“The moments where recovery feels the most painful are often the ones you are making the most progress, because it indicates you are actively challenging your demons. Keep on pushing forwards even when the eating disorder voice screams at you.
Things tend to scream when dying.”
Amalie Lee, “Redefining Healthy”
Hello dear one. If you are here it means you are taking a step toward your true self, and what we all at the Carolyn Costin Institute for Eating Disorder Recovery- your healthy self. You have one, you are one, and it is stronger than the grippy eating disorder self that feels like it is you, swallows your life and clouds your true, healthy self from driving the choices and actions in your life.
By choosing to take this journey you not only take a step towards self love, but you carve a new path for others who struggle with such a devastating disease to also return to a life led by self love. This path back to wholeness is not easy, you will be tested. But we have tools for the challenge ahead and a well of support for you until you remember how unconditionally supported and loved you are simply for breathing here, being here.
There is one thing to know as you bravely enter~
BEING FULLY RECOVERED IS POSSIBLE
I know this personally. You are not here to live a life of coping skills and white knuckle through your days, barely loving your body, still in fear of food, avoiding the dreams in your heart and the relationships you desire. You can live a life where your relationship with food, your body and others in your life reflect health, balance, healthy boundaries, wisdom and self love.
This is your birthright.
—>>>
PSA
- Eating disorders are the most challenging mental illness/disease to treat with anorexia having the highest mortality rate of all mental illness.
- An estimated 10,200 deaths occur every year directly from eating disorders—equating to one death every 52 minutes.
- They are the third most common chronic illness among adolescent females.
- Eating disorder medical claims rose 65% as a percentage of all medical claims over a recent 5-year tracking period.
- During this claims-tracking period, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) saw a 305% spike, while Binge Eating Disorder rose 81%, and Anorexia claims increased 73%.
- Despite the severity of these conditions, fewer than 27% of those affected receive treatment.
Eating disorders are a disease of the westernized, “mainstream” over culture. Without the damaging messages in our media everywhere we turn, mostly targeting women’s bodies and emotions, eating disorders would not exist at the rate that they do –or at all. The great work of the person with an eating disorder is to recognize this in a way that ignites a fire in them to change -and turn toward what is stronger within them than the over culture’s toxicity and perpetual war against the wisdom and beauty of the body- in all of its unique shapes, sizes and powerful expressions.
You can take the bottle out of the hand of the alcoholic but you cannot take food away from the one with an eating disorder. This challenge puts them directly on a path of transformation and personal empowerment that few others will bravely encounter. As high and rocky as that mountain can be, the rewards, and the view of your life, at the top are profound- think pink starbursts all around.
Do you feel you have an eating disorder, or someone you love has an eating disorder? Please do not go off the diagnostic criterial alone. EDs can hide in various ways, one being exercise addiction, and often come as a blend rather than one box of ED traits. Please visit NEDA for further information or buy Carolyn Costin’s books, which can assist you and your family greatly if you don’t have the funds or ability to reach out for help for various other reasons.
COACHING with ME
I was trained as a holistic eating disorder coach at the Carolyn Costin Institute (CCI). Carolyn is the mama bear of holistic eating disorder recovery. She has been working with individuals and groups, teaching and training, for over 40 years. She is well respected, and in many therapeutic spaces, considered the gold standard of holistic eating disorder recovery support.
Coaching is NOT therapy….
As an eating disorder recovery coach I am here to help you with recovery goals, food and meal plan challenges and lend support for the day to day struggles that will arise as you recover. Coaches help meet the emotional, physical and psychological barriers to recovery with in the moment practices and tools that can help you access what we call the healthy self in eating disorder recovery.
As a coach I work with your care team. I will refer you back to your therapists, dietitians and medical team for the deeper emotional and psychological aspects underneath the eating disorder, and physical and nutritional needs of the body. Working in collaboration helps us set goals that are more personalized, flexible, holistic and successful. A holistic group effort also allows the entire care team to feel more resourced to support such a challenged population.
Coaching is unique as I am able to accompany you during meal times, buy new clothes if necessary, prepare for gatherings, or escort you to gatherings and events, and be available for day to day text or phone communication in a way that therapists and medical providers typically don’t offer. It’s in these real time challenges that coaching can greatly accelerate the recovery process.
Working with someone who is fully recovered has been reported, by those who have recovered, to be one of the most supportive aspects of their recovery.
IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CARE TEAM- I am willing to take individuals on a case by case basis as long as they are at a point in their recovery where they are no longer at high risk for relapse, don’t need medical supervision, dietary support beyond following a meal plan, and have some therapeutic tools to self manage the emotions that arise. There will be a list of questions, and an interview, to discern if someone is ready for this more independent coaching step.
Thank you so much for supporting yourself (and your clients) with this beneficial coaching layer on the path to wholeness and being fully recovered. I am honored to turn what wounded me so deeply into medicine for myself and others.
INDIVIDUAL COACHING
- Hour long, one on one, support sessions (recurrence dependent on the individual) working with goals, assignments and challenges unique to individual needs. We will be referencing “8 Keys to Recovery From an Eating Disorder” (book and workbook) as a mandatory part of our sessions and the recovery process. It is highly recommended to get all of Carolyn Costin’s books to support your journey.
- Meal time support, either out at restaurants, in home, at a chosen location- like a park for a picnic. This can also include grocery shopping for ingredients to cook. The possibilities are vast and will be determined by where you are in your recovery. These sessions are where you gain incredible traction in recovery. YOU CANNOT HEAL AN EATING DISORDER WITHOUT HEALING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD.
- Assistance to events where there may be triggering stimulus.
- Invitations to group coaching circles when ready.
- Text, phone and email support in between our sessions. We will set proper boundaries and expectations for this.
- My lived experience, wisdom and dedication to your recovery within my scope of practice and potential.
GROUP COACHING
TBD.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
TBD- I am opening up right now to speak at local high schools, middle schools and teen organizations.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
In late 2011, a many decades long battle with bulimia nervosa, severe exercise addiction, drugs, alcohol and the mental/emotional/physical comorbidities that accompany this disease, almost took my life. I had a profound awakening that stopped the overt behaviors (bingeing, purging, restricting) in a matter of one prayer I said from the middle of a Manhattan alley. It was a big miracle.
My journey since that day in 2011 has been a slow and steady unraveling of the traumas and addiction patterns, to access what was living under that rubble, through following a spiritual path that led me through many healing initiations and profound intrapersonal learning. I never received the type of care Carolyn offers. I have been in mainstream residential and outpatient treatment that did lend some personal insights, but did not touch what I have learned on my own path and now with Carolyn.
Although I have been fully recovered for many years from the overt behaviors, and have a deep well of wisdom and lived experienced within me, I needed a solid framework, precise language and the tools of the trade that are specific to this challenged population in order to provide the absolute best care while feeling supported myself. I have served hundreds of individuals (mostly women) on their path back to wholeness, but never did I work with eating disorders (although I was indirectly helping). Now is the time.
I share a bit of my story as it is important to know who you are working with. As I bring forth what I learned with Carolyn, I also bring the wisdom of my unique path. I do not project my beliefs onto anyone as I believe in fostering the individual in what serves them best, and in finding their own relationship with Love. AND- without following a devoted spiritual path as I have, I may not be alive to share this with you. So, I may invite you to pray over your food and give thanks to the life force that freely feeds us for being here on Earth in a perfect body for our journey. The choice is always yours.
I am happy to answer personal questions, hear your concerns and fears, and share my story as long as it is supportive to the situation at hand and the person in front of me. (You can read more in this website).
To begin your journey email: Shira@theoriginalmedicine.com
