How to Survive Thanksgiving – Intern Anna’s 5 Tips
Family caregivers have shared often lamented how utterly painful and difficult the holidays are for their loved one with an eating disorder. Thanksgiving typically being the most difficult with so much of the focus on food for many families. This week while I'm in...
2022 Research on Family Support Protocol – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
In 2022 it’s so hard to fathom that regularly family caregivers worldwide (this is not just a USA problem) are still are asking me how other families manage all of the; logistics of getting access to treatment, managing their own fears and distress, helping their...
How to Ask for Help – by Intern Anna
Ola, I'm sending you good thoughts from Portugal. Thank you for your kind concern and good thoughts as I recovered from Covid - 2nd time this year. I'm really done with this thing. My lungs took a hit but they're slowly coming back and thankfully my brain is finally...
How to Hold Opposite Emotions at The Same Time – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Oh boy oh boy…life has a way of providing AMPLE opportunities to practice what the experts call, “The Dialectic” or what I call (well, I’ll be nice right now)… Roses and Thorns. 😉 Feel free to fill in words that come into your own head that mean wonderful and...
Challenging Exercise Compulsions – by Intern Anna
While I’m beginning our 3 months in Europe, Intern Anna is filling in for me. We made it safely and smoothly to Croatia from Minnesota despite all of the air travel staffing shortages happening worldwide. Croatia is a beautiful place to explore the outdoors, one day...
Creating a Plan for Coping with 4am Thoughts – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
What is it with 4am? Even though I teach this coping, mindfulness, living with intention and self compassion stuff, I still find that there are times when I am awake at 3 or 4am with swirling thoughts keeping me awake and unable to stop the thoughts that serve NO...
How to Invite Peace while Radically Accepting the YUCK – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Family caregivers often are desperately searching for support when a loved one’s eating disorder and co-occurring diagnoses bring; sadness, crises, disappointment and a litany of other painful emotions to the family. Our natural inclination is to try and fix things,...
Hope for Family Caregivers – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Did you know that the word, “hope” in my business name, Hope Network, LLC stands for; "Healthy Options for Personal Education?" I know, I’d almost forgotten but it is the foundation for providing eating disorder family support for caregivers. Also, HOPE is something...
Having Loving Boundaries – by, Intern Anna
Thank you to Intern Anna for filling in for me this week as I'm settling in and visiting friends and family in Minnesota. Having Loving Boundaries - by, Intern Anna Towards the beginning of my recovery journey, I found it hard to maintain boundaries with my friends...
How to Cope When You Stumble – by, Intern Anna
Thank you to Intern Anna for filling in for me this week as I'm traveling to Minnesota and attending a wedding. How to Cope When You Stumble - by, Intern Anna Eating disorders are tricky. They try to sneak comments into your head and want you to believe them. Even...
Summer’s End and What Now for Family Caregivers – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
It’s hard for many of us to admit that summer is coming to an end. Getting ready to leave this idyllic island in the Pacific Northwest is a bit sad. As excited as I am to have several weeks in early fall back in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to visit...
The Changing Roles of Caregivers – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
As caregivers, we need to be constantly adjusting our sails as we learn what our loved ones need at different stages and often in the same day. This takes a lot of being aware, adaptable and rested. The fear will always be lurking and tempting us to jump onto the...
How Treatment Centers Can Improve Outcomes – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Yes, we have extremely broken health care systems and insurance systems in the United States. Even with those very broken systems, we can all work together and create improved treatment outcomes. How? For nearly 20 years of coaching family caregivers, I’ve been seeing...
Rest and Restoring in Recovery – by, Intern Anna
Intern Anna is back so I can "rest and reset" myself this summer. Here I am checking out a gorgeous labyrinth on Bainbridge Island. You may have seen my recent piece on rest, and now you can get insights from Anna's perspectives on rest during recovery and you can...
Caregiving and Rest; Why and How – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
If you’re a practical person like me, you’re likely thinking, “Oh sure, sounds good on paper or in a research lab.” Finding time to rest when you’re a caregiver, even if your loved one is away at treatment can feel impossible. And even if one can find time, how do we...
Doing the Grieving When Needed – by, Intern Anna
Intern Anna shares with family caregivers of those with eating disorders, her insights on grieving. There are so many roles that we as the support person of someone with an eating disorder need to fill. Learning to do our own grieving and giving our loved ones space...
Fun, Faith, Freedom, Fotos, Frivolity and Caregiving – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
It turns out that when life is hard (and our world currently is giving us loads of hard on so many levels), the counterintuitive thing might be the best thing. In the hard, sad, hopeless, helpless, scary, frustrating, wrong, deplorable, unethical, we can feel so...
Freedom from Ed – by, Intern Anna
Even though I'm traveling the world as a digital nomad, I'm still working and am so grateful to Intern Anna for helping me out a couple times a month with my newsletter/blog posts. Today Anna is addressing holidays and eating disorders in hopes that you and your...
How Do I Fit Self Care into My Schedule? – by Intern Anna
Thank you to our Summer Intern, Anna for sharing her hard earned wisdom on practicing self care in recovery today. ~ Becky How Do I Fit Self Care into My Schedule? - by Intern Anna I’ve been on a journey to implement more self care into my life. It isn’t easyl. Who...
Fear, Love & Not Enabling – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Fear is a normal response when a loved one is in crisis. Fear can take away our capacity to engage our wise minds and can spiral us into trying to handle what is not ours to handle. The line between being a supportive caregiver or parent, and enabling a family member...
Fun, Joy & Resilience for Caregivers – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
This past week in our caregiver support group we discussed the role of “fun” in the life of a caregiver. We each bring so many beliefs, expectations and perspectives on caregivers having fun amidst a loved one’s health crisis. Since most of us are not trained to be...
Is Life Like a Box of Chocolates? – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
Thank you to Guest Blogger, Coach Bonnie Olson for contributing this poignant post. Life is so challenging for so many folks on so many levels right now, I wanted to bring some encouragement and hope as well as some insights from a centenarian's success in surviving...
Our Hearts Are Breaking…Again…Still – by, Becky Henry, CPCC
This Memorial Day Weekend, we are coping with intolerable pain, grief, sadness and loss which takes a lot of support and skills. Over the years I have shared many of those coping tools with you dear readers. Today I used the one where you plunge your face into ice...
Balancing Recovery with Life – by, Intern Anna
Summer Intern Anna is back! And she's writing for me two times a month this summer! Enjoy her hard earned wisdom as a person in solid recovery! ~ Becky Balancing Recovery with Life - by, Intern Anna Recovery is so hard. I think I underestimated the amount of...
Social Media and Eating Disorders – by, Intern Anna
Summer Intern Anna is back! And she's writing for me two times a month this summer! Enjoy her hard earned wisdom as a person in solid recovery! ~ Becky How does social media affect you? - by Intern Anna I’m back again on the topic of social media. This past week in my...