, dates, location and directions for the workshop for which you are interested in participating.   If you elect NOT to become a member of FB, please email Dr. Mendelsohn at drsusie@me.com for information.

To Register:

You may register via FB (SOAR Group) OR email (drsusie@me.com), text (513.791.6463), or leave a voice message (513.791.6463) for Dr. Susie seven (7) days prior to specific workshop in which you intend to participate. Please leave your name, workshop date, and the best way to contact you.

Becoming a Member of our Private Facebook Support Group:

To become a member of our private Facebook SOAR Group, you must be registered for at least one of the four-hour segments.

Step 1: Set up a FB account

Step 2: Request Susie Mendelsohn to be your friend

Step 3: After Susie Mendelsohn accepts your friend request, she will add you to the SOAR Group. DONE! You will then be able to chat with other members of the group for support between monthly workshops and view all of the updated information including how to prepare for the upcoming segment for which you have registered.

GENERAL ACTIVITIES:

Psycho-educational segments: are structured and semi-structured that are geared toward particular stages of readiness and are content-specific to some of the hallmark issues of recovery from eating disordered behaviors. Lectures will be based upon participants’ needs. Content includes all skills pertaining to a full recovery and life beyond.

Compulsion/Addiction Management: Certain eating disorder behaviors have a compulsive or addictive quality that must be addressed. This component teaches about models of addiction and methods of breaking free from balance-inhibiting additions.

Skills-Building: Eating disorders serve a function, and cannot be dealt with effectively unless the individual learns other ways to cope and get their needs met. Skill areas include: stress management, personal boundary recognition and enforcement, self-soothing and affect management, amelioration of cognitive distortions, and positive relationship building.

SOME SPECIFICS:

Art Therapy: A variety of creative projects will be supplied specific to eating disorder recovery. 
Benefits: Art is used as an expression to resolve conflicts, decrease stress and increase self-esteem by promoting self-awareness through a non-judgmental, non-confrontational, cathartic manner allowing previously unspoken, unconscious material to surface in a non-threatening manner.

Body Beautiful: focuses on supporting and challenging clients as they identify and practice small, incremental steps toward body acceptance through body desensitization.
Benefits: Participants will learn to challenge and replace dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors related to their bodies, food, and the displacement of emotional concerns onto appearance and body image, thus normalizing the relationship to the body.

Community Outreach: At any given time there may be outreach activities or fundraisers to organize to participate in as a group. The participants of the workshop will have an option ahead of time to add this to the monthly schedule as a part of the 4-hour workshop or as an addition to our workshop.
Benefits: The participant will gain tools in skills training, interpersonal skills, group work, outreach, public education.

Family Circle: A family member or friend of the participant is invited to attend this workshop.
Benefits: The family/friend will be educated about what their loved one is struggling with/going through in their fight for freedom from their eating disorder. The participant will feel a sense of support and concern from his/her loved one and an ability to be more honest and open by enhancing the communication between themselves - hence dissolving the “secret” and therefore more open for recovery.

Fed-Up with ED: Pot luck meal. This may be one of the most challenging of all activities for patients in treatment for EDs. Everyone will bring one of their favorite dishes and each participant will choose to eat a balanced meal according to his/her own meal plan. (Each participant should discuss/prepare for this with his/her dietician prior to the event).
Benefits: Each participant will 1) overcome his/her fear of eating publicly, 2) overcome his/her fear of eating what others’ prepare, 3) overcome his/her fear of eating an unplanned meal, 4) overcome his/her fear of eating spontaneously, 5) have a support system to discuss their challenges with pre/post meal; 6) be prevented from avoidance.

*Firing ED: Participants bring all items (burnable) that are associated with their eating disorders. We will burn them one by one at the stake!
Benefits: This activity is a sure “fire” way of tossing ed out of our lives for once and for all. The feeling of freeing oneself from the chains of ED is liberating for the participants

Holiday Healing: Holiday time has proven to be a challenging time for individuals struggling with eating disorders. From seeing old friends and family to being surrounded by heaping portions of old-time-favorite foods.
Benefits: Participants will benefit from this group by learning to plan ahead of time for triggers they may encounter during the hussle and bustle of the holiday season and other holidays they may encounter throughout the year.

*It’s Not About the Weight: Participants bring their scales to smash for this exciting and vigorous event!
Benefits: Participants begin to feel freedom from the scale by taking back control of their lives and learning that the scale no longer weighs their worth.

Spotlight On: One participant will share his/her journey of his/her life with ED with it’s trials & tribulations and feats & defeats. A full discussion, questions and answers and processing with group will follow.
Benefits:  For the listener - A sense of universality - learning that they are not alone and that recovery is possible. For the speaker - continued motivation for recovery. Sharing is a way to  gain support and accountability,  and to solidify reasons for one’s path toward wellness. Verbalizing one’s story is validating one’s courage to forge ahead.

Weighing In: Discussion and/or advocacy work of controversial issues in the media.
Benefits: Participants learn to engage in powerful group discussions and gaining a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence by voicing their personal opinions while being educated as to how to go about advocating in the real world on issues they are passionate about. This activity includes learning how to contact the media outlets appropriately, writing letters to advertisers, and “talking back” to bill boards, TV and magazine ads that are counterproductive to their recovery.

*  indicates an activity in which particpiants need to prepare prior to attending.

UPCOMING S.O.A.R. SCHEDULES AND LOCATIONS:

• Click here for the up to date schedule and locations