Training Programs
The INFACT School – International School For Food Addiction Counseling And Treatment
About:
A seven-month virtual course and training, leading to Certification as a Food Addiction Professional (FAP).
The training is offered in the fall, taught in English and designed for professionals in health, social and addiction sectors. These include addiction counselors, coaches, physical therapists, nutritionists, nurses and physicians, and all others interested in advancing their knowledge in this field.
Go to the following link to get more information on the course: https://infact.is/about/
Subjects Addressed in the Training:
Basic knowledge of substance and process addiction, specifically overeating and food abuse and dependency. Clinical intake, screening, assessing and setting up individualized treatment plans. Different counseling techniques, food and abstinence programs, trauma, prevention, education, relapse prevention, 12 step-recovery, codependency and the family, ethics and biology.
First and only recognized Certification as a Food Addiction Professional from the European Certification Board: www.ec-board.com and now in the U.S. from The Addictions Certification Board: https://certbd.org/
Subscribe here to receive The INFACT School’s newsletter: https://infact.is/2021/08/18/newsletter/
Contact the Director of Training, Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir
Email: esther@infact.is
Phone: +354-699-2676
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THE HISTORY OF TRAINING FOR FOOD ADDICTION PROFESSIONALS:
THE ACORN Food Addiction Professional Training (no longer active) was the first food addiction training for professionals. We include information here on the program to provide background into Food Addiction Professional Training. Please note that this program is no longer active.
ACORN Food Dependency & Recovery Services administered the Food Addiction Professional Training. It was a three-year experiential program focused on learning food addiction recovery from the inside-out, assisting experienced food addiction professionals, and developing ways to make a unique contribution to food addicts and the field of food addiction.
Minimum Requirements
Two residential intensives with other professional trainees each year; a weekly recovery and professional support meeting by phone; two years of stable recovery in food (one year before assisting and two years before certification); completion of a detailed history of personal powerless over food or another addiction; and thirty days of supervised assistance and completion of a professional competence demonstration.
Program History
The Food Addiction Professional Training program began when a graduate student in addiction studies (Delores Proto) was searching for an internship in food addiction. She had done a previous practicum for alcoholism and drug addiction in a hospital-based chemical dependency treatment center, but there were no such programs for food addiction. Since ACORN’s Primary Intensive© was developed to offer the experience of residential recovery from food addiction, she asked if she could do an internship using ACORN’s Primary Intensive©. As a result, a training program was developed. This program follows the philosophy of staff training at Glenbeigh Psychiatric Hospital’s residential eating disorder and food addiction treatment program. The trainees participate in the program first as clients, second as assistants to experienced staff members, and then as co-professionals while demonstrating their professional competency working to work on their own. Delores Proto, MA, underwent this program over a three-year period, and became its first certified graduate. She went on to develop her own private practice, Gladness Recovery House, and her own creative contributions to the field of food addiction.
Program Phases
There are three year-long segments to the training:
Phase One: 2 intensives; weekly support call; a year of food abstinence; work on unresolved mental, emotional and spiritual issues; complete a detailed description of powerlessness over food or another addiction.
Phase Two: 2 intensives; weekly support call; two years of stable food abstinence; 12 papers relating to food addiction theory to practice; ongoing recovery work as needed; and 30 days assisting a food addiction professional.
Phase Three: 2 intensives; weekly support call – facilitating for Living in Abstinence and newer members of training; developing and implementing a project that demonstrates unique abilities and competence as a food addiction professional.
Program Enrollment
Enrollment is on an annual basis. Some take more than a calendar year to complete the requirement of each phase of the program. There is a Living in Abstinence program for those who want to participate in the structured year-long support for their recovery during phase one without planning to necessarily complete the other two phases of the program.
Program Director
Philip Werdell, MA is the Director of the Professional Food Addiction Training Program.
Teaching Experience: Since 1972, Mr. Werdell has taught counseling, writing, group work, and other human service courses at the undergraduate and graduate level at variety of colleges and universities, including the College for Human Services, Campus-Free College, College of New Rochelle’s School of New Resources, New Hampshire College, Sarasota University, Manatee Community College, and Springfield College.
Professional Experience: Mr. Werdell has worked with over 4000 food addicts at the Glenbeigh Psychiatric Hospital of Tampa’s residential food addiction treatment program; the Rader Institute of Washington’s out-patient eating disorder program; ACORN Food Dependency Recovery Services; and in his private practice.
Publications: Mr. Werdell’s food addiction publications include Beyond Ordinary Eating Disorders: Food Addiction in the IAEDP Clinical Forum; Food Addiction Recovery: A New Model for Professional Support; The ACORN Primary Intensive Handbook; Bariatric Surgery and Food Addiction: Preoperative Considerations; and Physical Craving and Food Addiction: A Scientific Review for FAI.
Education and Honors: BA Yale University, Scholar of the House; President of Torch Honor Society; MA, Beacon College, Human Service and Higher Education; Corning Fellowship; Fulbright Fellowship; post-graduate study at Columbia University, University of South Florida; Certified Food Addiction Counselor, Glenbeigh Psychiatric Hospital of Tampa.