Empower Your Practice: Advanced Nutrition Counseling For Dietitians Through a Relational Lens

15 CEU Credits Pending for RDNs through the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR)

This course will profoundly enhance your counseling skills, transforming your practice by deepening your understanding and effectiveness, and leading to more meaningful, impactful patient interactions.

Early bird registration open now through October 31st. The course begins January 31st, 2025.

This course is for you if you want to build your clinical counseling expertise. You’ll graduate with the knowledge of how to create a more compassionate, therapeutic experience that influences your patients’ journeys.

Review all the course outline details below. As a student, you will navigate through 10 self-paced learning modules broken down in to shorter lessons. In addition, you’ll receive ongoing training with monthly live group discussion groups with the course instructor, included with registration.

Early bird registration is open now.

15 CEU Credits Pending for RDNs

Members log in to access member pricing. Not yet a member? Join here first before enrolling in the course.

Prices increase November 1st, so don’t wait!

Member Pricing

~~$375~~ $325

Non-Member Pricing

~~$475~~ $425

3-part payment plans, equity, and international discounts available upon request.

Contact [email protected] for details.

Build an understanding of how to respond to pieces of your client’s story that you haven’t been trained to treat.

Do you find yourself questioning how to integrate therapeutic frameworks to support effective counseling as a dietitian? In this course, you will be guided on how to weave in approaches pulled from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). You will build an understanding of how to truly and authentically connect with the individual in front of you.

Experience a powerful transformation when you know how to safely broach certain topics that may feel daunting. Set yourself up to succeed as a nutrition counselor by learning from one of the highest-rated speakers at EDRD Pro. Annyck brings her years of practical experience and advanced training background to this training.

You’ll finish with a comprehensive understanding of what advanced counseling skills look like and a readiness to practice applying and refining those skills in your work with eating disorders.

Enrollment includes access to all learning videos, handouts, supportive materials and monthly study groups live with the instructor. You will have access to the self-paced course for up to 3 years.

This course is for you if:

This course is for you if you have some experience in treating eating disorders and are looking to enhance your therapeutic skills to provide long term and constructive nutrition counseling. In eating disorder treatment work, the unspoken barriers that dietitians encounter are the unexpected responses, human emotions, past traumas that client experience in nutrition counseling. Dietitians are faced with both needing to target a client’s behaviors and assist them in change, while also holding space for connection and effective communication. The lessons will leave you with practical tools, resources and reflective exercises so that you can translate your learning into practice.

This course is not for you if:

This course is not for you if you are looking to learn about eating disorder assessment and diagnosis, introduction to treating eating disorders, or medical nutrition therapy for eating disorders. If so, you may want to consider our Foundations Core Skills 101 Series.

Please carefully review the course content below to know if this course is a good fit for you!

Course Outline:

The pillars of creating a therapeutic relationship in nutrition counseling
Nutrition counseling versus therapy
Weaving in therapeutic approaches as a dietitian for a deeper healing experience

Effectively communicating your approach in the initial stages of your work with a client for a meaningful relationship
Specific skill building of questioning and communication styles with practical tools and examples you can use in session

Case conceptualization – understanding your client beyond what they say
Exploring your client’s story to build a true sense of their “why” for change, their vulnerabilities, and their motivating factors
Building case conceptualizations – case examples

Understanding how dietitians can safely give space for client’s true emotions that arise in session
Examples of incorporating therapeutic techniques in nutrition counseling sessions
Using motivational interviewing when someone is not motivated
Learning various nutrition counseling styles and how to determine when to offer what

Rupture is inevitable and what repair can look like, with examples
Addressing and noticing perfectionistic parts that show up in you
Transference and countertransference
Role play examples of what effective communication looks like
How lack of appropriate boundaries, defensiveness, and perfectionism can harm the relationship with your client

How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can be applied to professionals and to clients
Working with values and committed action using ACT
How your own values show up in your counseling work with clients
Developing goals in nutrition counseling based on values
Addressing discomfort in meaningful work
Exploring strategies to lean on when you’re feeling “stuck” with a client

Talking about the eating disorder in non-shaming language
Incorporating specific exercises in your nutrition interventions to guide your client toward progress and healing
Navigating specific nutrition situations such as when increasing meal plan, weight restoration, symptom management, food exposures, increased flexibility

How to determine when your treatment is done – what are you aiming for?
Breaking up your work with clients into “stages of progress” and examples
Recognizing your own feelings in the counseling work and how that impacts your relationship with a client long-term.
How can you build creativity in your work as a dietitian to allow yourself to pivot and adapt
Identifying core beliefs that impact your confidence in your work and what you offer

What client-centered and inclusive care means, and what it means to you as a provider
How to communicate this with clients
Step-by-step examples of what client-centered care looks like vs. doesn’t look like
How to respond when things come up that are not within scope of practice including practical examples
The dance of Motivational Interviewing
Signaling care without taking on a client’s work

Exercises to help you better understand how you see your role
Returning to the goal: creating a space where clients are seen and heard and trust that they’re worthy of care and compassion
Caring for yourself in the toughest of times and your most vulnerable situations
Review of tools, resources, and reflections

We are so excited for you to join us in this empowering learning experience. It all starts on January 31st, 2025.

Early bird registration is available now! Through October 31st, members can reserve their spot for just $325. The non-member rate is $425. Prices increase by $50 on November 1st. Not yet a member? Join here before enrolling.

Meet Your Instructor

Annyck Besso, RDN (she/her)

Annyck Besso is a registered dietitian who has been working with individuals with eating disorders and disordered eating for the last decade. Annyck is also the founder of Sööma, a multidisciplinary private practice in Montreal Canada (sooma.ca) and the United States (soomanutrition.com). As the founder, she manages a team of registered dietitians and psychologists specializing in eating disorders.

Understanding an individual’s experience with food and their body, being curious about their story, and understanding the emotional and psychological barriers to change are what Annyck values as the keys to supporting a client with long standing recovery, whatever that looks like for each individual. Throughout her career, Annyck has received specialty training in evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Family Based Treatment (FBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which are used heavily throughout her nutrition interventions.

Annyck became a McGill Affiliate Member in 2020 and feels honored to be able to change the way eating disorder care is taught at McGill University through her guest lecturing. Beyond teaching and training, Annyck offers supervision to dietitians throughout Canada and the United States.

You’ll Get:

15 CE credits (currently pending approval with The Commission on Dietetic Registration)
100% self-paced learning and online video instruction
Handouts and downloads to use in your practice
Monthly discussion groups with Annyck FREE with enrollment.

Doors Open for Learning on January 31st, 2025

Early bird registration is open now! Sign up before November 1st for $50 off the final course price.

Annyck’s Unique Teaching Style

We are thrilled to partner with Annyck for an advanced counseling course. Here’s what our audience has said after learning from Annyck:

“Annyck presents with sincerity and knowledge. I appreciate her style of using applicable examples of techniques that could be used in session and how I might actually utilize them. It feels very useful for practice, as she’s not just explaining specific techniques.”

“I love how Annyck uses metaphor and activities in her presentations. She helped me see that we can help change how clients feel, not just teach them concepts to know.”

“I am looking forward to integrating what Annyck taught about trauma-informed care and regulation techniques.”

“I’m most appreciative of her gentleness and the examples and thorough explanations instead of speeding through concepts.”

“Annyck Besso is validating, calm, and clear as a speaker.”

“Annyck is an excellent presenter.”

“I feel so validated. Annyck gives permission and helps RDNs know how to use therapeutic modalities while remaining within my scope as a dietitian.”

“The grounding script she shared was excellent! I can’t wait to use it!”