“Never in my decades of trying to deal with my eating disorders have I felt so supported,” says Michelle of her experience at Sheena’s Place.
About 34 years ago, Michelle was diagnosed with two eating disorders, but recalls her symptoms existed long before any diagnosis. And while she recovered from one eating disorder about 19 years ago, the other has been more persistent. In July 2022, when symptoms reappeared, Michelle found support in outpatient treatment at the Port Colborne Eating Disorder Clinic which is also where she found out about Sheena’s Place.
It was the first time Michelle had heard of Sheena’s Place, and it marked a turning point in her recovery.
“My recovery journey has continued since September,” says Michelle, “specifically since connecting with Sheena’s Place. I’d say prior to that, it was a very bumpy road. But since starting with Sheena’s Place, I’ve been so rewarded with the programming.”
Michelle has attended several of our virtual groups, including Navigating Recovery, DBT, and some of our Expressive Arts groups.
For Michelle, an important breakthrough came in one of our groups when she realized her eating disorder had nothing to do with food. “Eating disorders have to do with you and whatever has gone on in your life,” she says. “In my particular case, this was not a realization I had ever had before coming to Sheena’s Place.” In this group, she learned how trauma had affected her, and how food was the easiest way to cope.
“The wisdom that has come from the facilitators,” she says, “I’ve never heard before, even after being in treatment for so long. That has been so helpful for me.”
When an uncomfortable feeling arose in one Navigating Recovery session, Michelle was able to explore it further with a painting she created in an Expressive Arts session. This was the first time she used art to dig deeper into what was going on with her eating disorder.
Michelle also learned to be much kinder and more compassionate to herself.
“Because diet culture is so loud, I think when you have an eating disorder, it makes it much more excruciating to take that step in your life. Everywhere you go, you’re being told the body you are in, is not the body that is being accepted. By building that self-compassion muscle and being aware that the most important relationship you have is with yourself, that gives you the ability to tune out everything else. And that has been really key in terms of my own recovery.”
Navigating Recovery has helped Michelle shift her thinking about what her own recovery looks like.
“I now think recovery doesn’t include any specific type of body I might be looking at. Instead, what it includes is making healthy choices for myself every day and making sure I’m not engaging in diet culture; making sure I’m not engaging in my symptoms; and turning off my eating disorder brain.”
Sheena’s Place continues to be an incredibly valuable resource for Michelle. And the more she learns about eating disorders, the more she realizes how much education needs to be done in schools and workplaces so people are more aware of eating disorders.
“Eating is something you need to do every day and so many people are in a state of need. You start to wonder why this isn’t something everyone is learning about.”