Eating Disorders in Discussion, Wednesday's Child

There’s little more tragic than witnessing someone push so far toward recovery from an eating disorder, and then knowing they’ve decided to ‘settle’ at Quasi status. Sure, it might feel possible to go to work, continue studying, or even maintain a half-life in a relationship or as a parent – but what you should REALLY want, is TRUE recovery. Here, Sarah and Debbie discuss what joy comes from that...

A hugely respected voice in the world of eating disorders, Bernie Wright (expert practitioner and a clinical director for the National Centre for Eating Disorders), chats to Debbie about how her career evolved, and what led to her finding her niche. This episode provides plenty of conversation around the issue of neurodiversity and eating disorders, plus Bernie’s specialist insight into training h...

Your trusty hosts Sarah and Debbie are back for their double-headed banter about all things eating disorders. The pair chat about the wobbles and worries which crop up in particular over the summer period, and call on their own memories and motivations for continuing with recovery when issues around clothes, food fears or body angst threatened to derail a happy summer. As ever, you’re encouraged t...

In this guest episode, Debbie is joined by Suzanne Samaka, who has raised her voice on the topic of photo editing. On the back of the recent news that the health and social care committee has made recommendations about editing images (and cited the impact on those with eating disorders and likely to suffer them), Suzanne discussed what prompted her concern about this area, and what she hopes to ac...

Debbie flies solo today, chatting to you, the Wednesday’s Child community, and reacting to some of the many requests and dilemmas which have popped into our mailbox over the last week. She discusses finding a new identity in recovery, supporting a loved one through an eating disorder, and how to tackle the issue of fertility with a partner who has previously battled an eating disorder. As ever, id...

Witnessing the diet culture behaviour of others can be really tricky in eating disorder recovery, but whether you live with those who choose to eat or behave according to the diet culture playbook, it’s vital you run your own race and choose to turn the other cheek to actions and conversations which you know are unhelpful. In this episode, Debbie and Sarah discuss keeping your motivation on track...

Catching your behaviours and subtle shifts in daily habits, can help prevent a full-blown fall back into an eating disorder. In this episode, Debbie and Sarah discuss stopping the slip backwards. They compare the tips, tactics and toolkit aids which they’ve used at points in their recovery journey Hear them discuss the importance of speaking out and seeking support when a historic eating disorder...

What would your ideal ‘fantasy eating disorder recovery facility’ look like? Faced with a stay in a treatment unit, is it the manner of the people which matters most, the ability to open a window (for goodness sake!), the music that’s played during mealtimes, or the devotion and dedication with which issues around careers and future ambitions are discussed with you as you recover? In this episode,...

After a slightly longer break than normal, Sarah and Debbie are back. In a relatively free-form episode, our hosts discuss the maddening nonsense of summertime ‘diet dialogue’, the curse of getting drawn into body and lifestyle comparisons, and how to really start focusing on how great life could and will be, when your eating disorder is no longer in tow. Sarah and Debbie throw in their usual exam...

This is the first episode Debbie and Sarah have captured in different timezones, while being thousands of miles apart – but it’s a goodie, and with lots of personal insight from Sarah. Debbie and Sarah chat about how Sarah’s full recovery has now made it possible for her to be away with work in Dubai, leading in a really demanding professional role, and never once being sidelined by food angst or...

When you hear the expression ‘all in’ thrown around in the eating disorders recovery community, what does it mean to you? Do you think of it as a form of refeeding which solely pivots on multiple takeaways and consuming every kind of ‘challenge’ or ‘fear’ food which had previously kept you stuck? Perhaps you think about it more as a way of ‘leaping in’ and embracing recovery more fully, determinin...

Are you at a point in recovery where you’re thinking about returning to your professional role? Perhaps you realise you’re better suited to a new career path? Maybe you’re going back into education, or just recognising that your new lifestyle should be a whole lot less structured and demand-heavy? In this episode, Debbie and Sarah pick up on an email to Wednesday’s Child about how to revisit a CV...

This latest podcast episode sees Debbie and Sarah chat with Sarah B, who first experienced an eating disorder in her teens, and then spiralled into a relapse in adult life. She used lockdown and the love and support of her parents to get herself into true committed recovery during 2020, and has now managed not only to find her dream role in the career of teaching, but has bought her own house, and...

To mark this year’s Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, this episode sees Debbie and Abi discussing the Wednesday’s Child perinatal offering, and looks at what we’ve learned about the state of the nation in respect of eating disorders and maternal health. Abi, our Perinatal Lead, has talked previously about her own battle with an eating disorder during pregnancy, and about the difficulty in get...

This episode sees Debbie chatting to eating disorder therapist Caroline Drummond Smith, who herself recovered from anorexia – after a battle lasting many many decades. Caroline experienced an eating disorder all the way through her adult life – despite being a happy wife, mother and social butterfly – but finally sought true recovery for herself after a series of incidents made her recognise she w...

It’s one of the topics you ask us about most: ‘can I still exercise in eating disorder recovery’? Many of us will have been through that emotional rollercoaster of trying to do deals with the devil about our use of exercise in recovery. It’s inevitable that, particularly as you start to feel you’re letting go of some other behaviours and perhaps at a stage of achieving more nutritional rehabilitat...

What’s it like to be in the world of medicine, supporting those who may have been through the very illness which affected you? What does a medic think of how the healthcare profession responds to, and subsequently manages, patient self-referral and ongoing eating disorder distress? In this episode, Debbie and Sarah chat with guest Caroline Baumber. Caroline, who many of you may have seen chatting...

Want to be the one who eats in a restaurant without obsessing over the menu; who can truly notice the people and the events happening around you; and whose routine isn’t driven entirely by a food and movement schedule? Sarah and Debbie use this episode to remind you of the importance of maintaining recovery momentum, in order to get a life which features the spontaneity, joy and freedom you crave....

Overcoming an eating disorder is more than just learning to eat more, and learning to maintain a new health routine in your everyday existence. Our identity in recovery is key, and for many of us, clothes, hair and beauty are at the very centre of this. Sarah and Debbie explore this topic in our latest episode. Listen out for a forthcoming event opportunity, and be sure to make contact with us if...

Released to coincide with the start of Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, this podcast episode sees Debbie chatting to therapist Sarah Parker. Sarah experienced an eating disorder for 15 years, and now works as a therapist, guiding many people to their full and deserved recovery. Debbie and Sarah explore issues around brain starvation, ‘freezing time’, family bonds, curiosity about the future se...

This ‘in conversation with’ episode features Debbie and Sarah chatting to Pippa, who endured a tough journey with an eating disorder, incorporating several in-patient stays and some desperately dark times of despair. Thanks to the love of a great family, some superb treatment and care, and a relentless commitment to recovery, she’s now living a joyful life which sees her on the path to achieving h...

Are you micro-managing your eating disorder recovery so stringently you’re still stuck in a fruitless middle ground where the life you want remains out of reach? Hmm. Ask yourself again – ‘how well is this rule slavery really working out for me’? Sarah and Debbie tackle the topic of how we fall into creating rules for our intended recovery journey, and how sustainable freedom from our eating disor...

How many invitations have you turned down in the last week, month, year or lifetime of living with an eating disorder? Are you prone to ‘life restriction’ in an effort to maintain the illness and its unhealthy grasp on your mind? Eating disorders are all too successful at sabotaging our social and personal world. Sarah and Debbie discuss how isolation occurs, how to challenge your discomfort with...

Eating disorders can cause even the kindest, sweetest, placid person, to be transformed into an unrecognisable being – someone who is suffering such nutritional famine and brain starvation, that their emotions manifest in the very behaviours and persona which they’d despise in others and certainly dread to acknowledge as their own true self. Sarah and Debbie use this episode to talk about those co...

Don’t you just love a bit of alliteration for the title of a podcast episode? This time, Sarah and Debbie travel through a variety of topics, capturing some of the challenges and the joys involved in eating disorder recovery. Ambivalence remains such a huge issue for so many who desire to get well from their illness, but there is a way out of that paralysis – with plenty of repetition and determin...