+ What is an Eating Disorder Recovery Coach?

An EDRC is someone who helps you manage the day-to-day aspects of your recovery. I am here to help navigate and problem solve the plan your therapist, dietician, and/or doctor put into place for you and to provide you with encouragement and reality checks along the way.

+ What is the difference between a coach and a therapist?

Therapists have the ability and training to help you process trauma, and do the deep and complicated emotional work with you. As a coach, I use my education and personal experience to help you navigate the day-to-day issues of recovery. While a therapist must have strict boundaries about when they can work with you and how they communicate, coaches are generally available to be contacted outside of sessions for help, encouragement, and support.

+ Can I use an EDRC without having established care with a therapist, dietician or medical doctor?

Sorry, but that is a big no no. Recovery coaching is a great tool and support during the recovery process, but it is not meant to be the ONLY tool and support. Being under the care and suppervision of a therapist, doctor, or dietician is important to a clients recovery. Eating disorder recovery can include so many things, from medical complications, deep mental health traumas, to sussing out complicated nutrition needs. There are professionals that are specifically trained for those things, and they should be the main source(s) of the recovery work. Recovery coaches are meant to support that work and help a client impliment the tools and information they get through their other practitioners.

+ Do people with diverse body types have eating disorders?

Absolutely! Your body does not need to look a certain way for you to have a diagnosed eating disorder. You also do not have to have an official diagnosis to have disordered eating behaviors. It is a misconception that someone must be extremely thin and “look sick” to have a legitimate eating disorder. It doesn’t matter what your body looks like, your eating disorder is valid.

+ How do you embrace diversity and inclusion in your practice?

I am a cis, hetero, white woman who was raised middle class. I have benefited from a lot of privilege in my life, and I acknowledge that. I seek out education and knowledge through many avenues including books, interviews, and first-person accounts from those who choose to share their stories, especially from those in the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. My approach comes from a HAES (health at every size) perspective and support fat liberation and gender and racial equity; while I work every day to confront the privileges and biases I still have. I am committed to listening when people need to be heard in order to learn to take the labor of oppression off marginalized communities and do better.

+ Are coaches licensed?

Currently there is not a license or a official board that oversees recovery coaches. Part of the reason is because coaching in the eating disorder recovery space is still a relatively new practice, and it hasn't gotten to the point where many are doing it. This may sound dubious, and it is important to be aware of those who could take advantage of that. Right now, anyone could call themselves a coach, which is why it is important to do your research and find out what education a coach has. It is another reason why it is important that your coach is working WITH your therapist/doctor/dietician. They go through years of schooling and licensing and must hold a high standard of care, which helps to hold the coach to a high standard as well. Many of us (including myself) are looking forward to the day recovery coaching will become standardized and we can regulate the industry to keep standards and practices high for the sake of the clients.