Category: motherhood

I reached for the phone. I was ready to accept the guidance of my minister and psychiatrist so I could become a person with normal behavioural habits. ‘I will go to the mental health hospital this Sunday,’ I vowed. ‘If I don’t go I will defer my recovery. I want...

Almost a year has passed since Summer was diagnosed with her eating disorder (ED). I glimpse signs of recovery more often, but sometimes, we get thrown back into the darkness. The darkness doesn’t last as long now, though, before hope reappears. I know hope is always there despite being hard...

I have suffered from an eating disorder (ED) for 18 years, and I don’t know how to break free … I would like you to share strategies for those times when my ED is the only thing I can hear.  – M. I want to reach through the email box,...

Our life in survival mode continues. My daughter Summer and I have returned from another hospital admission and, like previously, are struggling to get back on track. The hospital admissions are always destabilising. We had hoped that a switch would magically turn in Summer’s head this time, but darkness remains....

My eating disorder has gone to Canberra, Australia’s national capital. The eating disorder has travelled there within the pages of my diary collection, acquired by the National Library of Australia (NLA). There, the eating disorder will be open to public scrutiny. Canberra is an eight-hour road journey from where I...

Our journey in the terrifying world of anorexia nervosa continues. We have roller-coasted over the past few months, and my daughter, Summer*, has turned 11. We have made some giant steps forward and a few small ones backward. The biggest one backward is being hospitalised again. Summer had been making...

My son Joe developed anorexia at the age of 12 in 2002. He lost 25 per cent of his body weight in 12 weeks. Since that torrid time, I have known that caring for a loved one with an eating disorder is exhausting, distressing, disorientating, excruciating and terrifying. As with...

It happened fast. Suddenly we were stuck in this black hole called anorexia nervosa. I had no idea how we’d gotten there so quickly, nor did I know how to get out. My 10-year-old (soon to be 11-year-old) daughter developed anorexia over the past year. Although she had probably already...

Yesterday was one of those days that did not work out as planned. All went well, initially. I was in the local, heated, 50m outdoor pool by 6.10am, doing a half-hour of prescribed exercises. I love being in the water. Then I came home, showered, and took Maisie for a...

A new counselling service is providing education and support for those caring for someone with an eating disorder. Eating Disorders Families Australia’s (EDFA) new Fill The Gap counselling service is specifically designed to support eating disorder carers during the often long and exhausting years of supporting a loved one through...