Eating Disorder blog about eating disorder treatment, food, body, movement, and mental health. By Opal: Food + Body Wisdom.
How One Clinician’s Journey on a Silent Mindfulness Retreat Impacted her Work in Eating Disorder Treatment 2014 was a trying year; through the turmoil, I felt the fast momentum of life and knew I could not stop it. I noticed my inability to handle personal struggles was impacting my work Read more
I cried (tears of joy) the first time I went to The Pantry. This beautifully simple and cozy kitchen, tucked behind the famed Seattle pizza restaurant, Delancey, was a stark contrast and much needed breath of fresh air from the kitchen environment at Opal where I spend most of my Read more
[column width=”1/1″ last=”true” title=”” title_type=”single” animation=”none” implicit=”true”] Last spring Lexi and Kara decided they needed some basketball in their lives and recruited Opal staff members to play in a women’s league. I was immediately enthused to play on the Opal team, the Opal Owls. I always loved basketball, however I Read more
[column width=”1/1″ last=”true” title=”” title_type=”single” animation=”none” implicit=”true”] When I was six or seven, I got my first diary. It had pink lined pages and a picture of Hello Kitty on the front. I still remember how eager I was to start putting things down in that book- I had just Read more
The purpose of the Health At Every Size Interview (HAES) Practitioner Spotlight is to highlight individuals who are practicing Health At Every Size in their personal and professional lives. I hope these spotlights will help you learn more about how individuals come to their own body acceptance process and therefore change Read more
An address to the Puget Sound IAEDP Community at the Winter Celebration of Life December 6, 2014 Amae “In graduate school, I took a philosophy course where we explored Elisabeth Young-Bruehl and Faith Bethelard’s book titled “Cherishment: A Psychology of the Heart.” It has always stuck with me. Perhaps because Read more
Historically, I have struggled to identify myself as a social justice advocate. In my younger years, my introversion and lack of confidence made it challenging to even know what I believed in, much less to use my voice publicly. Through my own recovery process in early adulthood, however, I learned Read more
In today’s post, one Opal client eloquently reflects on how her eating disorder recovery journey paralleled her experience with learning to tend a garden. Growing up my mom always loved to garden, but I just didn’t see the point. I hated when she would ask me to help her; dirt Read more
“Never would I have imagined as a college freshman athlete that I would be presenting 17 years later at an Athlete & Eating Disorders conference!” This was my opening remark as I presented last Saturday at St. Louis University at the first annual Victory Conference. I was amongst practitioners from Read more
I always look back with gratitude to the first time I was introduced to the Health At Every Size® message. I was a graduate student studying nutrition and health psychology and eager to help others. I was excited to say the least, that there was an alternative to the diet and weight loss interventions I so commonly knew. (more…)