Relationship with Food and Body
My professional work in eating disorder recovery began in 2014, with my work at The Lotus Collaborative, an Eating Disorder Recovery Center here in Santa Cruz, CA. The knowledge and training I gained leaves me feeling confident and comfortable in exploring all the complexities that exist within eating disorders, disordered eating and recovery. I approach the recovery path from three lenses: soul, skills and social justice.
In order for a person to recover from an eating disorder, the whole person needs to be seen and supported.
The soul lens means seeing a person, not an eating disorder; seeing a person's heart, soul, mind, body and spirit.
I focus on connecting with a person and supporting them to be curious about themselves and the parts of them that are their eating disorder. Building a relationship of curiosity between self and these parts opens up a path toward recovery and healing.
An eating disorder lies heavily in a variety of behaviors that range from person to person. The skills lens means knowing about all the behaviors, paying attention to them, and finding the tools to navigate toward recovery, namely freedom from the stress and pain they cause. Eating disorder behaviors are a human's best attempt to cope with life. Finding a new set of coping skills that are more sustainable leaves a person feeling empowered and free, something that an eating disorder can't provide.
When it comes to social justice, I feel called to make sure that clients I sit with are able to see how diet culture, media, healthcare systems, and more create and perpetuate weight stigma and oppression. Without this knowledge, people tend toward blaming and shaming themselves for not being thin enough, not “healthy” enough, just plain not good enough. This takes a person further away from their voice, their truth and their power. I strive to continue my education on privilege and oppressive systems in order to create safer spaces and communities for all human beings.