How to Find Health at Every Size (HAES) Affirming Healthcare

I regularly hear from clients that they are anxious, avoidant, or even scared of attending doctor’s appointments. These concerns are fueled by personal and societal experiences with weight stigma, a stressor that is prevalent everywhere for folks not living in straight-sized bodies, but particularly rampant in healthcare. Medical care providers “hold strong negative attitudes and stereotypes about people with ob*sity” and these attitudes affect the type of treatment and care large-bodied individuals receive.

However, as the Health at Every Size (HAES) framework grows more traction, more and more healthcare providers are confronting the weight stigma prevalent in their practices and making efforts to end weight bias and fatphobia at the doctor’s office. The tricky part is finding these providers, and in the absence of having access to an explicitly HAES-aligned provider, finding ways to advocate for this type of care when establishing yourself as a patient at a new practice. Here are three ways to get the kind of care you deserve:

1. Utilize the Association for Size Diversity and Health professionals directory and HAES pledged community to find aligned providers. Both directories are a great way to find providers who are explicitly dedicated to providing HAES-informed care and can save you lots of energy-draining self-advocacy work down the road. Bonus: the HAES pledged community allows you to filter by type of provider, so you can find a HAES-aligned doctor, dentist, yoga teacher, *insert literally any other type of service provider here.*

2. Clarify the type of care you will receive when you make an appointment. Oftentimes when we are looking for a new primary care physician, our greatest concern is how quickly we can establish care and whether or not they take our insurance. While timeliness and coverage are essential, I encourage folks to also ask about the philosophies of the practice when calling to establish care. Questions such as the following can go a long way in making sure that you’re not setting up an appointment with someone who is going to reinforce weight stigma:

   • Is the doctor I will be seeing a HAES-aligned clinician?

     • If not, are they HAES-informed and willing to take that approach with patients who request it?

       • If yes, can I explicitly make that request now and have it noted for my initial appointment?

   • What steps does this practice take to ensure non-weight-stigmatizing care for all its patients?

   • How does your practice navigate patient requests to not be weighed at their appointments?

   • What are my options if I do not feel comfortable with the provider I see at my initial appointment?

1. Expand your search area. I happen to live in a HAES desert. (Truly, I struggle to find aligned providers for myself, nevermind feeling confident about referral options for my clients!) If this is also the case for you, you may have to be willing to travel a bit further outside of your usual radius to establish care with a more aligned provider. The good news is, one of the silver linings of the Covid-19 pandemic is an increased prevalence of telehealth options for diagnosis and symptom management, and overall health maintenance (depending, of course, on the specifics of your healthcare needs). If your health concerns align with your provider’s telehealth treatment guidelines, you may be able to minimize your in-person trips to a far away provider and utilize telehealth for maintenance appointments. (Added bonus: no weigh-ins at telehealth appointments!)

Have you struggled to find weight-inclusive healthcare in your area? I want to hear about your frustrations - shoot me an email at brianna@bodygrace.org and rant away.