My Why: Creating Spaces for Healing & Hope
At the heart of Embrace Your Reflection is a simple belief: everyone deserves the chance to feel seen, valued, and capable of thriving.
My own lived experience with an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, and sexual assault has shaped me into the advocate I am today. I know the darkness of shame, self-doubt, and silence, and I also know the power of breaking free, choosing healing, and embracing self-love. These battles have made me stronger, more resilient, and deeply committed to raising awareness so that others know they are never alone.
Because of that, I am passionate about helping others through eating disorder recovery, building body image positivity, nurturing self-acceptance, and boosting self-esteem. These are the tools I wish I had earlier in life, and they are the foundation of the safe, empowering spaces I now create for others.
As an educator, I have also spent much of my career working with at-risk youth who have experienced trauma. I’ve seen firsthand the strength and potential that emerges when young people are given the tools, encouragement, and belief they need. Too often misunderstood, these students deserve opportunities to succeed and spaces where their voices matter.
Embrace Your Reflection was born from these truths: my lived experience as a survivor, my passion for healing and awareness, and my work as an educator. Today, through keynotes, workshops, and coaching for individuals and communities, I am committed to raising awareness, breaking stigma, and creating spaces where healing, resilience, and meaningful connection can take root.
This is my why. To use my story, my voice, and my experience to light the way for others, helping people see their worth, believe in their future, and embrace the beauty within themselves.
Beyond The Mirror: Positive Body Image Workshop
Objective
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
What To Expect
Beyond the Mirror is an interactive workshop that challenges body dysmorphia mindsets while promoting positive body image and self-esteem. Through guided discussions, hands-on activities, and self-reflection, participants learn to recognize and counter negative thought patterns, practice positive self-talk, and replace harmful behaviors with healthier, empowering strategies.
This workshop is designed for young adults and adults in the community and can also be adapted for high school settings to meet the needs of students in the classroom.
Beyond the Mirror is about more than changing thoughts. It is about shifting from self-criticism to self-compassion and fostering a mindset rooted in self-love, acceptance, and confidence. It is time to break down the negativity and reclaim the kindness we so readily give to
others, for ourselves.
Because you are worthy.
You always have been.
What To Expect
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
What To Expect
In a safe, supportive space,
participants will:
Practice restorative yoga
(included when space and facilitation allow) to reconnect with their bodies in a
safe, healing way
Engage in guided self-reflective activities to explore emotions, triggers, and
coping strategies
Develop practical tools for nurturing body respect and building positive self-image
Take part in group discussions led by facilitators with both lived experience and
professional knowledge
Connect in small group conversations that encourage sharing, listening, and
peer support
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
Bring Beyond the Mirror to your school, organization, or community group and create a safe, supportive space for body image positivity and self-acceptance.
Schools, Organizations, and Groups
Shine From Within: Positive Self-Esteem Workshop
Objective
Bring Shine From Within to Your School or Child/Youth Program
What To Expect
The Shine From Within workshop is designed for elementary and middle years students to build confidence, strengthen positive self-talk, and celebrate their individuality. Through guided activities and meaningful reflection, students learn to value their bodies for what they can do, embrace both strengths and weaknesses, and recognize that mistakes are part of growth. The objective is to foster lasting self-esteem, body respect, kindness, gratitude, and resilience.
What To Expect
Bring Shine From Within to Your School or Child/Youth Program
What To Expect
This workshop creates a safe, supportive space where participants:
Explore what it means to “shine from within” through kindness, bravery,
and creativity
Practice positive self-talk and learn how words shape confidence and self-worth
Build resilience by celebrating strengths while accepting that no one is perfect
Experience the power of giving and receiving kindness, including self-kindness
Connect with others by recognizing both similarities and differences
Create a Reflection Kindness keepsake, a Polaroid surrounded by positive affirmations, as a lasting reminder of their self-worth and inner shine
Through fun activities, reflective discussions, and confidence-building exercises, students leave the workshop feeling empowered, supported, and ready to shine from within.
Bring Shine From Within to Your School or Child/Youth Program
Bring Shine From Within to Your School or Child/Youth Program
Bring Shine From Within to Your School or Child/Youth Program
Help children and youth in your school, community program, or group home build confidence, resilience, and self-worth
in a way that lasts.
Book the Shine From Within workshop today and give your students the tools to shine from the inside out.
Through Our Eyes: An Inside Perspective on Eating Disorders
Objective
Bring Through Our Eyes to Your Event
What To Expect
Through Our Eyes is a keynote that fosters empathy and deepens understanding by offering an intimate, unfiltered look into the mindset of someone living with an eating disorder. Together, we explore the complexities of disordered eating, including common triggers, masking rituals, the impact of diet culture, trauma, and perfectionism, and the internal battle between
restriction and recovery.
Most importantly, we discuss tangible coping mechanisms and strategies that have genuinely helped those of us navigating
this journey.
This keynote is not only about awareness. It is about connection, breaking stigma, and reminding us that recovery is not always linear, but it is possible. There is a way
to live in the light instead
of the darkness.
What To Expect
Bring Through Our Eyes to Your Event
What To Expect
Built on my lived experience, this keynote combines storytelling with practical guidance so attendees leave informed, compassionate, and ready to help.
You will gain:
Knowledge and awareness: a clearer understanding of the mental, emotional, and physical realities of eating disorders, plus insight into the hidden struggles behind behaviors
Tools to offer real support: how to approach and communicate with someone who is struggling, what not to say and why certain phrases can harm, and how to recognize early warning signs and intervention strategies
Confidence to support yourself and others: participants leave with coping mechanisms that foster meaningful support for those impacted by eating disorders, and perhaps for themselves
Guided discussion and applied learning: opportunities for reflection, Q&A, and processing key takeaways with tangible, actionable tools you can put into practice right away
Bring Through Our Eyes to Your Event
Bring Through Our Eyes to Your Event
Bring Through Our Eyes to Your Event
Through Our Eyes is a keynote presentation committed to breaking the stigma, providing real insight, and creating a supportive space for healing and understanding.
If you want to educate, inspire, or gain the tools to support yourself or someone else, Through Our Eyes is here to help.
Walk away with…
More knowledge about the realities of eating disorders
A better understanding of how to truly help someone struggling
Practical tools and real strategies to make a difference
Confidence in your ability to offer meaningful support
Who can benefit
This keynote is designed for anyone wanting to better understand eating disorders, including educators, healthcare providers, youth workers, families, and those directly impacted.
Fostering Resilience: Approaches to Working with Youth
Objective
Bring Fostering Resilience to Your Event
What To Expect
Fostering Resilience: Informed Approaches to Working with Youth equips educators, mentors, and youth workers with practical strategies to support young people impacted by trauma, abuse, and mental health challenges. Too often these students are misunderstood as “problem kids,” when in reality they need connection, compassion, and alternative
pathways to thrive.
Drawing on my experience as both an educator and a survivor, this keynote intertwines professional insight with my own lived experience of trauma and healing. Participants will not only hear the stories of students I have worked with, but also personal reflections that highlight the importance of empathy, perseverance, and hope. Together, we look at how to avoid common pitfalls, what to emphasize when building trust, and how to create safe, empowering environments that promote healing, confidence, and growth.
Every young person deserves to be seen, believed in, and given the chance to thrive.
What To Expect
Bring Fostering Resilience to Your Event
What To Expect
This keynote provides both practical strategies and inspiration for those working with vulnerable youth.
You will gain:
A deeper understanding of at-risk youth: insight into the daily realities, hidden struggles, and determination of young people often mislabeled as “bad kids"
Trauma-informed strategies: how to create safe classroom and program environments that balance compassion with
high expectations
Relationship-first approaches: why trust and belonging must come before academics, and how to build authentic connections that spark success
Practical tools for learning and behavior: flexible classroom strategies, credit recovery models, individualized supports, and interventions that help
students succeed
Awareness of educator well-being: recognizing the emotional toll of this work and strategies to protect your own mental health while supporting others
Hope and inspiration: stories of healing and strength, drawn from both my own journey and the resilience of my students, that show how belief, consistency, and compassion can transform lives
Bring Fostering Resilience to Your Event
Bring Fostering Resilience to Your Event
Bring Fostering Resilience to Your Event
This keynote is designed for educators, mentors, youth workers, and professionals who want to better understand and support individuals impacted by trauma and
mental health challenges.
Walk away with…
Participants will walk away with knowledge, strategies, and inspiration to see beyond behavior, respond with empathy, and nurture strength, healing, and confidence
in the people they serve.
Reflections Coaching: One-On-One & Small Group
Objective
Book a Coaching Session
What To Expect
Reflections Coaching is designed to meet you where you are. With 20 years of lived experience in eating disorder recovery and body dysmorphia, as well as a background in teaching and supporting at-risk youth, I bring both compassion and real-world insight to each session.
What To Expect
Book a Coaching Session
What To Expect
Coaching may be for you if you are:
Navigating eating disorder recovery, body dysmorphia, or trauma
Building body image positivity, self-acceptance, and self-esteem
An educator, caregiver, or professional seeking guidance to better support youth or individuals impacted by trauma and
eating disorders
Book a Coaching Session
Book a Coaching Session
Book a Coaching Session
Whether one-on-one or in a small group, sessions provide a safe space for reflection, growth, and meaningful connection. Together, we’ll focus on practical tools, awareness, and encouragement to help you move forward with confidence and hope.
You Are Not Alone
Healing and recovery are possible.
Let’s begin the next chapter together.
Client Testimony
Attending the Embrace Your Reflection workshop was a truly transformative experience. From the moment we began, Jody, our facilitator, created a warm and welcoming space where everyone felt seen, valued, and encouraged. Her openness and exceptional communication made it easy to connect, reflect, and grow.
The workshop itself was a powerful journey of self-discovery and self-love. Through positive self-talk exercises, a “Who Am I” reflection, and a moving mirror activity, I gained a deeper appreciation for myself. The yoga session and cold plunge were both invigorating and grounding, while the compliment walk fostered connection and joy.
By the end of the workshop, I felt rejuvenated, uplifted, and less alone. It was a beautiful reminder of the power of self-acceptance and community. I highly recommend Embrace Your Reflection to anyone looking for a meaningful and empowering experience!
- Jenna
Beyond The Mirror: Positive Body Image Workshop
About the Book
She’s a Tale in My Story is a raw and powerful memoir by Jody Unrau, educator, coach, and survivor, who peels back the layers of perfectionism to reveal the truth behind the smile. What unfolds is a deeply personal account of trauma, resilience, and the fight to reclaim identity and self-worth in a world that too often silences pain.
This book takes readers beyond stereotypes of eating disorders and into the daily realities of recovery, including the thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs that linger long after treatment. Jody also bravely explores the aftermath of sexual assault, the weight of shame, and the invisible ways trauma shapes relationships and self-perception.
Through poetic reflection and fierce honesty, she sheds light on what it means to carry invisible wounds and how we begin to heal them. She’s a Tale in My Story is not just a memoir but a mirror for anyone who has ever felt unseen or not enough, and a reminder that healing is possible even when the path is messy.
📖 Available now on Amazon.
What Readers Are Saying:
Catherine D ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Order this book! Jody’s story is more than enduring sexual assault and living with an eating disorder… It is a story about strength, resilience, growth, healing, family, self-love and so much more. The journey that I was taken on reading the pages had me crying, laughing, and absolutely awestruck. The words are perfect brutal honesty and so beautifully written. I literally couldn’t put it down!”
Kim Hartwig ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This book shattered me in the best way. Raw, honest, and deeply emotional, it dives into the pain of abuse and eating disorders with a voice that’s both brutal and beautiful. Jody has written something that doesn’t just tell a story, it heals.”
Speaking, Workshops, and Coaching Rates
Keynotes
Reflections Coaching
Workshops
Through Our Eyes: Inside Perspective on Eating Disorders
Rate: $500
60 minutes
Fostering Resilience: Informed Approaches to Working with Youth
Rate: $500
60 minutes
Each keynote includes time for Q&A and discussion, and can be adapted to your schedule and audience needs at no additional cost.
Workshops
Reflections Coaching
Workshops
Beyond the Mirror:
Positive Body Image
Rate: $200
60 minutes
An interactive session for high school students, youth, or professional groups focused on building body image positivity, self-acceptance, and practical strategies for growth.
Shine From Within:
Positive Self-Esteem
Rate: $200
60 minutes
Designed for elementary and middle years students, as well as youth programs, to practice positive self-talk, body respect, and confidence through group connection and activities.
Reflections Coaching
Reflections Coaching
Reflections Coaching
$60 per one-on-one session
60 minutes
$40 per person for
small groups
2–5 participants, 60 minutes
Coaching sessions provide a safe space for reflection, growth, and meaningful connection.
Whether one-on-one or in a small group, we focus on practical tools, awareness, and encouragement to help you move forward with
confidence and hope.
Additional Options
Reflections Coaching
Reflections Coaching
Custom packages and extended sessions are available upon request. Half-day and full-day rates can be arranged for conferences, professional development days, or multiple workshops in a single booking.
I am also open to discussing budget considerations to ensure these offerings
remain accessible for
schools, organizations,
and communities.
be you, shine bright
Let's Connect!
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