Recovery coaching for eating disorders is a very important form of support during the recovery process. Recovering typically requires working with a team of professionals, including a psychiatrist, dietitian, nurse, and psychologist in a clinical or residential care setting, but recovery also happens on a daily basis in the outpatient setting. At each level of care, recovery coaches can play an important role.
By: Maya Azar Atallah
What Is Recovery Coaching?
Eating disorder recovery coaches offer support to help individuals achieve their goals and assist them in making the necessary behavior changes in their daily life for recovery.
Working with a recovery coach can be beneficial to recovery because they provide support and accountability. Identifying strengths in eating disorder recovery is important because it helps individuals focus on and redefine themselves outside of their eating disorder. Having a sense of accountability also gives a person in recovery the ability to acknowledge that they are responsible for their actions, which will keep them dedicated to embracing recovery. A recovery coach can also help clients attend therapy sessions or other appointments related to their eating disorder treatment. As a result, clients may feel like they have someone supporting them in their recovery.
How Can Recovery Coaches Be Helpful?
Recovery coaches can assist clients in many difficult situations and also help to set goals. These situations can include, but are not limited to:
Grocery Shopping
Shopping for groceries and seeing nutrition facts labels can be anxiety-provoking. A recovery coach can help clients shift away from reading nutrition facts label information and navigate the food aisles without having urges or allowing eating disorder thoughts to resurface.
Meal Support
Recovery coaches can accompany clients to restaurants and also assist clients when preparing a meal, cooking, or eating.
Special Events
Recovery coaches may attend events, such as weddings or vacations, which typically involve many people and food, to provide support to someone with an eating disorder.
Clothes Shopping
Shopping for clothes can be a difficult experience for someone whose body image is distorted and whose body is changing through recovery. Fittings and sizes can be challenging when clothes shopping, so the recovery coach can be there to provide the necessary support.
Recovery coaches are an important team member in addition to the other professionals involved in a person’s treatment and recovery related to an eating disorder. Recovery coaches can spot changes in behavior that sometimes can get in the way of the recovery, and, consequently, they can report such changes to the treatment team. Overall, a recovery coach is a great addition to the recovery process, and provides external support to help optimize the chances of recovery while minimizing the risks of a relapse.
At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, we treat the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, compulsive overeating, and other disordered behaviors and body image issues. We offer a variety of programs and services targeted at helping clients overcome fear foods and develop a healthy relationship with food. We offer nutrition counseling with a licensed dietitian, meal support, and a variety of other groups and resources to help those seeking help for food concerns.
Our admissions team would be happy to answer any questions you may have about our programs and services. Book a free consultation call with our admissions team below or read more about our philosophy here.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Maya Azar Atallah (she/her).
Maya is a Registered/Licensed Dietitian who is passionate about disordered eating and eating disorders. She is an advocate of the intuitive eating model and believes in the HAES movement. She recently completed a Masters degree in nutrition and behavior from Bournemouth University UK, and as part of her MSc, she conducted research among Lebanese young adults, evaluating the relationship between frequent usage of nutrition fact labels on packaged items, weight control measures, and its probable predictive factor of eating disorders incidence. She aimed to assess if high reliance on nutrition fact labels could be used as a tool triggering weight control measures and the onset of eating disorder symptoms. Maya likes preventing and assisting in the treatment of disordered eating and eating disorders, and loves to get involved in the field to help society become less weight centric, promote body inclusivity/positivity and shift away from the weight stigma society we live in, which can compromise health so much. She wants to help people in their eating disorder recovery by getting them the right or needed renourishment and guiding them through all the steps of the intuitive eating approach. She also hopes to pursue a PhD in public health to design policies for the primary prevention of eating disorders.
References
“The Emerging Role of Eating Disorder Coaching.” Eating Disorders Catalogue, 1 Mar. 2020, www.edcatalogue.com/emerging-role-eating-disorder-coaching/.
Harding, Lauren. “Recovery Coaching.” Northside Mental Health, northsidementalhealth.com/what-we-offer/eating-disorder-treatment-substance-abuse-counseling-addiction-therapy/recovery-coaching/.
Thomson Hilary. “What Is An Eating Disorder Recovery Coach?” NIED – National Initiative For Eating Disorders, 16 Sept. 2020, nied.ca/what-is-an-eating-disorder-recovery-coach/.