Portland State Campus Rec has taken the following steps to promote Health at Every Size® principles and reduce weight stigma.
Staff Training
In the Fall 2022, Campus Rec Staff were joined by Ragen Chastain as our annual all-staff training keynote speaker. Additionally, in FY23, every Campus Rec staff will be participating in an introductory HAES® training, including practical applications of this framework within CREC, as part of their regular job training. We have also created training on related subjects such as BMI, body shaming, and gym anxiety.
New Roles and Campus Collaborations
In Fall 2021, Campus Rec Fitness and Wellbeing added a new role called “Health at Every Size® Graduate Intern”. This position provides support to Rec Center programs, services, and marketing and leads initiatives to enhance the department’s commitment to size inclusion. Additionally, this role has helped to initiate partnerships with other areas of the PSU Campus. Key collaborators include instructors teaching courses on fat acceptance and size diversity, using their expertise and students in these classes to brainstorm ideas on how to make CREC and PSU a more size inclusive place.
Marketing
Campus Rec makes a conscious effort to represent size diversity in all marketing materials to reinforce our commitment to ensuring that everyone feels welcome, respected and celebrated inside and outside of the Rec Center. As part of our dedication to creating a wider range of body visibility at Campus Rec, we are planning a Health at Every Size® marketing campaign for FY23 and are working with staff, patrons, and the PSU community to create marketing materials and photos that have more equitable representation of bodies. We strive to use empowering language that highlights the emotional and social benefits of physical activity, as opposed to aesthetics. Review our Love Your Body Resources to explore topics ranging from weight stigma and body image to intuitive eating and fatphobia in environmentalism.
Policies and Procedures
When applicable, size inclusion is considered in our policies, such as our updated dress code policy (section 2.6) that invites members to wear any clothing that makes them feel comfortable moving in their body. Campus Rec has also removed two of the three scales from our facility and added educational content in support of HAES® principles.
Programming
Portland State's Love Your Body Week — a weeklong series of body inclusive programming — and other health promotion programs such as Winter of Wellbeing highlight HAES® values. We also started an article series that will continue in the coming academic year called Fat Chat, which covers many topics ranging from the basics of Health at Every Size® to the harmful effects of weight stigma. In FY23 this series will be expanded by bringing in contributors from the PSU community to share their perspective and experiences.
Assessment
Based on feedback from multiple surveys, we have heard from both Rec Center users and non-users that there is work to be done to ensure people of all shapes and sizes feel welcome in the Rec Center. We are dedicated to doing the work to counter the negative health and wellbeing impacts of anti-fat bias, weight stigma, and diet culture. Please let us know how we can improve.
Apparel and Furniture
Based on committee and student feedback, Campus Rec made the decision to replace and upgrade our towels in order to promote size inclusion and offer a larger towel that is more comfortable and functional for bodies of all sizes. CREC has also made changes to physical spaces to bring in more size inclusive furniture options.