Joanna Poppink

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} If you are a person with an eating disorder, no matter how good your life looks on the outside, you know more about suffering and despair than most people. Sometimes even you don’t know how deep your suffering goes because the numbing power of an eating disorder can anesthetize you to pain you only become aware of once recovery begins. My lifework is dedicated to eating disorder recovery. My own experience with bulimia, long before it had a name, and my recovery journey deeply informs my work with others. Each person’s experience, history and challenges in recovery are diverse, but the misery of living with an eating disorder is the same – a kind of desperate despair. The good news is that recovery is possible. It’s not easy but it’s possible. I see it repeatedly. Seeing yet another woman take her place in life free of the eating disorder and free to live according to her authentic self makes the hard work worthwhile.