Warm Socks: Reflections on Recovery for Parents
By Amy E Cunningham Eight years ago, I faced the most challenging experience in parenting in my then 25 years of parenting. My youngest daughter, Emma, aged 12, was diagnosed with restrictive anorexia in 2013. She was disappearing before my eyes, with personality changes so dramatic it was hard to believe that she was the […]
Raising Eating Disorder Awareness: Start With Your Doctor
By Amy E Cunningham Eight years ago, I faced the most challenging experience in parenting in my then 25 years of parenting. My youngest daughter, Emma, aged 12, was diagnosed with restrictive anorexia in 2013. She was disappearing before my eyes, with personality changes so dramatic it was hard to believe that she was the […]
Why Parent Advocacy is So Important in the Fight Against Eating Disorders
By Amy E Cunningham Eight years ago, I faced the most challenging experience in parenting in my then 25 years of parenting. My youngest daughter, Emma, aged 12, was diagnosed with restrictive anorexia in 2013. She was disappearing before my eyes, with personality changes so dramatic it was hard to believe that she was the […]
Learning To Ignore Unhelpful Comments
by Melanie Stevenson, F.E.A.S.T. Parent Volunteer The shock we first feel when we hear the diagnosis ‘eating disorder’ throws most parents into a state of terror. The first stage tends to be asking ourselves lots of questions: How did this happen? Why did this happen? Why my child? What did I do wrong? As if this state […]
How I Recovered While Receiving Virtual Treatment
By Sterling Renzoni (He/Him)Mental Health Warrior and Writer 2020 was a challenging year for all of us. As someone with an eating disorder, I found every year spent sick challenging; 2020 at first was no different. Near the end of 2019, I was discharged from my longest admission at SickKids hospital to treat my Anorexia. I […]
Netflix, Connection, and Self-Care
By Judy Krasna, F.E.A.S.T. Blogs Editor and Volunteer The day that I gave birth to my triplet daughters was one of the scariest days of my life. I went into labor 10 weeks early, at 30 weeks of pregnancy, and I was being prepped for a C-Section. I had been given a drug which was […]
Keeping a Diary to Help Yourself
By June Alexander, member of the F.E.A.S.T. Advisory Panel Life balance can get out of kilter when caring for a loved one with an eating disorder. Add COVID-19 to the mix and the chances of this happening can skyrocket. Often when we arecaring for others, especially someone we love, we put our own self-care and […]
Taking Care of Myself
by Judy Krasna Yesterday, I offered peer support to a fellow mom in Israel who is going through a really difficult time. As we said our goodbyes, I told her to take good care of herself. I realized afterwards that I should have expounded on that a little. When my daughter is in a bad […]
Place The Oxygen Mask On Yourself First
by: Mary O’Brien “Hello everyone. This is your captain speaking. We are coming into severe weather with lots of turbulence. It is unclear how long this will last and are working with the experts to determine the safest path forward. We advise you to buckle up and put away all personal belongings. We have lowered the oxygen masks […]