UPDATE 2017:   I was led down the a rabbit hole.   Lack of communication, how to’s and (on reflection) there was pressure one to do all the ground work and I was left guessing. I did know that the person I was matched with to discuss putting the group together has had eating issues.  I can’t say if this person is an actual employee or or another volunteer  of the charity I mention in the post. I would be breaching data protection, my subscribers on here are not from the Calderdale Region and will not know who I am speaking of. The group didn’t happen despite my efforts to push for it, ask for help on how to fund it. I have been in many various eating disorder clinics for lengthy periods (in my life) I’ve come back into my community with no expert advice for people with eating disorders/comorbid disorders.  2018  is the year  I will be on the short list or a finalist for a project needed in my community. I know what it is like to live with an illness -relapse and be in the system. You can’t buy experience and research. Insight and passion is a lethal combination.   No one knows my mission value, my strategy, my values, my focus or anything other than my theme. Let the big charities attempt to copy my idea.  I have nothing to lose.  

POST FROM 24 DECEMBER 2015 -HOW NAIVE I COME ACROSS IN THIS POST

I’m positively buzzing at the moment. Someone has  proposed a challenge  for me to do in  2016. The year has not even started.

 I’ve been giving the chance to front and co -produce a much needed ‘Eating disorder recovery and support’ group,  where I live.  I’m going to plant the seeds and watch it bloom. I’m going to be a part of the process from start to finish.

Oh yes! Challenge accepted.

Slightly over whelmed. . .heart palpitations that kind of thing.  

Do-able?

Yes, because I have committed myself to it. To see this through, right to the end. I don’t jump ship. If you ask any one who knows me as  the person I am today. I do challenges and I do them well.

Loving the internet at the moment. Lots of  kisses for it.

I’ve found an on-line course for FREE to do -which helps me understand Anorexia from a carers/ professional role.

I’m beyond excited! 

 Come the new year, I know that all this work is going to go somewhere…  it has too. I am using loads of  my time to make it happen. I can’t wait to hook up with my mentor at HEALTHY MINDS LINK and brainstorm. Two heads heads collide. I’m networking and gaining skills; I know this can and will be a potentially  powerful group. It is a necessity.

I know you may think I think I am in for an easy ride but I know there is muchos muchos hard  work to be done.

I’m always happiest working on something. When I was discussing  this over coffee, with the volunteer coordinator of ‘Healthy minds’, I felt pretty much out of my depths. I mean,I have an Eating disorder and it doesn’t go away. I manage it with various tools and skills I’ve learnt over the years. . I don’t have  any special  professional qualifications in Eating disorders.  These next few months I will be swotting  up.  The most amazing thing she said to me is: she can see me making a career out of my volunteering! She said that;

I have the passion, skills personality. oodles of experience (with mental health issues) , I listen!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I was like ‘Are you just paying me a bit of lip service here?’

Nope, she has me down for most projects/ fundraisers/ training   for 2016.  I can safely say I am not going anywhere but ‘healthy minds’ .

It will take months to get this group up and running.  The point is I am up, ready and I have started to jog that brain of mine. I do think that there should be strict criteria for being a part of (a closed) support group. This group will also be based on skills I have learnt with programs similar to the WRAP-Wellness Recovery Action Plan link.  program I did in 2015. 

Anorexia is complex. All eating disorders are. It is necessary,in my humble opinion, to gauge where potential group members are at in their recovery. I feel that a member of the group  needs to be at some stage of wanting recovery and support.

One of the ideas churning around my mind,is to make it compulsory to do a’ Body image pre- support recovery group-program’. The purpose is to  assess those members who can actively and be mostly positive in their recovery and  support. Positive  interaction with other members in the support group is crucial to making it work.

I know I sound like I am discriminating. I am not.

Eating disorders bring out highly competitive traits out of people. One person can bring the whole house deck of cards down in one breathe. For the purpose of the greater good- assessment is necessary. It sounds so clinical and in a way it is!

I know how hard it is to live with Anorexia and how hard it is to be happy and healthy and live with it.

It is tough.

Painful at times.

The mind games it plays.

Everything about it is sinister.  

I do feel at this moment in my life that I can’t facilitate the actual support group. That  must tell you something about  my insight into  the nature of eating disorders; or at the very least my own issues living  with an Eating disorder.

So, I will be needing awesome facilitators in the future months.

The role I seem to be adopting  is getting this project up and running. I can do the presentations/guest spots/ research / courses/lesson plans/activities. I am mindful that I need to put my own mental health first. I also think  think I would be  a good facilitator to run  ‘the body image’ program.

There is also the social element of trust of running a support group. Doing a body image pre program will help future  support group members bond. Strong bonds make a support group more likely to  work.

I’m very early into getting this group and program running but it will run. It may take until Spring 2016 but it will happen.

Where I live, there was no out- patient support. When I was released from various hospitals I relapsed many times. I do wonder if there was a support group near to where I live; would I would have embraced the idea of recovery and and accessed community support earlier.

I can’t have lived with Anorexia most of my life and fought it like I have.Then get the opportunity to work with someone on a new project relating directly to   eating disorders. I’m feel I am duty bound to help people who are suffering and need support. I have plenty tools and skills to offer. I am constantly learning too. I know I am ‘bigging’ myself up. I need to. I am a passionate woman. my heart is in the right place.

This project starts with me and an experienced person who runs groups at ‘Healthy minds. I have started the initial research and I have ideas. There is no stopping me now

It keeps me clean and serene and it keeps me off Facebook. Hasn’t it got so dull lately?

I am also collaborating with a creative writing specialist to create some kind of workshop/program or group,  with another charity called HOPE– check out the link. 

2016 is looking bright. Let the good times roll, right?