Grace Kallimel, a psychology intern at Wichita State’s Counseling and Testing Center, says addressing body image is ¬needed at every university.

She and fellow psychology intern, Erin Lohman, created a women-only therapy group this month concerning appearance issues — a need they identified after speaking with clients last semester.

‘Learn to Love Your Looks’ is an hour and a half long, skills-focused group aimed at tackling body image — from the origins of negative thoughts, to the development of positive reflections on one’s appearance.

“It’s changing the perspective of ‘what can I do to make my body better’ to ‘what can I do to make myself feel better about my body,” Lohman said.

The group discussion, facilitated by Kallimel and Lohman, will focus on skills-based criteria and offer reflection time for participants to process their experiences and learn to move forward. Lohman said mirror exercises, identifying appearance — internally and externally — and developing likable qualities would be used to help women develop positive thoughts.

Participants in the group were unavailable for comment due to confidentiality.

“It is a closed group where we learn to identify the origins and get to know the problem,” Kallimel said. “It’s oriented to changing a negative self talk and learning to refrain from those thoughts.”

For now, Lohman said the group is tailored only to women, but she said they would consider other opportunities, such as a men-only group, after assessing the discussions this semester.

“As a woman, I think there are a lot of pressures on women today to look a certain way,” she said. “That definitely affects self-esteem and mental health, so having a place where we can normalize those concerns is a really powerful experience.”