Information from the Creighton counseling center on body image, and tips to help young adults reframe how they view societal body standards went unheard after no one attended the “More than the Mirror” body image workshop last Tuesday. 

The event was set to be held over zoom on Tuesday afternoon. Due to lack of attendees it was canceled by the presenter Alyssa Newman, a staff Psychologist. 

The core of the presentation was intended to go over identifying what body image truly is, what influences body image and how to reframe the way a person relates to their own body image. 

Several exercises designed to detox negative body image sources were also planned for the presentation. 

One exercise in particular targeted the effect of social media on social body standards.

Participants would’ve been asked to go to their most frequented social media site and scroll through their feed for a while. They would then be asked to identify how the images made them feel and encouraged to unfollow accounts that lowered their self-esteem. 

Newman said, “just because these influences are all around us in society doesn’t mean that we can’t fight back and rewrite our own narratives for our bodies.” 

Newman has worked with people who suffer from eating disorders and body image throughout her career. She now considers this work a passion. According to Newman the increase in body image concerns throughout college years was seen so commonly that two years ago the counseling center developed a group therapy session dedicated to the topic. 

Those group therapy sessions were the inspiration for the “More than the Mirror” workshops. 

The workshops are advertised through the Student Leadership and Involvement Center emails, the counseling website and CU involved. The other you can find information on about counseling workshops and events is on Coco the counselor’s Instagram page. 

There will be another opportunity to hear this information. On February 22, during National Eating Disorder Awareness week the counseling center will be offering the “More than the Mirror” presentation again through Zoom at 4:00pm. 

These workshops are just part of what the counseling center does on campus. They are a confidential entity with several free services for students.