Emma Thompson, MA

About

  • Pronouns: she/they

  • Occupation and Specialty: Mental Health Therapist

  • Location (Clinic/hospital): Vibrant Life Therapy Clinic & Kinship Therapy Mpls

  • Location (City): Minneapolis, currently fully telehealth

  • Offers Telehealth: Yes

  • Contact Information: https://vibrantlifetherapyclinic.com/emma-thompson%2C-ma

  • Bio: Hi, I'm Emma! I'm a somatic parts work therapist who sees individuals, couples and relationship systems of all sorts. I'm a strong believer that our bodies hold inherent wisdom, and that they are trustworthy. I also believe that the stories we tell ourselves shape our realities, and that therapy is a unique and powerful exploration of those stories. I dream of co-creating a therapeutic environment where you can take up space, breathe a sigh of relief, and be courageous in your exploration of yourself.

Approach to care

  • What does it look like for you to provide care to patients in larger bodies? How is, or isn’t, your approach different from how you care for patients in smaller bodies? If you work with children, how is or isn’t your approach different when working with children?

    My approach to working with all clients includes bringing to consciousness the ways that the size/shape/skintone/ability of our bodies changes the way that we move through the world. My work is highly influenced by my values in somatic awareness, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, fat liberation, black liberation and disability justice.

  • What is your perspective on how weight is or is not related to health?

    Ultimately, the primary health impacts of our weight come from the stigma associated with the size of body we have. Lack of access to specialized care, chronic medical neglect and misattunement, nutritional restriction, chronic shame and reduced access to resources are all lived experiences that can be associated with poor health outcomes. These have much less to do with being fat and everything to do with the systemic oppression of fat folks.

  • Finish this sentence: “Fat people are…” 

    my friends, my loves, my family. Fat people are incredible, and are deserving of attuned, specialized, and curious care!

  • How do you, your clinic, and the healthcare system you work in use BMI (i.e BMI cutoffs for accessing certain services, BMI on charts and printouts, etc)? Is this flexible?

    N/A

  • If a patient declines to be weighed, how do you and/or your staff proceed?

    N/A

  • If a patient declines to discuss weight loss, nutrition, and/or exercise, how do you proceed?

    N/A

  • What does the physical accessibility of your office space look like? What kinds of accommodations are present for people in larger bodies? Are there things you wish were in place that are currently not? 

    My practice is currently fully telehealth. Accommodations for fat folks currently include the ability to choose your own comfortable location for session, and regular invitations to assess body's current needs.

  • What do you do to allow fat people to feel comfortable and welcome in your office? 

    I talk openly about my identity and experience as a fat person, and invite clients to share if they would like.

  • If you’d like to use this space to talk about any identities (gender, race, size, sexuality, etc.) you hold and how this relates to your care, please do so. 

    I am a fat, queer, gender expansive person - I generally feel comfortable identifying as a woman, but also find that construct in itself to be limiting. I utilize principles of relationship anarchy in my personal life, and am child free by choice. My professional work often happens at the intersections of embodiment, deconstruction (white supremacy, religious trauma, gender/sexuality, diet culture), and curiosity.