Hazel’s Experience
When the opportunity came to join the newly created Community – a support group for individuals who have been through their private recovery programme with Natural Food Therapy – I signed up straight away! It was exactly what I was looking for. Support and accountability to keep doing the work to be totally free from my eating disorder.
This group support at this stage in my recovery has been amazing. It has proved just as important to me as the initial stages.
There have been highs and some lows during my healing journey. But thanks to the support of The Community I have continued to progress in my journey, and supported others too.
Shared experiences
The community has been such a positive experience. Whilst we all have different stories to tell, we are united in our goals. To be truly free of this illness, to make peace with food and our bodies.
Navigating diet culture
Having this positive, uplifting group when we are surrounded by Diet Culture has been vital during my recovery. Going against the grain can feel exhausting, but being in a group of like-minded people has made it easier.
Together we:
- Re-evaluated who we follow on social media
- Expanded our exposure to anti-diet culture messaging
- Continued learning through our sessions, books and the weekly podcast recommendations
- Learned how to respond to diet culture with useful strategies
Having other people to navigate this part of my journey with has given me confidence in myself. It has opened my mind to a more positive and authentic way to live.
Learning and growth
Over the past year, I have learnt that recovery is not linear because life is not predictable. So, as well as sharing the positives and celebrating each other’s successes, the group has supported me through challenging times.
When I went through a challenging few months I was really frightened when old eating disorder thoughts started to present. Thankfully I didn’t have to navigate this alone! I posted my experiences on our Facebook group and received so much supportive guidance and words.
Thanks to the group and our recovery coach, I learnt this wasn’t uncommon or a relapse. It was my engrained response to stress and it was what I chose to do next that was most important. With the help, it became a learning opportunity and I was successfully able to manage a stressful time. I could explore what I was feeling, without using my eating disorder as a coping mechanism.
The power of support groups
I look forward to our sessions every couple of weeks. We each get an opportunity to share updates with each other before working through our topic for the week.
The sessions challenge me in all the right ways:
- Diving deeper into my body image
- Creating strategies to better navigate triggers
- Pushing me to explore my values
- Staying connected with how I want to use my energy and time, and my priorities are in life.
I think it has only been through these sessions and going deeper into who I am, that I am fully freeing myself from my eating disorder.
Thank you to the Community for being there!
Hazel x
