Changing Bodies. Changing Lives.
Impact of Weight
Research shows that 89% of overweight of obese adolescents become obese adults.
Weight issues can have significant medical effects, including many forms of cancer, diabetes, asthma, coronary heart disease, and stroke. Of course, overweight is more than just physical. Many families recognize their child’s unhappiness, negative outlook, and low self-esteem as connected to overweight or obesity.
To read more about the impact of weight, click here.
But here is the good news: Losing less than just 10% of one’s body weight can yield positive health effects. So, if your child weighs 82 kg, losing just 8 kg can have significant physical and emotional benefits.
Unlike other less successful approaches—such as fad diets or fat camps—at Wellspring we understand that the only successful path to long-term weight control is changing one’s lifestyle.
The Solution: Changing Behaviour to Change Lives
"Weight loss" regimens or diets are not successful in the long run. Wellspring is based on years of scientific research that incorporates education, skills, and training to ensure students acquire a new set of behaviours necessary for successful weight control.
Wellspring’s clinical programme utilizes cognitive-behavioural therapy, dietary therapy, and physical activity to create a new focus on and commitment to these core behaviours necessary to become successful long-term weight controllers.
Clinical Programme
Wellspring knows that long-term weight control is like an athletic challenge. A serious athlete sets goals, measures progress, and designs strategies for improvement. He or she is probably very focused on overall health in order to perform at the highest possible level. Successful weight control requires the same level of focus.
Wellspring students are trained on a set of behaviors that have been proven to produce and maintain significant weight loss. Self-monitoring, journaling, goal-setting, and contracting become habitual to students and when integrated with the nutrition and culinary training, success is attainable.
This training is led by each student’s Behavioural Coach (Masters- or Doctoral- level psychologists or social workers). Behavioural Coaches (BCs) lead the student along the journey to success while working together to overcome any barriers preventing successful long-term weight control.
In their group and individual Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions students learn to react differently to life’s challenges, improving goal-setting, frustration tolerance and stress management skills.
CBT helps overweight teens effectively manage their weight and overcome barriers to successful weight control. Students become self-regulators who can set realistic, achievable goals and stay committed to health and long-term weight control while managing the stress that we all face in daily life.
A group CBT session at Wellspring generally operates as follows:
- Summary of each student’s self-monitoring progress since the last meeting
- Discussion of a CBT/weight control topic such as coping mechanisms
- Reading Assignment
- Goal setting and behavioural contracts
Individual sessions are similar in that they review achievement but focus on the details of each student’s self-monitoring, barriers to success and how to achieve short- and long-term goals.
CBT is the key to successful long-term weight control, which leads to heightened self-esteem, improved mood and outlook, and an increase in energy level.
Wellspring’s BCs are Masters- or Doctoral-level clinicians under the direct supervision of Daniel Kirschenbaum, Ph.D. A professor at Northwestern University Medical School, Dr. Kirschenbaum is a leading expert on weight control who has produced a volume of scientific weight loss research in peer reviewed journals.
In addition to improvements in overall health and well-being, lasting results are achieved at Wellspring. Instead of spending a summer on a teen diet, in a teen fitness program, or at a large, impersonal fat camp or day camp, let Wellspring change your life.
