This month our theme has been connection. Making a social connection during meals is extremely important for people who are recovering from an eating disorder. For too long, food has been a private affair, something that separates you from others. Eating is often accompanied by loud, disturbing inner messages – harsh judgments about how […]
Personal Note from Sandee Nebel: Self-care routines from the WPF team
Since we've been talking in the Fence Post this month about self-care routines and how to stick to them, I took an informal poll of the White Picket Fence Counseling Center team. I asked: What have you added to your self-care plan recently, and how do you stick to it? Please note that the […]
Featured Article: Getting Your Focus off the Food
As anyone who has suffered from disordered eating can tell you, it's impossible to find any peace of mind when you're obsessing about the numbers on the scale or the label. Yet when you focus on nourishing a healthy body and mind, the food and weight somehow take care of themselves. But it's not […]
The Journey
The Journeyby Tara Harvill, Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern and Registered Marriage and Family Therapist Intern The word “journey” invokes images of uncharted destinations, wandering travels of excitement, curiosity and discovery; and thrilling adventures into the unknown and unexplored. What if these images and ideas became the lens through which all of life’s journeys were […]
Feature Article: Focus on your journey, not your destination
So many times we just look at the goals we're working towards: a number on the scale, a change in the mirror, a new relationship or the end of an old behavior. Our obsession with reaching this goal can overshadow everything that's happening to us and around us, right here in the present moment. In […]
Feature Article: First acceptance, then personal change
There is a lot of hype in the United States right now about fighting obesity, from Michelle Obama's Let's Move Initiative to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and these are certainly commendable efforts. But an unintended impact of this focus on weight is that it can lead some people to develop an unhealthy relationship with weight […]
Feature Article: Change your living space, change your life
In my first career as an interior designer, I observed my clients' emotional healing and growth as we improved their environment. Today I enjoy linking the concept of "being at home" in one's house with "feeling at home" in one's body. Our surroundings are so important. It's crucial to have somewhere in the home that […]
Top 5 Ways That Holiday Time Can Be a Healthy Time For People With Eating Disorders
Our weather doesn’t change much for the season, but we can pretend, can’t we? Extra food, extra family, extra activities – there’s a lot to handle at this time of year. What if you put aside those challenges and focused instead on protecting and even improving your health? 1. Budget your time. It’s easy to […]
Feature article: Is there a wrong way to help someone?
When we see someone else struggling, our natural response is often to try to fix them or make them feel better. We are uncomfortable in the presence of someone else’s suffering. But by rushing too quickly to hand out a tissue (which stops the flow of tears) or correct someone who makes a critical statement […]
Feature Article for July: Examine Your Personal Self-Careness
Self-care for caring people Caring people are, by definition, “givers”. Aptly termed “caregivers” when taking care of others as a job, some find themselves evolving into this role in their everyday relationships. Whether they’re care-givers professionally (health-care, teachers, administrative support) or care-givers in a family or with friends, most of their time is focused on […]