I also began to notice that more children with a different presentation, one without body image as a component but sensory-type aversion would need more specialized care. I recognized that on my own I could not meet the needs of the overwhelming number of folks who needed help. Over the span of a decade, this practice expanded into a group practice. This was primarily focused on providing care for the local MediCal population that did not have access to the treatment facility due to insurance restrictions. I also began my private practice in 2010. I wore many hats, cooked meals, did intakes, insurance reviews (the worst!), led groups, and of course, met many, many wonderful clients along the way. As the program director for eight years, I supervised many dietitians, therapy interns, and support staff. I became the program manager of Central Coast Treatment Center and developed the San Luis Obispo Partial Hospital Program. Francie and her then-husband Terry White offered me an opportunity I could not resist, to help develop an intensive outpatient program for the treatment of all types of EDs in San Luis Obispo. Anita Johnston, author of “Eating in the Light of the Moon” and Carolyn Costin, founder of Monte Nido treatment centers and author of several books including “The 8 keys to recovery”. Francie White, Ph.D, a pioneer in the field of eating disorders and her friends and colleagues Dr. But I did.įast forward several years, a leave of absence from NYU due to my ED and alcoholism, a return to junior college, graduation from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, successful completion of a dietetic internship and passing of the exam that I became a registered dietitian. Untreated, this soon led to Bulimia Nervosa, exercise compulsion, and everything that comes along with having an ED. I had early bouts of depression and found respite in Anorexia Nervosa by the time I was fourteen years old. My parents were artists, a temperament that requires depth, complexity, and often, the genetic predisposition for mental illness.
But a lack of understanding the language and culture certainly exacerbated this sense of alienation. Despite the diversity of my New York environment, I always felt different, like I did not fully belong. I always had an interest in how people’s environments and belief systems affect their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. As a Swiss immigrant who moved to New York at the age of nine, I was exposed to many different cultures, languages, and ethnicities. Prior to this, I had struggled with eating and my body image for some years and this would continue for many more years to come. I must have been about eighteen years old. When suddenly it occurred, actually “came” to me that this would all make sense one day. I remember a particularly difficult night in my eating disorder sitting in a heap of hopelessness on my bedroom floor, literally playing with food, conflicted to eat.
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