We all know we “should” practice Self-Care, but do we? Or, does Self-Care feel like yet another obligation on your mile-long to-do list? Self-Care does require a little bit of work at first – to come up with ideas for your Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Self-Care practices, and to plan the time for them.

The work will be worth it, because Self-Care for eating disorders recovery is a proactive practice, which can help prevent eating disorder thoughts and behaviors. Self-Care goes beyond coping skills, which are designed to be used as an intervention when faced with triggers. Self-Care is a foundation to rely upon on a daily basis, so that things that used to trigger you have no power over you any more. Self-Care is a way to ensure that you are “filled from within,” so you have no need for binge eating, excessive exercise, or other eating disorder behaviors.

To make things less work for you, here are a few Self-Care ideas to help you get started:

• Physical Self-Care: some common ideas are a hot bath, massage, aromatherapy, soothing lotions, naps; some healthy ideas are scheduling (and keeping) doctor’s appointments, dentist’s appointments, therapist’s appointments; and of course, intuitive eating and mindful movement practices!
• Mental Self-Care: this can be anything that sparks your intellectual interest, like taking a class you’ve wanted to sign up for, or learning a new language; anything that gets that eating disorder mind to take a break!
• Emotional Self-Care: journal writing in the morning can be a great way to “check in” with how you’re feeling, so that you’re emotionally aware and can better address your needs throughout the day; you might also try art therapy as another healthy means of expression; make regular plans with friends/family to enjoy heartfelt connection – you can also do this with nature, or animals (pet your cat, or play with your neighbor’s dog)!
• Spiritual Self-Care: some people consider spiritual practice to be a religious practice, but spirituality doesn’t have to involve religion; become curious about what would “feed your hungry soul,” and help you turn up the volume of your recovery guide, also known as your Intuitive Therapist; try reading some books about spirituality, soulfulness, meditation, or intuition – one of my recent favorite books is “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen” by Mark Nepo!

Self-Care for Eating Disorders Recovery is what the 4th Principle of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ is all about. Click on the worksheet image below to download and print!

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Article may be reprinted with the author bio below.

©2019 by Dr. Dorie McCubbrey. Dr. Dorie is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Licensed Addiction Counselor who is passionate about training professionals to effectively guide clients in recovery from eating disorders, through her Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ Certified program. She also meets with clients at her treatment center, Positive Pathways PLLC, located in Evergreen Colorado. Learn more at: https://www.drdorie.com

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Want more that this “taste” of EDIT™? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions.  She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED

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Eating disorder treatment at Positive Pathways has several new options! Take your eating disorder recovery to the next level through experiential sessions with Dr. Dorie at her new office in Evergreen Colorado. Try our two eating disorder support groups, including an Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ skills group and a new Expressive Arts group. In addition, affordable eating disorder treatment is available through sessions with our new Counselor Interns from Naropa University. See details below:

WELCOME to our new eating disorder treatment team members Jennifer Stein, BA and Jeung-il Tsumagari, BA – both Masters-level students in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Naropa University. Jennifer brings her special interest in mindfulness meditation, and Jeung-il has a concentration in Art Therapy and offers this therapeutic option in her individual sessions and groups.

SUPPORT GROUP options for eating disorder recovery include our Monday Night Group entitled, “Don’t Diet – EDIT!” which features an exploration of the five principles of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ and the practice of recovery skills to overcome anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, food addiction, and other issues with eating and weight. Try our NEW eating disorder support group on Tuesday evenings, featuring expressive arts, facilitated by Art Therapy Intern Jeung-il Tsumagari.

DR. DORIE’S NEW OFFICE for eating disorder treatment is located in Evergreen, Colorado! Join Dr. Dorie for traditional counseling sessions, or try an experiential session including options of wilderness therapy, mindful meal sessions, and much more. This is your opportunity to deepen your eating disorder treatment by living the principles of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ in your session experience with Dr. Dorie. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday appointments are available. LEARN MORE: EVERGREEN OFFICE

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Interested in a FREE consultation? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions.  She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED

The post NEW Eating Disorder Treatment Options appeared first on INTUITIVE THERAPY™ | Healthy Weight Loss | Eating Disorder Recovery Coach.

I’d like to introduce you to Abby Hansen, who is an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician. Abby was a Counselor Intern under my supervision at Positive Pathways from August, 2016 through May, 2017. She is a knowledgeable and compassionate therapist, who is currently employed an an eating disorder treatment center. Although she does not meet with anyone who is not a patient at the treatment center, I can incorporate art making into therapy sessions. You never know what the creative process will reveal!
– Dr. Dorie

What are some core issues in eating disorders? Are there themes that almost always show up in eating disorder recovery? Why is art therapy so effective to explore these core issues in eating disorders?

My name is Abby Hansen and I am an EDIT™ Counselor Intern at Positive Pathways. I am currently finishing up my Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a concentration in Transpersonal Art Therapy from Naropa University in Boulder, CO.

I have been working with folks struggling with eating disorders at various levels of care for the past six years. Over time I have picked up on a few themes or core issues in eating disorders treatment that almost always show up. I’d like to share why I believe art therapy can be such a beautiful part of eating disorder recovery, where healing of these core issues in eating disorders can unfold. 

1. Identity – “I am sick, and if I am not sick, who am I?”
The eating disorder often began as a very useful coping mechanism utilized to help during a difficult situation in life. Over time, the eating disorder becomes less effective as a way to cope, and winds up holding one back from who they really are. Art is innately unconscious – every mark we make on a page is the visual language of our soul. When we take the time to slow down and pay attention to our imagery we realize we have never left ourselves. I believe the more time we spend with our artwork the more time we spend with ourselves.

2. Perfectionism – “If I can’t do this perfectly, I am a failure.”
This sounds familiar, right? All-or-nothing thinking is such a common way of maneuvering in this world, in many ways it can keep us motivated in life but in other ways it can set us up to feel like we can’t do anything right. This is especially true for someone struggling with an eating disorder. Art can help with this, too! Clients can challenge their perfectionism using art materials. Maybe you gravitate toward colored pencils or markers because they are not messy, easy to control, and predictable in terms of mark-making. Practicing with less controllable materials such as water colors, clay or paint is a great way to challenge the eating disorder thoughts around being perfect. Give yourself permission to mess up, or get your hands dirty. It is a simple way to practice incorporating flexibility in your life.

3. Secrets – “I can hardly trust myself, how can I be expected to trust others?”
The eating disorder behaviors usually live in a very private world – therapists are sensitive to this, and know that developing trust in relationships is not the easiest thing for someone who is struggling. And yet, the client is almost always craving connection and companionship. Any relationship needs vulnerability to work. Art can be that middle ground or that safe place between the therapist and client. When sharing verbally feels too hard, art can provide that container for expression. The secrets can live in the art instead of the body and the client can communicate how they feel using metaphor. This can feel like a less risky way of being vulnerable.

These are just a few core issues in eating disorders recovery, and certainly there are more. Art therapy allows for a lot of flexibility with treatment planning to explore these and other core issues – plus, it can be fun! I want to emphasize that there is no need to “be an artist,” or even to have any experience using art materials in order to do art therapy. Just bring your “beginners mind,” and we’ll explore art therapy together!

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Looking for guidance with ART THERAPY? ABBY HANSEN, MA (the author of this blog article) is an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician, and is currently employed by an eating disorder treatment center. Although she does not work with clients unless they are patients at the center, Dr. Dorie is available to meet with clients who wish to incorporate art making into their therapy sessions.

Interested in a FREE consultation with Dr. Dorie? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions.  She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED

The post Art Therapy in Eating Disorder Recovery appeared first on INTUITIVE THERAPY™ | Healthy Weight Loss | Eating Disorder Recovery Coach.

I’d like to introduce you to Ashley Eyre, who was a Counselor Intern under my supervision at Positive Pathways from August, 2015 through July, 2016. She is now who is a Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate and an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician, who continued under my supervision at my previous office location in Denver. Ashley currently meets with clients in Boulder, Colorado. You can contact her with any comments or questions, including how to get started with individual sessions (see bottom of article).
– Dr. Dorie

When considering eating disorders and art therapy, how can clients enhance their recovery through the separation from “ED” (what they might call their eating disorder)? Common with clients suffering from disordered eating, is the assumption that the internal dilemma is truly about calories, weight and food (Johnston, 1996). In introducing art to the therapeutic process, we can begin to access that which hides behind the disordered eating pattern (Brooke, 2008). Though there are several effective eating disorder and art therapy interventions that can help access our deeper selves, the “Create an Image of the Eating Disorder” intervention is extremely powerful.

Using clay or paper and oil pastels (or any other drawing material), the therapist invites the client to create and image of the eating disorder. They will then invite the client to give this disorder a name, a face, does he/she have a body? How big is this character? This eating disorder and art therapy intervention assists clients in recognizing that they have both an authentic self and a voice of their disordered eating pattern. By externalizing and characterizing the eating disorder, the client can begin to separate their true self from this false self; the disordered eating that developed as a coping strategy. Further, the client can begin to dialogue with the eating disorder, give it a name and express their true feelings about the influence that this character has had on their lives. Additionally, the individual can also thank the character of the eating disorder for the coping methods that were provided during the clients time of need. As the separation process begins, a lot of thoughts, feelings and emotions will surface. While assisting the client in processing through the loss of this false self, the client is also led and assisted in developing new and more effective coping strategies.

Through this process alone, a lot of information can be uncovered. Some clients experience anger as they begin to realize that this voice is NOT their own and that they do not want to listen to it anymore. Some actually realize that their eating disorder is likened to a friend that lives with them on a daily basis and that separating will involve a significant grieving process. Further, as we begin to dialogue with the eating pattern and investigate its nature, we can continue to distinguish and delineate the thoughts and patterns involved. When the therapist and client can look at a thought together, they can examine it carefully and ask whether it is our client’s true self speaking or whether it is the voice of ED, the eating disorder. ED will become trickier and trickier as he doesn’t want to be ignored.

Powerful recovery opportunities can unfold with eating disorders and art therapy exploration. As our clients realize the areas of their lives that ED is ruling, they have to be creative and counter his dominance with their true self. As they listen and act more consistently with the guidance of their authentic desires, needs and goals, they can begin to rely less and less on ED and start heading towards their full potential.

References:
Brook, S. (2008). The Creative Therapies and Eating Disorders. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas
Johnston, A. (1996). Eating in the Light of the Moon. Oceanside, CA: Gurze Books

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Want to experience ART THERAPY? Contact Ashley Eyre, MA, LPCC – the author of this blog article. Share is an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician, and conducts Art Therapy at her office in Boulder, Colorado. EMAIL ASHLEY

Interested in a FREE consultation with Dr. Dorie? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions.  She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED

The post Eating Disorders and Art Therapy: Separating from ED appeared first on INTUITIVE THERAPY™ | Healthy Weight Loss | Eating Disorder Recovery Coach.

I’d like to introduce you to Murphy McCracken, who is an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician. Murphy was a Counselor Intern under my supervision at Positive Pathways from August, 2013 through May, 2014. She is a knowledgeable and compassionate therapist, who is currently employed at a mental health treatment center. Although she does not meet with anyone who is not a patient at the center, I can incorporate art making into therapy sessions. You never know what the creative process will reveal!
– Dr. Dorie

What is Art Therapy? 

Just as “talk therapy” involves communication and support through words – Art Therapy involves communication and support through art. It’s not necessary to be an “artist” to experience Art Therapy, or to be an Art Therapist. All that is necessary is a willingness to explore the use of a variety of art materials as a means of expression. As facilitated by an Art Therapist, the client explores the use of art materials, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to externalize feelings, reconcile emotional conflict, foster self-awareness, manage behaviors and addictions, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.  (Source: The American Art Therapy Association)

What are the benefits of working with an Art Therapist?

Clients can experience “art as therapy,” originated by pioneer art therapist Edith Kramer who believed art to be therapeutic in itself, and Art Therapy, a given directive or intervention used help meet the specific needs of a client. Art Therapists have a Master’s Degree or higher in a Mental Health field, with specialized training to conduct Art Therapy. My name is Murphy McCracken, and for the past 9 months I have been completing my internship at Positive Pathways, as a part of my Master’s Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology – Art Therapy Concentration. My internship intention was to offer the art making process to clients as a means of connection to their experience at times when words would not suffice.

What kinds of Art Therapy are helpful for eating disorder recovery?

Just as “talk therapy” is unique for each individual, and the therapist guides the conversation to best support the clients needs – Art Therapy involves the use of specific art materials and a creative process to guide the conversation being expressed artistically. As an Art Therapist, I have a variety of “art interventions” which I use based on a client’s specific issues, or where they seem to be “stuck” in therapy. Art interventions can often tap into areas which words cannot reach. Art Therapy can help connect to the parts of the self that have been repressed or hidden underneath coping mechanisms, such as eating disorder behaviors. One specific intervention I can share is an application of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ – the Express Your Self principle.  This Art Therapy technique was used as a part of an Art Therapy Group curriculum I developed, where the focus one week was on the idea of “Impermanence.” Each group member was asked to create large individual murals using chalk pastels and/or markers, to the sounds of different music. The group was invited to pay attention to where they felt bodily sensation or awareness through their senses as they listened to the music. They were then directed to create marks based on their physical and emotional experience in the present moment. The mark-making on the mural can visually give the client a lineage of the past and present, offering proof that nothing lasts forever. The music stops, and the quiet of the room returns. How one might have been feeling within one moment could have shifted. We are forever growing and changing and this movement is an organic shift within us all. Paying attention to the body and adjoining intuitive movement offered the group members an opportunity to connect with their Intuitive Therapist (IT) within themselves. The IT, or “True Self” as Dr. Dorie notes, connects to the Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul of us all. Connecting to the senses and giving ourselves permission to show up as we are within a given moment frees us from the “false self” of the Eating Disorder (ED). In this way, Art Therapy facilitates the shift from ED to IT, which is the key to eating disorder recovery.

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Looking for guidance with ART THERAPY? MURPHY MCCRACKEN, MA (the author of this blog article) is an EDIT™ Certified III – Eating Disorder Treatment Clinician, and is currently employed by an eating disorder treatment center. Although she does not work with clients unless they are patients at the center, Dr. Dorie is available to meet with clients who wish to incorporate art making into their therapy sessions.

Interested in a FREE consultation with Dr. Dorie? Dr. Dorie is passionate about her method of Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy (EDIT)™ to help people overcome eating disorders and addictions.  She provides customized counseling for eating disorders and alcohol / drug addiction at her Positive Pathways treatment center in Evergreen, Colorado – and EDIT™ eating disorder training and certification for coaches and clinicians worldwide. CALL 303-494-1975 – EMAIL DR. DORIE – GET CERTIFIED

The post Art Therapy and Eating Disorders appeared first on INTUITIVE THERAPY™ | Healthy Weight Loss | Eating Disorder Recovery Coach.