Recovery Support

Event in Boulder, CO AND An Inspirational Story

If you live in or around Boulder, Colorado, please join me for a FREE event this Thursday, January 28th.  Details: http://www.jennischaefer.com/hello-wheres-jenni.htm

I recently met an amazing woman named Jennifer Garcia. She said I could share a story she wrote for her high school paper. Thanks, Jennifer! Here it is:

Houston Event AND Goodbye Ana

If you live in or around Houston, Texas, please join me for a FREE event this Wednesday, January 13th.  Details: http://www.jennischaefer.com/hello-wheres-jenni.htm

I am blessed to receive messages everyday from women and men who are facing and overcoming eating disorders. Many people want to share their stories and write books like I have done. I recently heard from Kate Le Page about her personal journey. With Kate's permission, I am going to share some of what she wrote to me:

Happy Holidays!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. I am in Texas with my family. It actually snowed today--in Texas! Of course, it was sunny after ten minutes of snow. That's Texas weather for you!

I have received lots of emails from people asking about recovery support during the holidays. Here are a few cool links:

AMAZING opportunity to share your story!

A major national magazine is looking for a young woman [age 18-21, but 16 and 17 okay with parental consent] who is willing to share her experience about how a friend (or group of friends) accelerated her disordered eating behaviors or played a role in making her burgeoning eating disorder worse.

How Do We Get From Here to There?

My friend and colleague, Rich Whitman, COO of La Hacienda Treatment Center, recently shared with me the words below. I think his message of living in the moment and doing the next right thing is very appropriate and helpful for the holiday season. Thanks, Rich, for letting me share your words here!

In this fast passed world that we live in, it seems like more and more people want to get from here to there. The question is really not how we get from here to there, but why?  What are our intentions? 

Is it just to get all that you can --- like a raise, a bigger house, or a new car?  If these are your goals and how you measure success, then I can almost assure you that you will be successful.  Remember: I said “successful,” not happy. So many of us think that if we can get what we want, all will be good. And we will have arrived. 

Arrived where?  Will you be happy there?  Will you want to stay there?  At who’s or what expense did your great arrival cost?

I was recently in a 12-step meeting listening as people were sharing about their recovery.  In almost every case, those who shared talked about being “right where God wanted them to be.” They said things like, “I am learning to give rather than take,” and  “I have taken what has been given to me so that I might share it with others.” 

These people know where they have come from and where they are now.  Some are doctors, and others dig ditches or work in local coffee shops.  They are stay-at-home moms, working dads, someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister. The important thing is that they are all there for one another, happy where they are. They don’t want to go back to where they came from.

Someone once said that we must be in the here and the now. I have learned over the years to be content right where I am.  I know on any given day if I am in the will of the Father, He has something for me to do where I will be useful and at that given time, I know I have arrived. When I have finished with that task, I will move on to the “next right thing” He has in store for me.

- Rich Whitman, COO, La Hacienda Treatment Center

National Magazine Story Looking for Participants

My friend is writing a story for a national magazine about the social aspect of eating disorders and she's looking for young women who suffered from an ED or disordered eating WHILE their friend was suffering from one too—and their ED was influenced or made worse by their friends' ED in some way.

Maybe you and your friend were diet buddies who got carried away. Maybe you were always competitive about everything and when one of you developed an ED, you were competitive about that too. Maybe all your friends talked about was how much/little they were eating, so you felt gross just for eating ANYTHING. Or maybe feeling abandoned by a friend suffering from a serious ED influenced you to find comfort in food or food rituals...

If one of these descriptions sounds like you, you're age 18-21 (16 and 17 are okay with signed parental consent), and you'd like to share your story and help thousands of other young women (you must be willing to use your real name and photo, but your friends' names will be changed), please email her directly at mkhidekel@hotmail.com for more information.

Thanks so much!

Jenni

Announcing New UTAH Chapter: International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals Foundation

Hi everyone! Center For Change just told me about a cool opportunity for Utah folks. Please check it out below:

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IAEDP-Utah is a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of eating disorders in our community. Our goal is to support ED professionals by providing training opportunities, news about emerging research in the field, and updates about ED standards of care.

 

The State of the Utah Eating Disorder Community

October 29, 2009

6:00 - 7:30 pm

University of Utah School of Social Work Building

395 South 1500 East

www.map.utah.edu/index.jsp

Park at Marriott Library lot

 

Join us for an evening of networking, sharing of resources, and future planning.

Our panel: Carolie Meccico, LCSW, Justine Reel, Ph.D., Sue Connor, Ph.D, and Elena Yorgason, RD

Join IAEDP-Utah for the discounted rate of $100 (regular $195) at our inaugural meeting or by mail if received by 9/24/09. Dues include membership to both local and national IADEP.

 

Membership Benefits include discounted registration fees at the annual symposium • Connections quarterly newsletter that addresses contemporary treatment issues • Opportunity to receive CEUs through NBCC by reading Connections •  Listing in online referral/ membership directory • Discounted liability insurance • Obtain professional certification as Certified Eating Disorder Specialist through IAEDP

 

 

 IAEDP-UTAH 5315 S. Adams Pkwy #B-7, Ogden UT 84405     

RSVP to Drsconnor@cs.com or (801)583-7848

Interview Today with Mary Woods

Hi everyone! I am doing a cool interview today with Mary Woods. You can listen to the interview live at 3 PM Central or listen later. If you listen live, please call in with a question or two. I'd love to hear from you. Here are the details:

http://www.modavox.com/VoiceAmerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=41028

The title of the show is "Goodbye Ed, Hello Me." I'll be talking about topics in my new book. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered the book and read it. I really appreciate your support!

Love,
Jenni

Do you want to help others?

I receive emails on a regular basis from individuals who are recovered from their own eating disorder and who want to help those who still struggle. One of the best ways we can provide hope, help, and support to others is by example—by being a healthy role model to those around us. Start today!

Here are some ideas for anyone who wants to be a healthy example in this world:

•    As you go through your daily routine, appreciate all that your body does for you rather than focusing on what it looks like. Love your body as it is right now.
•    If you eat in a restaurant, order what you really want and refuse to participate in discussions about dieting and body hatred.
•    If you see an advertisement that promotes the unrealistic thin ideal, write to the manufacture asking for healthy images that don’t promote eating disorders.
•    Rather than spending money on a product that glorifies thinness, donate to a charity that promotes health and wellness instead like the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). (i.e. Join my team for the NEDA Walk or sponsor me!)

If you have any other ideas, please share them here. Thanks, as always, for your wonderful comments!

Love ya,
Jenni

P.S. Of course, it is important to note that we must help ourselves before we can truly help others. As I say in my new book, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, we can't give away what we don't have!

Cookies for Recovery!

I am on the board of the Eating Disorders Coalition of Tennessee (EDCT), and I just received an email about a unique way to support the organization. Christie Cookies will donate money to charities that get the most votes here: http://ilovechristiecookies.com/contest/ This only takes a few seconds, and it could really help the EDCT! (For "charity contact name," you can write Jennifer Katzenmiller.)

This is an interesting idea for me, because in my Ed days, cookies were terrifying to me. Cookies seemed to be the enemy through the insane thinking of my eating disorder. Today, it is such a breath of fresh air that cookies are just cookies. And, to me, they taste very good!

I think it is especially cool that cookies (something that many people with eating disorders dread) could actually help support recovery through this unique opportunity. So please vote!

Hugs,

Jenni