Category: advocacy

This article on improving access to eating disorder (ED) care is informed by my lived experiences, independent research, and involvement in the underappreciated field of quality improvement (QI). I live in the United Kingdom (UK), so my experiences and QI are of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). However, this...

Korea’s Eating Disorder Awareness Week (EDAW) 2025 was a whirlwind. I lived like a ghost, confined to my room packed with boxed props. My resignation letter had been submitted to my full-time job. My focus was stretched thin across every detail of the daily sessions: ticketing, Instagram promotions, Google Meet...

A recent article published on this blog (Imagine a Global Board for Eating Disorders) proposed an international governing body that would bring together experts, voices from lived experience, advocates, and industry leaders to tackle the complexities of eating disorders. That vision is no longer an idea. It’s a reality. To...

Recovering from an eating disorder can be a lonely experience. Even if a supportive team of professionals and loved ones is rallying around, feelings of isolation persist. Visits with therapists, dietitians and doctors are vitally important, as is the encouragement and support of family and friends, but sometimes that doesn’t...

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” The Uses of Sorrow, American poet, Mary Oliver (1935-2019) “Life is not fair. Don’t expect it to be.” I was sitting in the psychiatrist’s consulting suite, feeling...

Imagine a Global Board that listens to “everyone” in the eating disorder field. What a difference it could make to lives everywhere! The vision for a Global Board comes from the indefatigable Elissa Myers, former chief staff executive of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). Under Elissa’s proposed model, a...

Kryptonite: something that can seriously weaken or harm a particular person or thing. * Compliments are generally seen as a good thing. Everyone likes to be complimented on appearance, intelligence, and accomplishments, to name a few. A sincere compliment can brighten a day that might otherwise feel dark and gloomy....

I am surrounded by 10 family members inside the National Library of Australia, Canberra. We are in a private reading room to visit my diary ‘family’, the early years of which are spread before us on a long table. Emotions bubble within—I feel exposed, unclothed, with my mind, heart, and...

I don’t remember at what age I discovered Impressionism, an art movement in the 19th Century. Van Gogh, Monet and Degas, among others, created works of art that differed significantly from the painting style of their time. I was drawn to Impressionism the moment I saw it and have loved...

I travelled by train instead of car on Christmas Day 2024. Instead of the usual two-and-a-half hour drive to the home of my children’s dad, George, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, I took the country train. On Christmas Eve, in a burst of planning, my Melbourne-based daughter and her family collected...