Why HAES® in Therapy?

In a therapeutic setting, HAES® helps clients address the psychological toll of weight-centric systems. It is particularly effective for:

  • Healing Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders: Moving away from the "diet mentality" to intuitive eating and body trust.

  • Reducing Body Shame: Shifting focus from "fixing" the body to caring for it as it currently exists.

  • Building Sustainable Habits: Research shows that weight-neutral interventions can improve blood pressure, cholesterol, and other health markers with or without weight loss. Weight loss is not a marker for health.

Health at Every size (haes)

Health at Every Size (HAES®) is a weight-neutral framework that shifts the focus of wellness from weight loss to health-promoting behaviors.

Core Principles

The Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) defines the five pillars of the HAES® approach:

  • Weight Inclusivity: Accepting and respecting that bodies naturally come in a wide range of shapes and sizes without pathologizing specific weights.

  • Health Enhancement: Focusing on improving access to information and services while addressing physical, social, spiritual, and emotional needs.

  • Eating for Well-Being: Promoting flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, and pleasure rather than externally regulated diet plans.

  • Respectful Care: Acknowledging weight bias and working to end discrimination while recognizing how factors like body size, race, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigration status, and socioeconomic status impact care.

  • Life-Enhancing Movement: Encouraging physical activities that allow people of all sizes and abilities to engage in enjoyable movement.

At Bonfire Healing, we are committed to respecting all aspects of identity including body diversity and believe that all bodies deserve space and respect. We welcome diversity in all forms.

We also recognize that systemic biases—including anti-fat bias and ableism—deeply impact mental health and lived experiences. And that Weight Stigma and Anti-Fat Bias are themselves forms of traumatic stress. Our practice actively works to resist re-traumatization by rejecting weight-normative standards and celebrating body diversity.