[Music]
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[Music]
hey Chris how are you today good how are
you
I'm good I just met you and I heard
you're a social worker in New Jersey
tell me why did you choose to you know
after studying in college why did you
choose to become a social worker what
made you choose that
I really wanted to see if I could make a
difference
um I saw like just by growing up and
seeing the people around me that
um access to things that people think
are
um easy to get or really not easy to get
you know the simple things like food
security and housing are all things that
are
can be very difficult especially when
you have a disability like a mental
health disability or physical disability
can be really difficult to secure those
things for yourself so I wanted to see
if I could make a difference in that
yeah I'm so glad as a young person
you're trying to make a big difference
uh we also talked a little bit about
um you know your mental health and a lot
of things that you told me what was it
that made you realize that there was
something wrong you know why was your
life going out of control what was that
event that happened
in your years yeah I honestly really
wasn't sure what was going wrong in my
college Years I
um thought I was just kind of being
healthy I thought I was being
disciplined and
um making Forward Motion in my life and
I just kind of wasn't
I mean I was aware that I was losing
weight but I wasn't really aware that it
was something that was
um starting to change how I was
interacting not only with my friends but
also with something as simple as um as
food yeah
um
yeah trying to keep to some kind of diet
or like what happened like what made you
realize that there was an issue going on
um I started to realize that there was
an issue
when
it became difficult to do things that
used to come very easily to me and it
was kind of like depression in the sense
where it was very difficult to get out
of bed it was very difficult to go do my
workout or to go cook myself a healthy
meal and that was because my body was so
depleted of nutrients I just I just
wasn't eating enough even though I had
convinced myself that I was eating
enough and these things that I was doing
was the right thing to do
yeah tell me a little bit more what
happened like you it sounds like for
anybody else that you know you're just
not getting enough nutrition but was
there more to it
um there was
there was definitely a part of me
looking and comparing myself I think to
other people
um wondering you know why I didn't look
like all the other all the other girls
in a way yeah
um social media was not helpful and that
caused either
um especially because they're I wouldn't
say I was subscribing to any diet but
there were plenty of Health advice there
were plenty of fitness influencers and
all of them showing like this ideal
version of a body that I was trying to
attain for myself and then for that yes
yes I um got to the point where I was
trying to do all this stuff for me for
myself that my body stopped functioning
properly and I was hospitalized
um in 2020 I was hospitalized for an
eating disorder anorexia specifically
um
and I was there for about three months
oh wow so do you think uh just being
aware of some other person who's gone
through your journey would have helped
you realize that you know
as as a growing person right we all our
bodies are changing
and you know information about anorexia
and depression you know how are they
related and what would that have helped
you a little bit or what do you think
what made you realize that you needed
help
I think that information about anorexia
or eating disorders in general
um being more public would have
definitely been helpful because there's
this very specific image of someone
who's anorexic and there's this very
specific image of an eating disorder in
general and I find that
um that doesn't fit the typical profile
of a lot of people with eating disorders
like when I was hospitalized I wasn't
I wasn't like this stick thin individual
I had
um some muscle mass not a lot but some
and a lot of my friends would classify
me as very healthy as very fit as very
disciplined and
um
I think someone telling coming in and
telling me like you know you don't it's
actually not helpful for you to be so
fastidious about what you eat and how
you eat
and to exert control over your life over
food and or through food is really
detrimental to how you enjoy your life
how you enjoy your company with your
friends because you end up being more
concerned about what you're eating or
what you have eaten already that day as
opposed to the people you're with the
things that they're saying the stories
or memories that you could be creating
yeah that that is really important right
as a that's a great message that I think
our viewers should learn from you
that you know
we need to support
people who are going through this this
trauma of like looking really lean but
really what is going on right like reach
out what was it how did you I know you
got hospitalized but after that how did
you maintain a healthy lifestyle
I
[Music]
um
it took a lot of trial and error
honestly
um there was
a lot of um I got in touch with a good
therapist and I was just really honest
about what was happening and I also had
to trust
the process I had to trust that my body
was going to change even more and I
couldn't fall back on Old patterns as my
body started to adjust to you know a
typical amount of food that someone
might wants to eat in a day yeah yeah
I'm so glad that you found the right
therapist the right help
and I'm glad that you know you're
healthy now and thank you Chris for
sharing your story
thanks for having me sure
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