Embracing the Full Canvas: HAES & Healing in Expressive Arts Therapy
What Is HAES?
Health at Every Size is a social justice movement and clinical framework that shifts the focus from weight to well-being. It emphasizes:
Respect for body diversity
Critical awareness of weight stigma and systemic oppression
Evidence-based support for intuitive eating and joyful movement
Compassionate care regardless of body size
HAES is not about ignoring health—it’s about redefining health on your own terms, outside of diet culture’s shame-based narratives.
Why HAES Belongs in the Therapy Room
Clients often come to therapy holding stories of body shame, food guilt, and the trauma of not being "enough"—not thin enough, not disciplined enough, not lovable enough. When we explore these stories through a HAES lens, we can begin to untangle where those beliefs came from and how they’ve been reinforced.
In expressive arts therapy, these stories come alive through movement, image, metaphor, and sound. We can paint the weight of cultural expectations, sculpt a safe home within the body, or create dialogue between the inner critic and the body itself. These practices help move shame out of the body and onto the page—where it can be seen, named, and released.
What HAES Looks Like in Practice
In my work with clients of all sizes, especially LGBTQIA+ teens and young adults, HAES means:
Not assuming anything based on appearance
Honoring body autonomy—you get to decide how you want to care for your body
Exploring the intersection of identity, trauma, and embodiment
Challenging fatphobia—internally and externally
Using the arts as a portal to body neutrality and acceptance
One teen client once said after a collage session, “I didn’t know I could talk back to the mirror.” That’s the kind of power that HAES and expressive arts therapy can unlock.
Healing Isn’t a Before-and-After Photo
Healing is messy, nonlinear, and beautifully complex. There’s no “goal weight” in therapy. There’s only the goal of feeling more at home in your own body and more empowered in your story.
Whether we’re journaling with our inner child, dancing with joy, or painting grief, HAES helps us hold space for every body—exactly as they are.
If you’re curious about how HAES and expressive arts therapy might support your healing, I’d love to connect. You deserve care that sees your whole self—body, mind, and spirit. Check out my HAES worksheet packet in the meantime.