Re-orienting towards full recovery
1:1 session with Deirdre
We know, from both personal and professional experience, the toll that supporting a loved one’s recovery from an eating disorder can take on the whole family. It really is a crisis and a case of ‘all hands on deck’.
For parents and partners, it may require your life to be put on ‘hold’ – sometimes it can mean taking a leave of absence from work (to supervise meals and provide support), it can mean putting your loved one’s needs ahead of your own, so you don’t get the chance to do the things that you love, the hobbies or activities, the trips away with partners or friends (though self-care and time out is also important, even on a reduced scale). All your energy & resources have been invested in helping your loved one recover.
And then, recovery happens. The crisis passes. Your loved one is flourishing again, back at school or work and doing the things they love – out with friends, socialising and travelling and the focus turns back to you.
You will find yourself wondering how to move forward with your own life, while still supporting your loved ones’ recovery journey.
You might be feeling burnt out, lacking in confidence and wondering how to ‘get your life back’.
It can feel as if the illness has stolen time from both you & your loved one.
Working with Deirdre, who has been on this journey too, can help you find ‘You’ again, while still supporting your loved one – just in a different way.
Packages available, contact with Deirdre to learn more.
Learning Skills – Six Week Skill Building Group
As parents, partners, family members or friends of a loved one suffering with an eating disorder, diagnosis has a serios impact on us too. Suddenly we are in a different world, a world for which we haven’t received any manual or roadmap. The language and communication skills that served us well up to this point no longer seem to work. We are struggling to connect with our loved one – they have become withdrawn, sad, angry (or both) and the person that we once knew seems very far away. We are fearful – for their health, for their future and for our ability to cope, as well as manage everyday life.
Understandably, the initial focus post diagnosis is finding appropriate treatment for our loved ones – whether that be private or public, inpatient or outpatient. (We know that treatment is not always easy to access and our system is far from perfectly equipped).
Through our work with families over the past number of years, we know that parents are also looking for strategies that work, that can help them navigate the world that they now find themselves in, that can help to support them – and their loved ones. And they need them NOW!
They are sick of confusing and seemingly contradictory information, they are sick and tired of people telling them what to do, without teaching them how.
So how can we help? What does our Six Week Skill Building Group give you?
Our six week group:
- pulls together all the newest research on the science of eating disorders, from both a neurobiology and psychological perspective
- is practical, hands-on and jam-packed with strategies
- teaches you skills that you can use every day – to both support your loved one with an eating disorder and to communicate more compassionately with others in your life
- comes with a comprehensive resource book that you can refer back to, again and again
You will:
- gain a greater understanding of your loved one’s eating disorder and of the recovery process (spoiler alert: it’s rarely as quick as we would like it to be)
- understand the neurobiology of challenging behaviours, how the nervous system works and how our loved ones can get ‘stuck’
- understand the very important role that you play in the recovery process – and learn the skills to play this role effectively
- learn how important self-care and self-compassion is for you as you continue on this journey and how to do it (spoiler alert: it’s not candles and bubble baths!)
What have others said about our group?
Six Week Skill Building Group
If you attend live (online), you get the opportunity to meet and share experiences with other families on the same journey. From the groups we’ve run so far, this has been hugely beneficial to families. They get tonnes of support, empathy and learning from others who understand what they’re going through.
To facilitate parents and partners who might find it difficult to make the weekly meetings, we also offer an ‘on-demand’ version of the training, consisting of 14 hours of edited, pre-recorded training, which is complimented by two live online Q&A sessions with Deirdre & Zuzanna.
When you sign up to either group, you will also have free access to our online community, where you can share learnings, seek support and ask questions of our community.
Cost: €350, which includes full access to all the accompanying resources, free attendance at that month’s support group, and your key support person/additional family member can attend the group for free!
Understanding the Recovery Process: Hope Booster Webinar
Or sometimes we’ve been on the recovery journey for a long period of time and have begun to lose hope that our loved one will ever recover. We feel that nothing has worked and we are fearful of the future.
If this sounds like you, then our 2 hour ‘Hope Booster’ webinar is for you!
What you will get:
- a new lens to understand the Recovery Process, and your role in it
- an understanding of how our loved one can get ‘stuck’ and the neuroscience behind it
- dealing with triggers – theirs and yours
- Hope – and how it’s so much easier to hold onto the hope when we understand what’s going on
- Checklist and an action plan to help you manage the overwhelm
What others have said:
‘extremely helpful and thought provoking’
‘ very informative and helpful’
‘instilling hope is fundamental as recovery can be a long journey’
Available on demand or online (keep an eye here on our website or on social media for upcoming dates). €40 per person/€50 per couple (in-person). €40 on-demand (recording).
Understanding Body Image
Struggles with body image and/or a distorted view of body image often form part of an Eating Disorder (but not for everyone). Sometimes, when they start to gain weight as part of the recovery process (where weight gain is required), the negative feelings about their body can increase. As we often say, ‘Getting better makes them feel worse’.
For our loved one, the recovery process involves work on improving a person's body image - or making it matter less to them.
Our 2 hour webinar on ‘Understanding Body Image Issues’ will help you to understand:
- What Body Image is – and isn’t
- Body Image and Anxiety and the links between them
- What to do and What to say
- As importantly what NOT to do and NOT to say
- Provide you with resources and supports
Available on demand or online (keep an eye here on our website or on social media for upcoming dates). €40 per person/€50 per couple (in-person). €40 on-demand (recording
How it has helped:
‘It was excellent’
‘It was really informative. There was so much material…it was very useful’
‘It’s great to have this support and the acknowledgement of how tough it is’.
This 1:1 session with Zuzanna is intended to assist with assessment, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. The session will (a) involve a history and interview(s), combined with the use of a number of assessment tools which will help to both formulate diagnosis and offer recommendations for treatment, as well as a risk assessment and (b) help to answer some of the following questions:
- Is this disordered eating or an eating disorder?
- Which eating disorder is it?
- How severe is the presentation?
This assessment will enable the development of a strategic treatment plan, using proven evidence-based therapies, co-ordinated with other treatment providers as appropriate (for example, psychiatrist, GP, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and/or dietitian). Families are guided and supported by a team of professionals, working alongside them and their loved one.
