Yesterday Jason and I were watching some of the March Madness games. During the commercials, Jason started browsing through the other stations and Dr. Phil caught our eye. We ended up watching it instead of the game. His show was about several women suffering from anorexia. The two women that it featured were both around 60 lbs. and were at the point where their bodies could shut down. As I listened to their stories, I couldn't help but think about my girls from Center for Change that I used to teach. I thought of each one of them and how brave they are and how hard it was for them to go through treatment. They are some remarkable young ladies. As I heard these two ladies stories, I kept saying to Jason, "they need to go to Center for Change". I found myself getting choked up many times throughout the program partly because of seeing these two people who were in such need of help and partly because of all the memories of working with people in a similar situation. I remember my last day of work there--I cried the entire way driving home, not because I was necessarily sad to be quitting because I knew it was the right thing, but because I was so grateful to have been a part of something so important. I was just their math and science teacher, so I wasn't involved in their therapy but I was able to see a change occur in each one of them and be a witness to their recovery. I am still so grateful for that experience and still feel drawn to people who suffer from such a complicated disease.
Towards the end of the Dr. Phil Show, they started talking about whether or not these two women were willing and ready to undergo treatment. Dr. Phil said that it is such a complicated disorder and that there aren't many places equipped to really treat it. And then he said that there was one that deals with all the facets of the disease. The cameras flashed to the audience and there was Dr. Barrett from Center for Change! I was so proud! After the show, Dr. Barrett met with each of the women and their families and invited them each to come to Center for Change. I hope that they do a follow up story sometime down the road.
I have so much respect and admiration for the founders of Center for Change and all that they put into it. They are very talented therapists and doctors. And helping women with eating disorders is their life and their passion.
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1 comment:
That's neat. Dr. Phil sent a student to our facility, too. We all watched the episode at a quarterly training meeting. It's nice to feel a sense of purpose in helping others.
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