There are an endless number of reasons why you might want to change your body — that holiday weight, your dating profile, medical issues, your new bathing suit — but the real culprit is usually diet culture.

Psychologist and trans-health educator Sand Chang joins us to talk about the complex experience of body acceptance for trans folks, the intersections of trans advocacy and Health at Every Size work, the growing body of research around trans folks and eating disorders, the shape-shifting nature of fatphobia and diet culture, and so much more!

A new generation of practitioners says the profession pays inadequate attention to different kinds of diets, body types and lives.

Unhealthy workout habits and viewpoints are more common than you think. These questions will help you examine your own behavior.

Dr. Sand Chang (they/them) is a Chinese American, gender fluid and non-binary trauma informed psychologist. In today's conversation, Josie and Dr. Sand discuss the importance of body liberation specifically for trans health, and how diet culture can impact those who are trying to conceive.

Chang, S. C. (2022). EMDR Therapy as Affirmative Care for Transgender and Nonbinary Clients. In M. Nickerson (Ed.), Cultural competence and healing culturally based trauma with EMDR therapy: Innovative strategies and protocols, 2nd Ed.. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

This book is geared towards mental health providers who are working with trans and/or nonbinary clients.

Chang, S. C., Singh, A. A., & dickey, l. m. (2018). A clinician’s guide to gender-affirming care: Working with transgender and gender nonconforming clients. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

Dr. Chang has built their reputation as a thought leader through leading trainings, writing a book, being on podcasts, their social media presence, word of mouth and more.

On this episode of Students of Mind Jayde talks to Dr. Sand Chang and Aisha Nash for the second episode of the body image series. In the discussion Jayde and Guests talk about diet culture and its relationship to systems of oppression, experiences of disordered eating in the LGBTQ+ community, yoga as a form of body liberation, and more!

The present study addresses many of the methodological issues encountered during the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Survey (2nd Ed.). By reflecting on how these issues relate to previous research, we provide recommendations on how to produce more representative data while remaining accountable to trans and nonbinary communities.

It’s about that time of year. You know the drill. You realize the year is coming to an end, the new year is just around the corner, and panic sets in. You start thinking about all the things you wanted to get done but didn’t, all the things about yourself that are still…well, you.

What happens when moralizing about authenticity becomes an accusation? When anyone who chooses not to disclose their truest gender expression is seen as a fake, sellout, or impostor, even if they have valid reasons to hold the lines between their private and public selves?

What if you could trust in getting the health care you need in ways that felt good and helped you thrive? What if the health system honoured and valued queer and trans people's lives, bodies, and expertise? What if LGBTQ+ communities led and organized our own health care as a form of mutual aid? What if every aspect of our health care was rooted in a commitment to our healing, pleasure, and liberation? Chapter in Zena Sharman’s anthology The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health.

According to Sand Chang, a clinical psychologist who works with trans individuals and identifies as nonbinary, transgender men face comparisons to both cisgender men and other transgender men. Therefore, trans men have two ideal body types against which they can gauge their own idea of a successful transition.

It can be hard, at times impossible, to separate out the different pressures we face living day to day in our trans and non-binary bodies. When it comes to existing in relative comfort, it’s not just about aesthetics. It’s about safety, access, all the things we are not talking about. And we need to talk about eating disorders in the trans community because they are killing us.

I want to shift the conversation to talk about how mental health providers can be helpful in supporting trans patients through the process of seeking and receiving gender-affirming medical care. As a health care system, we need to move away from gatekeeping based on gender narratives and toward a more client-centered, collaborative approach that focuses on informed consent.

We who identify as nonbinary spend so much time saying who we are not that we never get time to focus on ourselves, to celebrate and honor who we are. Nonbinary is only in relation to the colonizer, to White culture, to Western, mutually exclusive ideals of masculine and feminine. It still centers their experiences as normal, typical, the true measure of gender.

I envision a future, maybe not one that I will ever witness myself, in which bodily autonomy and body liberation exist for all people…What is the world you envision and want to fight for?