Presentations by Leigh Cohn, MAT, CEDS
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Leigh Cohn, M.A.T., CEDS |
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"LET'S TALK ABOUT MEN'S BODIES (and women's, too)!"
This fast-moving, multimedia talk by Leigh Cohn, coauthor of Making Weight: Men’s Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Appearance, is an eye-opener for men and women. Appealing to students from numerous disciplines, Cohn is both entertaining—with lots of TV clips and humor—and motivational. At a recent college presentation, he split 400 students into male and female groups, engaged them in lively give and take, and held them spellbound for one-and-a-half hours!
About 80% of women have dieted, and Cohn explains why an equal number of men want to lose weight or put on pounds of muscle. He addresses the objectification of men and women, the resulting problems of eating disorders (25% of cases are males), poor body image, concerns over sexuality, and low self-esteem. He also provides solutions, including media literacy, understanding the influences of heredity, healthy eating and exercise, and much more.
He has given similar talks at many colleges, including Penn State, Notre Dame, Duke, Ohio State Univerity, and the University of Calgary, as well as presentations on men’s issues at the American College Health Association, International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, the Academy of Eating Disorders, the Renfrew Foundation, and the Elisa Project. Cohn also speaks about special concerns for athletes, eating disorders prevention, and likes meeting individually with counselors and students to address their unique concerns.
He and his wife, Lindsey Hall, wrote the first book on bulimia in 1980, and their company, Gürze Books, is the world’s leading resource for information about eating disorders. He has coauthored many books on eating disorders and is Editor-in-Chief of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. For over twenty years, he has spoken at many colleges and universities, hospitals, community groups and professional conferences.
Contact Leigh Cohn at Gürze Books: (760)434-7533 or leigh@gurze.net
Awards
2008 The Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Prevention and Awareness from the National Eating Disorders Association (with Lindsey Hall Cohn)
2007 Honorary Certified Eating Disorders Specialist (CEDS) designation by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP)
2005 Award for Service from the Eating Disorders Coalition in Washington DC (with Lindsey Hall Cohn)
Listen to Doris Smeltzer's interview of Leigh Cohn about males and body issues on Voice America
Feedback from talks by Leigh Cohn
“I don’t feel that I adequately thanked you for your work in Edmonton last week. I was pleased with the two speaking engagements – they came off just as I had hoped. I admire your ability to share of yourself with your powerful messages of self-acceptance and love.”
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“Leigh opened my mind to issues I was somewhat ignorant of and I am grateful for his wealth of finely tuned information. I enjoyed his understated, self-effacing style. Wonderful keynote!”
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“Very interesting and enlightening. The ‘star’ of the General Sessions.”
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“This was a good session, we’d love to have this man speak on our campus.”
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“Presentation was excellent and enjoyable. Wonderful delivery. I am excited about trying to reach the media on our campus.”
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“Eye opening. An interesting and dynamic speaker. Funny and informative.”
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“Excellent visuals. Mr. Cohn conveyed a very important message.”
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“Dear Leigh, Thank you again for taking the time to speak with my me and my husband at Penn State. You knew exactly what we needed to hear.”
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“Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that when I was meeting with one of my students yesterday, she let me know how meaningful the discussion with you was for her and her peers. She and many of her friends also felt moved by the presentation and it really brought up a lot of unresolved, yet very repressed issues for her. A big thanks from us both.”
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“I sincerely wanted to thank you for your usual stellar presence at our meeting. Once again, Leigh, thank you for your love and generosity. People who encounter you are truly blessed!”
Leigh Cohn's Biography
Leigh Cohn, M.A.T., CEDS is the Publisher of Gürze Books, a company that has specialized in eating disorders education and publications since 1980. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of EATING DISORDERS: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention (Brunner/Routledge) and publisher of Eating Disorders Review, a clinical newsletter, and Eating Disorders Recovery Today, a newsletter for individuals in recovery and their loved-ones.
Since the early 1980’s, he has spoken about eating disorders at colleges and universities, hospitals, to community groups, and at professional conferences for the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, Academy of Eating Disorders, American College Health Association, Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, and The Elisa Project, among others. He has also spoken at such universities as Notre Dame, Duke, Penn State, Ohio State University, Shippensburg University, Georgia State University, Iowa State University, the University of Calgary, University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, California State University at Northridge, Universtiy of Georgia, and others.
The co-author of several books (see list), he is best known for Making Weight and his work on men’s issues, as well as BULIMIA: A Guide to Recovery, the first publication on bulimia, which he co-authored with his wife, Lindsey Hall, and which has sold more than 150,000 copies. This book, and their classic, Self-Esteem Tools for Recovery, and others have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, French, and Czech. He has also co-edited clinical books including Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders and Self Harm and Eating Disorders.
Gürze Books, which is owned by Leigh and Lindsey, has released such important titles as Eating in the Light of the Moon (Johnston), Father Hunger and Body Wars (Maine), The Rules of “Normal Eating” (Koenig), The Body Betrayed (Zerbe) and many others. Their Eating Disorders Resource Catalogue is the most widely-used resource in the eating disorders field and their website, www.bulimia.com is one of the most highly regarded on the web.
Leigh is also a past president of Publishers Marketing Association (PMA), a non-profit trade association of 3500 publishing companies throughout the United States. An authority on publishing, he has been a featured speaker at conferences in New York, Alaska, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Arizona, and London.
In 2008, the National Eating Disorders Association presented Leigh and Lindsey with the Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Prevention and Awareness. In 2007, Leigh was given an honorary Certified Eating Disorders Specialist designation by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals; and in 2005, Leigh and Lindsey received an Award for Service by the Eating Disorders Coalition in Washington DC; and, Leigh was also the subject of a feature story on WGN-News, “The Superstation,” which was televised nationally.
Partial List of Publications co-authored by Leigh Cohn
BOOKS
2004 Self-Harm and Eating Disorders (with John Levitt, Ph.D. and Randy Sansone, M.D.)
2001 Cómo entender y superar la bulimia (with Lindsey Hall)
[Spanish edition of Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery]
2000 Making Weight: Healing Men’s Conflicts with Food, Weight & Shape (with Arnold Andersen, M.D. and Thomas Holbrook, M.D.)
1999 Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery – Fifth Edition (with Lindsey Hall)
also in Italian, Hungarian, and Czech
1999 Eating Disorders: A Reference Sourcebook (with Ray Lemberg, Ph.D.)
1996 Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders (with Mark Schwartz, Sc.D.)
1990 Self Esteem: Tools for Recovery (with Lindsey Hall)
also in Japanese, French, and Chinese
1988 Dear Kids of Alcoholics (with Lindsey Hall)
1987 Recoveries: True Stories of People Who Have Overcome Addictions and Compulsions (with Lindsey Hall)
1980 Eat Without Fear (with Lindsey Hall)
[The first of 3 booklets which were the first publications ever written on bulimia.]
PERIODICALS
Editor-in-Chief
Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention (Taylor & Francis) (since 1993)
Publisher
Eating Disorders Review (clinical newsletter; since 1995)
Eating Disorders Recovery Today (lay newsletter since 2002)
Health at Every Size journal (2003-5)