- Mental Health
- Other Addictions
What brought you to the Moments of Change Conference?
I come every year. This is one of the best conferences. It’s old home school week for us. In this area, I know a lot of different people working in mental health, substance abuse and eating disorders. Coming here is just being with my friends.
How did you come to working in this industry and can you share the experiences you’ve had?
My master’s degree is in clinical psychology. I started as a therapist working at a treatment program and got to really know the substance abuse community through working there for 11 years. From there, I branched out and worked with trauma and eating disorders and duel diagnosis issues. Then I met another friend from the lunch for eating disorders awareness, then became very involved with them. I’m on the board of directors and we do a lot of presentations that bring forward the information about the eating disorder community. Information about what they can do to treat effectively and to make sure they have the connections that they need in the substance abuse world to be able to bring that forward into the eating disorder community.
Can you give an example?
A lot of treatment centers believe that they are doing eating disorder treatment by attaching a one-on-one to watch somebody after they’ve eaten a meal at their facility. So what we’re doing is teaching them that that is not effective treatment and there are a lot of other ways that are around eating disorders. Eating disorders has to do with body, self-esteem, it has to do with so many other vast areas other than whether they are just being watched after a meal. So what I bring to the table for the alliance is my experience in the substance abuse community and bringing that together so that the people in the substance abuse world can learn that there are other places that they can send somebody that will have affective treatment for the eating disorder clientele.
How do you raise awareness that this is accessible to people who need help?
The alliance works very hard to make sure that all of our services are free of charge. So we go into the community and teach at doctors’ offices, dentist offices, treatment centers. We will do a lunch and learn program to bring all of that information into them so they can begin to understand eating disorders and how it’s vastly different from substance abuse treatment.
What impact have you seen with this education process?
As of a couple of months ago we have actually spoken to over 250 thousand people in the 15 years we have been open. We will celebrate our 15 year anniversary in a couple weeks by throwing a ball. We are calling it “Removing the Mask After 15 Years”.
How has working in this industry impacted you and what hope can you give someone who has heard your story?
That’s a huge question for me because so many different areas are brought up for me. From a personal standpoint for my professional business now I license and accredit treatment centers for eating disorders, substance abuse and mental health. So what I get to do now (and I consider it an honor) is although I think I did a lot of really good work in working with people one on one as a therapist, now I’m able to help impact the whole community by helping to build treatment centers that are ethical and that know what they’re doing and that are the gold standard. So now I am impacting a larger amount of people in each job that I take on. There is nothing that is more satisfying than receiving a message from a former client that will say how much their lives have changed in the last few years. That they are now getting married or having a child and they never thought they were going to be healthy enough to be able to do so. Now they’ve been able to find their health and find their recovery and are moving towards the life they always wanted. That is a blessing on a daily basis.
What are some words of encouragement? How should they reach out or who should they contact? What’s the first step?
The first step is to just call the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. By calling or looking up www.allianceforeatingdisordersawareness.com they will be able to find the link and they will work very closely to help them find the treatment that will be appropriate for them within their financial structure or within their insurance and their specific needs. There are a lot of amazing treatment centers out there that offer scholarships. There are many different ways of receiving treatment. If you have a loved one that is suffering or you yourself are suffering, reach out. There is support for everyone involved.
You CAN recover from an eating disorder!