Andrea Gharritt, MPH, RDN, BCC

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?

  The majority of my coaching work is done virtually so as to be as physically accessible to my clients as possible. As far as approach & philosophy, all my work is grounded in the deep knowing that every human is deserving & desiring security, dignity & belonging. Regardless of the body you are in, client safety - physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual – is paramount. I come to the work with curiosity, compassion & an openness to better understand & serve you. And to hopefully have you better understand & serve yourself. (Note: I only work with adults.)

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

  In my work, clients's relationship with their weight/body & food is often less related to health and more related to their relationship with control, purpose, worthiness, perfectionism, safety, acceptance, self-compassion, etc. That is where the healing starts. Weight, as it is related to health, only becomes a topic if presented by the client as a desire to explore mobility-related issues, joint/skeletal-related challenges, etc.

• Finish this sentence: “Fat people are…” 

  people.

• 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?

  I don't. BMI is a bullshit metric that was never meant to assess personal risk factors. It is wildly misused in healthcare. It is never used in my practice.

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

  I don't weigh my clients or have them disclose their weight.

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

  This is often not the case given people are coming to Food & Body Peace Coaching with a desire to repair their relationship with food, movement & body. However, if in our discovery call I find that they are not ready or interested in exploring these themes, I always honor where they are at and respectfully acknowledge that they might not be ready for this work. And that is okay. I operate heavily on consent.

• 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? 

  The majority of my coaching work is done virtually so as to be as physically accessible to my clients as possible. If I am onsite, it is when I am partnering with an organization to serve their community and I don't generally have jurisdiction over those accommodations.

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

  In my virtual office, we have a "come as you are" agreement. No need for posturing or smoke & mirrors. Take up space, use your voice, advocate for your needs. This agreement is signed off on – both written & verbally. Also, in our very first meeting we discuss what the client is needing to feel safe in this work. We collaborate on our working agreements to ensure this safety. My client's are also encouraged & supported to use their discernment and let me know if there is something that we are doing or that I am doing that is compromising their safety. And throughout the work I get consent to ask specific questions or explore in certain places, taking a pulse check along the way.

• 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 cis-heteronormative, straight-size white woman who cares deeply about bridging security, dignity & belonging and supporting humans as they come home to themselves. I make no assumptions that I am the best fit for every client and that I will fully understand every person's journey. What I commit to is continuing to do my own work, showing up with transparency & compassionate curiosity, living & working through the lens of service to all bodies & doing my very, very best to do no harm. My dream for my clients is that they heal this relationship, finding body neutrality rooted in self-compassion, so they can truly love themselves, their people, their communities & their life. My mantra in this work is "Your body is the vessel to help you move mountains, it is not the mountain to move."