For one of my two public health courses I am taking this summer through UVM (PH 6060 - Social & Behavioural Public Health), I was required to complete & deliver a presentation on a public health intervention related to a topic I proposed.
The topic I proposed was obesity, and the public health intervention I propose is a trauma-informed care plan for treating obese patients, which incorporates medication intervention (namely GLP-1 meds, including Ozempic and Mounjaro) as well as therapy, given that many obese people are also survivors of sexual abuse and/or other severe psychological trauma, often as a child or young adult. This presentation is, as a result, geared towards health care providers, health educators, as well as parents or caregivers for obese patients.
Admittedly, as someone who does have a speech impediment, I’ve never been the most keen on giving oral presentations (although given I was once in a job in the military that required it of me on the regular, I have become, by conditioning, at least somewhat competent at it) and admittedly, this is a topic that hits very close to home, so I had to go through several runs in order to provide a (hopefully halfway decent) version of the presentation. I’m just glad that I wasn’t required to give this on camera or in person, so I at least only had to do a presentation with an audio recording, meaning you won’t see my face for this, but you will get to hear my voice.
So, I hope that for anyone who watches it (and it’s 5m25s in length, so not too long), is able to gain something from it.1
On that note, that’s a full lid, on this day, 14 June 2025, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army.
For anyone interested in the references I used in creating this presentation, those are as follows (in AMA reference format, given the class requirement):
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Adverse Childhood Experiences. Updated 9 November 2021. Accessed 8 June 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html
2. Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, et al. Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. Am J Prev Med. 1998;14(4):245–258.
3. Khazan O. The hidden obesity epidemic among sexual abuse survivors. The Atlantic. Published 15 December 2015. Accessed 8 June 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/sexual-abuse-victims-obesity/420186/
4. McArdle M. WeightWatchers is going under. Drugs aren’t its only problem. Washington Post. Published 15 May 2025. Accessed 8 June 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/16/weight-watchers-bankruptcy-drugs/
5. Glanz K, Rimer BK, Viswanath K. Health Behavior: Theory, Research, and Practice. 5th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2015.
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