(913)449-1881
Meet Stephanie
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Hi! My name is Stephanie, and I am a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist.
I hope you are able to find answers to your questions about my practice. Have more? Feel free to connect with me by clicking here!
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My Story as a Therapist:
After growing up in Kansas and learning the Rockchalk Jayhawk chant as a young girl, I graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelors of Sciences in Secondary English Education and a Bachelors of Arts in Dance, as well as a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. I began my first career as a middle and high school classroom English teacher and spent my evenings coaching and teaching dance to continue my love of choreography and performing. After a short time, it was evident that the academic setting was creating more stress and dysregulation in my life than meaning and purpose. The primary passion I developed from teaching was relationship building, and after a couple more years of graduate school, I allowed this passion to unfold into my profession in social work as a clinical therapist with a Masters in Social Welfare.
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I immediately began my therapeutic career in eating disorders with a hope to help others live into recovery after walking alongside so many in education and dance who struggled with these invasive and debilitating diseases. I developed an additional focus on supporting athletes in their journeys for recovery derived from my own background in dance and my connection with seeing and experiencing eating disorders as a function of athletic performance perfectionism.
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After five years in the field, I determined the significance of working toward certification to solidify my specialist position with eating disorder treatment. The specialist certification signifies a commitment to serving those with eating disorders in a dedicated manner, with special adherence to an additional code of ethics and best practices for recovery protection and relapse prevention.
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My Practice:
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What I Treat:​
*Eating disorders, namely anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, ARFID, binge eating disorder, OSFED, EDNOS, disordered eating, distorted body image, and orthorexia
*Depression
*Anxiety
*OCD tendencies
*Life transitions
*Relationship dynamic difficulties
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Treatment Approaches:
*Individuality:
I initially orient my treatment planning according to the individual’s needs based on criteria for level of care. I believe individualization of treatment is critical for sustainable, lifelong recovery.
*Family-based:
When appropriate, particularly with adolescent clients, family work is the foundation of support and accountability.
*Treatment team:
I also rely upon a treatment team approach to involve other practitioners, including primary care doctors, psychiatrists, registered dietitians, and providers as needed (i.e. oncologists, endocrinologists, gynecologists, family therapists, group therapists, etc.).
*Health at Every Size approach (HAES):
I believe firmly that our health and intrinsic value are not determined by our weight. Sometimes weight can be a symptom of medical or psychological issues, but weight itself is not a problem to be solved or resolved. Taking care of our bodies from the inside out can be our primary goal, no matter shape and size.
*Holistic approach:
I maintain a variety of approaches in order to treat the whole person. This includes ideas and modalities such as:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Mindfulness
Spiritual orientation as requested per client
Trauma-informed perspective
Narrative approaches
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Harm reduction model
Exposure and response prevention methods.
*Strengths-based
*Connection:
I believe one of the most important antidotes of the eating disorder and other mental health complications is connection– connection with others, connection with a higher power, connection with nature, and most critically, connection with self.
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Affiliations:
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*National Social Work Association (NASW)
*International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP)
Background of Treatment Experience:
*Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF)
*Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP) for eating disorder recovery
*Outpatient individual, family, and group therapy
*Transition group therapy to offer support between IOP and outpatient levels of care (Bridge programming)
*Community resource group for eating disorder support
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