Meet Beth

Transforming Overeating

Beth Rontal, LICSW

In my former life, as a costume designer for the theater, I witnessed firsthand during costume fittings, how physically uncomfortable many actors felt about their bodies and how their assumptions about how they looked negatively affected them and inhibited their work.

As a personal image consultant, I continued to see people obsessed over tiny “flaws” as if looking through a magnifying glass rather than into a mirror. I discovered that those who couldn’t express their best selves through the techniques I was teaching had deeper problems than I was equipped to help.

As a witness to the needless suffering of my clients I recognized a need to have a safe space for people to get to the root of the deeper issues about food, weight and body image. Since 2000, I’ve been helping people create healthier relationships with food and their bodies; lso that they are free to get in touch with and reignite their innate creativity. If this is what you want to do, please call me.

Transforming Early Mother Loss

My mother died when I was 17 just at the time I was supposed to be “launched” into adult life, break away from the family and eventually get to know her as an adult. Her illness and death made that impossible — and were the most defining experiences of my life, whether I knew it or not. If you asked me to tell the story of my life at any time before becoming a mother, it would have sounded like a broken record getting caught on the following refrain; my mother died when I was seventeen.

No matter my age, the 17-year-old-me was locked inside, afraid that everything I loved could disappear at any moment despite having a loving husband and wonderful child. The result was sometimes crippling anxiety, irritability and a driven need to work long hours to avoid the grief and loss that often encased me like a shroud. It was good therapy and involvement in the arts that allowed my 17-year-old self to recognize that she didn’t have be stuck in the past but could live fully in the present, without the anxiety and irritability – with joy and pleasure as a more constant companion.

No matter your age or how long ago your mother died, it’s possible to transform your relationship with your mother into one that nourishes your spirit. Please contact me if you’d like to go on this journey.

My credentials …

Education

Masters of Social Work, Simmons College School of Social Work. Received the Iris McRae Award for Creative Contribution to the Field of Social Work from Simmons Graduate School of Social Work for developing and leading the group on body image and self-esteem called, “Making Peace with Beauty,” offered at Tufts New England Medical Center

Training Modalities

Work Experience

  • Since 2000, providing out-patient and in-patient therapy to people struggling with weight loss, including those who have had bariatric surgery
  • 11 years of clinical supervision at a mental health clinic.
  • In Home Therapy, Dual Diagnosis Residential Treatment
  • Employee Assistance Program

Presenter

  • Transforming Overeating with Tapas Acupressure Technique; MEDA Conference, ACEP Conference, NASW Symposium
  • Diagnosis and Treatment of Trauma for Renal Dialysis Patients for New England Area Renal Social Workers annual conference
  • A sample of other trainings provided: Forgiveness; is it necessary for healing?, Binge Eating, Body Image and Discrimination, Weight Loss That Lasts Using The Tapas Acupressure Technique, The Nuts and Bolts of Mindfulness and Meditation

Other Interests

  • 15 years of experience in theater, film, dance and print as a costume designer and cabaret artist.