My Unexpected Path to Becoming an Eating Disorder Specialist

My Unexpected Path to Becoming an Eating Disorder Therapist

I unexpectedly became an eating disorder therapist. And here's how it all happened.

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Early Dreams and College Disappointment

Since middle school, I wanted to become an orthopedic surgeon. I was told women weren't "strong enough" to move hips and knees which made me want to become a bone doctor even more. My first choice for college was Emory in Atlanta. There was something about sharing a cafeteria with doctors (the teaching hospital was next door) that got me excited. Sadly, I was waitlisted and the swim coach didn't think I was good enough to be on the team. I ended up at Loyola College, now University, in Baltimore, Maryland. I swam all four years at the D1 level (take that Emory!:) ) and made a sudden switch from pre-med to being a Psych major.

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A Shift in Academic Focus

I was not intrigued by my intro Psych classes however and thought maybe I'd like to do psych testing for children with learning disabilities... Afterall I had one. I was advised to get more hands-on experience by being in the classroom so I switched to Elementary Education. Hello, wake up call! Third grade is tough! The lesson plans, the early mornings and late nights planning and prepping and buying classroom items out of my very shallow student pockets. I finished with an Elementary Ed. degree with a minor in Special Ed.

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Pursuing Psychology Degrees

and then the long journey of pursuing my psychology degrees began. I moved to Boston, then New York, then back to Boston. I'll explain- I grew up in Hartford, CT, in between the two big cities and thought Boston was manageable while I deferred my decision to go to Columbia University Teachers College. I felt I'd given up an amazing opportunity to go to a prestigious Ivy- What was I thinking? So after a year in Boston I moved to New York and two weeks into school 9/11 happened. I withdrew from Columbia and quickly retreated home then back to Boston. Another year went by and I applied to Northeastern University's Counseling Psychology Masters program. That was a good fit and I wanted to continue onto their doctoral program but they didn't agree so I applied to 13 grad schools and got into Temple University- perfectly close by to my sister who lived in PA at the time. To my dismay, and after learning I was accepted, they closed their program due to funding. Back to the drawing board. I did another round of applications and was waitlisted at the University of Miami. On the final decision day in which the faculty offer their acceptance letters, I was informed I was next on the wait list- that if #8 on the waitlist declined their offer, they would give me a spot. Well #8 accepted and the Dean encouraged me to apply again. I did the following year, got in and deferred as I had just married and didn't want to do the first year long distance. FINALLY, in 2007, I started at UM. Seven years later, I graduated. During that time I joined an eating disorder research team with one of my favorite faculty members (shout out to Dr. Burnett!) and I did a couple of practicums at local college campuses which further exposed me to how rampant and devastating eating disorders are.

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The Real Turning Point

But it was those years in between my Masters and doctorate that really led me down the path of becoming an eating disorder therapist. When I was “forced” to find a job after Temple’s program wasn’t going to work out, I begrudgingly applied as a mental health specialist at the Klarman Eating Disorder unit at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, just outside of Boston. Begrudgingly because I wanted to be in school and didn’t plan on looking for a real job in the real world. But it was there, at Klarman, where I found myself on the “front lines” as they say. I was monitoring bathrooms, meals, and doing safety checks. My observations mattered as I would share the intimate moments spent with patients in their darkest hours with our multidisciplinary team at Rounds every Tuesday. I learned how conniving and sneaky and demonic eating disorders can be. How they rob you of your very being to the point of psychosis (in one very rare case I witnessed). I saw patients return for rounds of treatment, feeling defeated and depleted. And I also saw patients get better. I saw what it was like for a ghost to find life and meaning again. I live for that. For people to come back to themselves. To see their light return. Their humor. It is a glorious thing.

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Embracing My Calling

After graduating from UM, as luck would have it, an eating disorder program was opening 15 minutes from my house. I became Assistant Director in which my primary role was supervising Masters-level therapists and running the PHP and IOP programs. A few years later, I moved to Boulder and became Assistant Director of a similar program.

So becoming an eating disorder therapist was not what I had planned on becoming but in the end, I feel my calling called upon me and for that I am so grateful as I get to truly witness life coming back to a person. To me, there is no greater gift. 💜