Friends and family members of our clients often ask us "how can we help?" Friends and family have a great opportunity to support their loved one in their recovery journey. We always encourage family and friends to ask their loved one what they view as personally helpful to them, as support can vary for different individuals and people at different stages in their recovery. Creating space for open and honest communication is so helpful, to learn how to navigate alongside your

Researcher and thought leader Brené Brown encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our c

It's that time of year! When the school year begins again, and along with it comes all the excitement and challenges of another year. Navigating school while in recovery from an eating disorder brings its own set of added challenges. Including the challenges of a demanding performance based environment, as well as social challenges, which can exaggerate perfectionistic self expectations and add stress to life. School can also be an exciting and enjoyable experience, and provi

Perfection is an impossible goal. The pursuit of perfection leaves us feeling fearful, self critical, and disconnected from others and the activities we love. Pursuing perfection can creep into many areas of our lives such as appearance, school, career, hobbies, relationships and just about any area of life! When we choose to let go of pursuing perfection, we can embrace compassion, courage and connection with others. THE PROBLEMS OF CHASING PERFECTION When we chase after p

March 8th marks the global celebration of International Women's Day (IWD) and brings recognition and praise to all the achievements women have attained in our society’s social, economic, cultural and political areas. The campaign theme for IWD 2017 is #BeBoldForChange. Along with supporting women and girls on their journeys to be successful in their ambitions, IWD hopes to bring more awareness and action with bold movements towards a greater change for women and gender pari

Welcome to Westwind's 2017 recovery blog! We're excited for the start of another year, and more opportunities to be part of the recovery journey for so many courageous women. As the new year starts, we're all aware of the bombardment in advertising and social media, promising a "new you" with the right new year's resolution. There are appeals everywhere to re-make your body, career or relationships, often in a few steps and for a few (or more) dollars! If you’re like many p

The holidays are a wonderful time to connect with friends and family, enjoy a variety of delicious foods, and have fun at parties. If you are in recovery, or are struggling with an eating disorder, these experiences can bring an equal amount of joy and distress. Having to dress up, being around holiday food, and spending time with family members you may not have seen for awhile can be very overwhelming and take away from the enjoyment of the holiday season. Here are some tips

This week's blog post is written by Kristin, a former Westwind Client. My shield. My guard. My armor. It was always what I drew my strength from. It was something that made me feel respected. I thought it was what I could count on to get me through everything and anything that came my way in life. It was what I could trust to ensure I wouldn’t be hurt or disappointed. It especially helped me to hide the fraudulent person I felt I was. But in one conversation, one 'a ha' momen

Health At Every Size® or HAES™ is a movement that is spreading quickly across the nation. However surprisingly for some, it is a catchphrase that carries little meaning. So, what is HAES™? HAES™ is a concept that supports the non-dieting approach and states that the best way to improve health is to honor your body. It supports people of all shapes and sizes in adapting health habits for the sake of health and well-being not for weight control. Because let's face it, dieting,

Cultivating gratitude is a very valuable practice that can increase our sense of well-being. It has been linked to increased joy and increased feelings of connectedness. "Without exception, every person I interviewed who described living a joyful life or who described themselves as joyful, actively practiced gratitude and attributed their joyfulness to their gratitude practice. And both joy and gratitude were described as spiritual practices that were bound to a belief in hum

Westwind is really excited to be participating in the 5th EDAC-ATAC Biennial Conference: At the Heart of it All, to be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 29th and 30th, 2016. This conference will provide an opportunity to learn of cutting edge research in Child and Adolescent and Adult Eating Disorders, as well as to network with colleagues from across the nation. The keynote speakers for the event will be Dr. Howard Steiger (McGill University) and Dr. Carolyn Becker (Trin

Positive self-esteem is a hard thing to come by these days. Many people live with a constant feeling of low self-worth and dissatisfaction towards themselves and their life. Here are some keys that could help you unlock the door to better self-esteem. 1. AFFIRMATIONS / POSITIVE SELF-TALK Our internal dialogue sets the stage for how we feel about ourselves. Having a little voice inside our heads constantly saying "You aren't good enough", "That was really dumb", and "These pe

Watching someone you love struggle can be incredibly difficult. Not knowing what to say or how to broach the subject, worrying that you’ll say something wrong and make it worse – we have all been there. Trying to talk to someone battling an eating disorder can be particularly tricky – along with the behaviors that you may notice, there are also tumultuous emotions happening within them, along with personality changes, which can make them seem like a completely different perso

Summer has arrived!!! And along with it all the wonderful perks of family & friend gatherings including BBQ's, potlucks, Bonfire treats and sinking our teeth into some of Mother Nature's finest in season fruits and vegetables. With all these social events and countless nights of indulging in summer foods at their best we can very easily forget to check in with our internal hunger/fullness cues and find ourselves eating for reasons other than true physical hunger. Most people