Zoe Slaughter, LPCC
About
Pronouns: she/her
Occupation and Specialty: Clinical Mental Health Counselor
Location (Clinic/hospital): LynLake Centers for Wellness
Location (City): All of Minnesota via telehealth
Offers Telehealth: Yes
Contact Information: www.therapy-mn.com
Bio: I provide mental health counseling, ranging from diagnostic assessments, gender affirming letters, and talk therapy sessions (typically 50-55 minutes.) I work with adults from a variety of ages but I seem to average around mid twenties to early forties. I received Eating Disorder training from Ample and Rooted and am in the process of reciting my Body Trust Certification. I have attended and provided multiple lectures and trainings on fat liberation, fatness in the therapy space, and other topics related to body liberation.
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?
When I work with people in larger bodies I do immediately address that I am a fat liberationist and do not utilize approaches to help folks lose weight or weight management. I focus son healing relationship with body and food (if needed) and how to process and exist in a world that hates fat people and actively discriminates against us. When I work with people in smaller bodies I spend a little more time focusing on their perception of fatness if applicable especially if we are working on body image or relationship with food and try to provide gentle education and challenge their perspectives or opinions.
What is your perspective on how weight is or is not related to health?
I think weight is related to health in the sense that doctors take us less seriously and there is more medical neglect as a fat person which is detrimental to our health. Then doctors assume the reason we have or are experiences "x" is because of our fatness a don't because we didn't have the strength to see a doctor in years. White coat syndrome is also something I address with clients and we work on how to advocate for their bodies and health in the doctors office whether it's saying no to being weighed, getting blood pressure double checked, or how to regulate their nervous system before/during/after an appointment.
Finish this sentence: “Fat people are…”
magic.
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?
As far as I know on the therapeutic side the BMI is not involved. And I specifically do not use the different boxes providers can check about someone's physical appliance and weight. When I notice clients click the "ob*sity" box on our previous intakes I would address what this means for them/why.
If a patient declines to be weighed, how do you and/or your staff proceed?
Not super applicable to me, but if it was I'd say cool with me!
If a patient declines to discuss weight loss, nutrition, and/or exercise, how do you proceed?
Not super applicable to me, but if it was I would respect that decision and ask them if there were other things they wanted to focus on instead.
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?
When I had a physical office I was fairly vocal about having high capacity chairs and couches as well as armless chairs. However for the most part I think this still gets neglected and people lack the understanding of how to make a space accessible to a fat person. I wish that doorways and hallways could be wider, if they must use plastic chairs make them very sturdy, getting durable couches that don't move when you move on them or feel breakable.
What do you do to allow fat people to feel comfortable and welcome in your office?
Physical space wise/decor wise I have fat body art hung up, an art piece with the words "all bodies are good bodies" and other small pieces of decor that show my love and acceptance of the fat community. Furniture wise I would address with clients if I noticed hesitancy in moving around the room or on the couch and let them know either the weight capacity of the couch or that I spent time fully jumping/aggressively moving on it alone and with others to ensure it's stability.
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 proud mid-fat and utilize this identity to not only connect with other fat folks in the therapeutic space but to also provide insight for smaller body colleagues and providers who aren't sure how to work with or provide trauma informed care for fat folks.