In Honor of NEDA Week, Here Are My #RecoveryHeroes

In honor of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, February 26th to March 4th, Project HEAL and The National Eating Disorder Association have teamed up for a new campaign, Recovery Heroes, to honor our loyal supporters who make recovery possible.

To get involved, post a picture or video of yourself and your hero on Instagram with a caption talking about how they helped you on your journey using the #RecoveryHeroes and #NEDAwareness hashtags.

To celebrate #NEDAwareness week, every day I will honor someone who helped me on my recovery journey!

1. To begin, I’d like to thank Kristina Saffran for being one my #recoveryheroes Thank you Kristina for saving my life and showing me that I was worthy of recovery!

2. Recovery would not have been possible without my family’s constant love and support. Thank you Mom, Dad and Josh for being my favorite part in this life. Thank you for always being my loudest cheerleaders and for reminding me of my strengths when I was discouraged. I would not be where I am or who I am today with out each of you.

3. Reflecting back on the years I spent sitting in classrooms, there is one thing that I know for certain to be true: I would not be the person I am today without the teacher who believed in me. Thank you for teaching me life lessons that are far more invaluable than anything I could have learned from a textbook. Thank you for giving me the tools to succeed. Thank you for always encouraging me and believing in me even when I didn’t in myself.  And, finally, thank you for being the teachers who inspired me to be just like you.

4. They say I am their anchor that keeps them grounded. What they don’t realize is they are the light in the darkness, a shining source of strength and courage. Emitting wisdom, hope and love to those around them. Today I dedicate my #recoveryheroes post to the 70 Project HEAL treatment grant recipients

5. Project HEAL Volunteers/Chapters. What many people may not realize is that much of Project HEAL’s achievement would not be possible without the dedication of our volunteers. Their enthusiasm for Project HEAL and spreading the message that recovery is possible inspires me every day. I am so thankful to work with such dedicated, passionate and kind people who are truly HEALing the world. Thank you for being #recoveryheroes to so many people and my everyday hero!

7. Treatment Team. For my final post, I am giving a special shout out to my treatment team. You invested heavily in my recovery when I couldn’t even begin to see the starting line. You constantly reminded me of what recovery was not only about from a technical aspect, but what it was for: my family and future, but, most importantly, for myself. Thank you for giving me the tools to succeed and for helping me reach a full recovery.

A version of this post originally appeared on Project HEAL.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237.

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