Beyond Kosher
a BALANCE Provider Webinar
Culturally Responsive Eating Disorder Care for Orthodox Jewish Clients
You know your client keeps kosher.
But understanding what they eat is only one part of understanding what they’re navigating.
For Orthodox Jewish clients, food can be deeply connected to family, faith, community, Shabbos, holidays, dating, marriage, and everyday social life. These experiences can intersect with eating disorder treatment in ways that may not be immediately visible to a provider outside of the community.
WHAT MIGHT WE MISS WHEN WE UNDERSTAND THE DISORDER, BUT NOT THE LIFE SURROUNDING IT?
Join us for a conversation about the cultural context that can help providers ask better questions, make fewer assumptions, and provide more individualized care.
Meet Your Speakers
TWO PROVIDERS. DECADES OF EXPERIENCE.
ONE CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CARE CAN ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE.
Iris Epstein, RDN, CEDS, CAI
Founder, Nutrition Improvement Center
For 25 years, Iris has counseled members of the Orthodox Jewish community, giving her a deeply informed perspective on the lived experiences that can surround food, body image, family, faith, community, and eating disorder recovery.
In this conversation, Iris will share what years of working within this community have taught her about the context providers outside of it may not immediately see, and the questions that can help us understand each client more fully.
Melainie Rogers, MS, RDN, CDN, CEDS-C
Founder & CEO, BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™
Melainie is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with decades of experience in the field of eating disorders.
As Founder and CEO of BALANCE, she has dedicated her career to providing comprehensive, individualized eating disorder care and advancing education for the professionals who support those in recovery.
Together, Melainie and Iris will bring the eating disorder and cultural perspectives into the same conversation.
What We’ll Explore
- The role food can play in family, religious, and community life
- How recurring traditions like Shabbos and holidays can shape a client’s experiences around food
- Why understanding the context surrounding a meal can matter in eating disorder treatment
- Family and community dynamics that may enter the treatment room
- Dating, marriage, appearance, and body image within an individual client’s cultural context
- How different expectations and relationships may influence the way a client experiences recovery
- Why knowing that someone “keeps kosher” doesn’t tell you everything you need to know
- Recognizing that observance, family experiences, and individual needs vary
- Questions that can help providers approach care with greater curiosity and cultural responsiveness
You don’t need to become an expert in someone else’s faith to become more thoughtful about the questions you ask.
Why this conversation? Why now?
Cultural Context Can Change What You Hear
A conversation about a family meal may also involve Shabbos. A conversation about body image may exist alongside dating or marriage expectations. A nutrition recommendation may interact with religious observance, family traditions, or the realities of a client’s home and community.
None of those experiences will look exactly the same for every Orthodox Jewish client.
That’s exactly why culturally responsive care starts with curiosity rather than assumptions. For providers who do not live within the Orthodox Jewish community, there may be context we simply haven’t been exposed to.
Understanding more of that context can help us recognize what we don’t know, ask more thoughtful questions, and better understand the individual sitting across from us.
complimentary virtual Webinar Details
- Date & Time: Friday, October 9th at 12:00 PM EDT
- Duration: 50 minutes + Q&A
- Recording: Available to registrants
- Q&A: Submit an optional question when you register
Sometimes Feeling Understood Starts With Being Asked
Your client shouldn’t have to choose between explaining their entire cultural world to you and leaving important parts of themselves outside the treatment room.
As providers, we won’t share every client’s background, traditions, family structure, or lived experience. We don’t need to. What we can do is become more aware of the things we may not know to ask.
For our Jewish clients, understanding more about the world surrounding food and recovery can open conversations that might otherwise never happen.
Join Melainie Rogers and Iris Epstein on Friday, October 9th for a conversation designed to help providers approach these moments with more context, curiosity, and confidence.
The Foundation Of Recovery Starts
With Your Client's Confidential Intake
Our intake process provides expert guidance for determining the best treatment path for your clients. We strive to take the confusion and overwhelm out of the process.