Author: Breanna Mills R.D.
Having a slip or engaging in any eating disorder behaviour is a normal part of the recovery process. We believe that the presence of slips or the frequency that they happen is not the defining factor of how you are doing in recovery, and that how someone responds to a slip is more important.
How can you respond to slips?
Compassion
Meeting yourself with compassion and showing yourself kindness is an important part of how we respond to slips. You are a human, doing a really hard thing by trying to recover from an eating disorder and sometimes you are going to struggle. The eating disorder often thrives off of shame, so as much as you can show yourself compassion, this can help to lower the volume on the eating disorder.
Choose the next best recovery step
Responding to a slip can be choosing the next best recovery step, whatever that may be. It might be having your next meal or snack, doing some journalling, meditation, writing a self-compassion letter, using distress tolerance skills, using purposeful distraction, etc. Continuing to prioritize your recovery, even after a slip, helps to return to the path that you want to be on.
Support
Reaching out for support can be so key in responding to a slip. The eating disorder also thrives off of secrecy and isolation and we don’t have to go through struggles alone. Reaching out to your trusted supports or your team can help to normalize that slips happen and help you to cope.
Recovery is not linear and slips are a very normal part of the recovery process. Working on meeting yourself with compassion, choosing the next best recovery step and reaching out for support are some ways to help yourself respond to a slip in a recovery-forward way.
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