I had submitted a proposal for a presentation at an upcoming counseling conference. It was on helping clients who have lost a lot of weight (by any method, but emphasizing WLS) address the psychological/emotional issues that often plague them after losing weight (various body image/acceptance issues, relationship issues, psych issues that contributed to the obesity initially and threatens the ability to maintain weight loss long term, etc.).  They did not accept the proposal.  I had submitted a similar proposal last year for the same conference (at which I have presented a number of times before) but it was more specific to people who had WLS and some of the unique issues that come up because they had surgery, and it was not accepted, so I reworked the presentation to make it more general and resubmitted it this year.

I am not so much upset that they rejected my specific proposal (less stress on me), but am bothered by the apparent lack of interest in helping counselors understand issues facing clients who have lost large amounts of weight (especially given the skyrocketing rate of WLS of various kinds and how many people regain weight after surgery).  I was really annoyed last year when I saw that the program had SIX presentations on bullying (for a two-day conference). Did they really need SIX?!? This year I am just discouraged that, based on the email I received, they did not feel the topic was important enough and/or applicable to enough people. Admittedly, I am sensitive to situations in which obese people are marginalized or ignored, so perhaps I am overreacting and reading too much into it, but I am genuinely surprised that they essentially rejected the topic twice. It seems (and feels) like it is a situation where people who struggle with weight issues just don't matter.

I'm sorry.. I think your proposal would have done a world of good.

That would have been perfect for me. I'm having many issues around that right now.

Julie

That is frustrating. I know my counselor could sure be helped by that! She wants to be helpful but admitted right off the bat that she would not be able to help much with this area specifically.
-G

now THAT is something that would be very helpful, to me anyways.. And im sure many others on here..

The fears of mintaining long term weight loss take their toll on me sometimes.. it can be exhausting :(

Yes, although I am far enough out that I don't really have a fear of regain (I already know that it is very real and know how easily it can happen), sometimes the long-term diligence required to maintain the weight loss can be draining.  For me, it is especially so during times when I struggle more than usual with old food/emotional demons rearing their ugly heads.  Unfortunately, although counselors are generally pretty good at helping people who struggle (or have struggled in the past) with winning individual psychological battles related to their weight, many counselors are not nearly as useful when it comes to helping their clients win the long-term "war".  

More concerning to me is that many are really unaware of some of the unique challenges that face people who have lost massive amounts of weight or who have to live with the various comsequences and restrictions of having had WLS... and apparently some of the counseling organization members don't think It is a significant issue.  I will be VERY interested to see the topics of the presentations that they DID accept for this particular conference.

Lora

I am sorry your proposal was not accepted, it would have been appropriate and I feel many in that audience could have used it for their clients. But I think it highlights a general feeling by people who should know better, that many look at obesity as a problem of discipline. “Those fat people should be able to control themselves” syndrome. Don’t give up maybe down the road they will wake up and you can use the presentation then.     

I did submit the same proposal just a few weeks ago for a second counseling conference, so perhaps they will accept it for that conference.

Lora

 UGH! THAT SUCKS! I'm sorry Lora. Which obtuse organization was this for? I kinda breeze thru JCD that I get from the ACA and they do tend to focus on en vogue trends - - bullying seems to be the focus for papers lately. Disappointing for those who don't have such a myopic focus on what could be affecting someone's self-esteem or don't work in schools or with kids..... I can only remember from the recent edition of JCD that had some articles on obesity, but it was in context of eating disorders and specific ethnic groups. 

This one was for the statewide conference we have here in Ohio every fall.  I find it very interesting that I have done 4 presentations at the conference in 7 years and the only two proposals that were denied were weight loss related (although, to be fair, one of the ones that I did do was on the psych issues that are specific to WLS clients as opposed to those who lose large amounts of weight via traditional means).

Yeah, the past couple of years, i have noticed that our state conference has offered an increasing number of  presentations/workshops rested to working with kids (especially bullying, social media issues and "sexting"), substance abuse, and gerontology... none of which I work with.  I will have to wait and see what the response is from the Psychology conference.  Perhaps their focus and method of evaluating presentation proposals is different from that of the  counselors.

Lora

 Yeah, bullying is the buzz topic. Their attitude does kind of surprise me, though, because bullying is primarily a school counselor issue whereas anything obesity-related is a problem in the general population and is a popular subject in the media, as well.

The committee that determines the program must have some members with a special agenda.

This is a great opportunity for you to be a pioneer in the subject. Write an article. I've never tried writing for a peer-reviewed journal, but I imagine it would be hard and possibly thankless. Write something for a popular magazine. If they reject it, tailor it for another pub. Then write a book proposal. Or write your book and self-publi****'s cheap and pretty acceptable nowadays, and would be easy to market. Next stop, Dr. Oz?

I have to finish my dissertation before I can even think about writing anything else, LOL.  The state confrerence is open to both mental health and school counselors, so they try to balance the topics, and I understand that, but SIX presentations last year on bullying?!?  That number seems excessive for ANY topic.

Lora