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What Patients Wish You Knew About ARFID: Integrating Lived Experience With Neurodivergent‑Affirming Care

LB/Lindsay Birchfield, MS, RD, CEDS-S (they/them)
Monica Starck, MS RDN, CD (she/her)
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Information

Date & Time

Description

This presentation maps the connections between the sensory system, autonomic arousal, and digestive discomfort to help clinicians understand why eating can feel genuinely unsafe or intolerable for many people with ARFID. Building from patient‑reported experiences, it highlights the skills and frameworks that have helped ARFID patients engage with food and what they most want professionals to know about their experience in treatment. Attendees will learn various regulation and grounding techniques, interventions to support someone’s sensory system and considerations for thoughtful food exposures that support interoceptive safety, reduce GI distress, and help patients better understand their sensory system.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Describe how ARFID presents at the intersection of eating disorders, neurodivergence, and sensory processing differences, including key links between the sensory system, autonomic nervous system, and digestive functioning.

  • Identify at least three regulation and grounding strategies that support nervous‑system safety and explain how these strategies can reduce GI distress and perceived threat during eating.

  • Discuss how incorporating patient‑reported lived experience (via survey data) can refine traditional exposure therapy, including pacing, language, and goals, in order to promote neurodivergent‑affirming, collaborative care.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this presentation is to promote a strengths-based understanding of Neurodivergence by challenging deficit-focused societal narratives and highlight the sensory intelligence that exists within Neurodivergent communities .

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

LB/Lindsay Birchfield, MS, RD, CEDS-S (they/them)
Lindsay Birchfield (they/them), or LB, as many of their colleagues refer to them, is Center for Discovery’s (CFD) National Director for Virtual Programming & Innovation. LB has worked in the eating disorder field since 2012, specializing in gender affirming healthcare, somatic interventions, and trauma-informed nutrition therapy. LB firmly believes that healing happens inside of relationships, thus, they've invested efforts in Virtual CFD and Path to Peace to be accessible healing environments that strive to foster authentic connections and community.
Monica Starck, MS RDN, CD (she/her)
Monica Starck, MS RDN, CD (she/her) has been with Center for Discovery (CFD) for 3 years. She is a Senior Dietitian with CFD's Path to Peace team, where she enjoys exploring the intersections between neurodivergence and eating disorders. She additionally leads a weekly Neurodivergent+ Affinity Group to support patients in increasing nourishment accessibility.

Financially Sponsored By

  • Center for Discovery