Recovery in Flight with Kerrie Baldwin

 
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Episode 73 - Recovery in Flight with Kerrie Baldwin

by Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS

In this episode, I am joined by Kerrie Baldwin, recovered editor and writer with twenty years' experience in areas ranging from adult and children's trade books to pharmaceutical training material. She is the author of “I, Dragonfly: A Memoir of Recovery and Flight,” which chronicles the physical and psychological transformations of Kerrie’s eating disorder recovery at thirty-three years old, while managing a freelance career as an editor as well as caring for her three young children.

SOME OF THE TOPICS DISCUSSED:

  • How culture has normalized health and wellness values

  • Treading the line of being “health conscious” and having disordered eating/thoughts/behaviors

  • The difficulties of recovering while parenting

  • How attempts to appear “put together” thwarts connection, authenticity, and potential support

  • Sitting with the discomfort of recovery while knowing it does not last forever

  • As a parent in recovery, the importance of countering the messages children receive from the diet industry

  • The ways in which children’s impressionability puts them at higher risk for internalizing fatphobia

  • Kerrie’s book, “I, Dragonfly: A Memoir of Recovery and Flight”

ABOUT KERRIE BALDWIN:

Kerrie Baldwin is the author of “I, Dragonfly: A Memoir of Recovery and Flight,” which chronicles the physical and psychological transformations of her eating disorder recovery. She began her recovery at thirty-three years old, while managing a freelance career as an editor as well as caring for her three young children. By embracing the recovery approach presented by Gwyneth Olwyn, founder of The Eating Disorder Institute and author of “Recover from Eating Disorders: Homeodynamic Recovery Method,” Kerrie achieved a resilient remission from her eating disorder. She was so astonished by what recovery required and delivered that she wrote and published her candid memoir as a reassuring roadmap for others who seek to reclaim themselves.

Kerrie’s interest in the science behind eating disorders is fueled by her work as a medical editor in the pharmaceutical industry. She has two decades’ experience as an editor of adult and children’s books, and she has also authored several children’s educational titles. Kerrie is devoted to the dance of growth and acceptance, which she is incorporating into her next writing project.

Although social media isn’t her strength, Kerrie enjoys speaking about her experience, such as with F.E.A.S.T. founder Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh on the New Plates podcast and as a presenter at the 2018 Ulster County Eating Disorders Coalition annual conference. She is honored to provide personal insight to those who reach out to her for encouragement or questions about her recovery process.

Kerrie lives with her husband, three tween and teen kids, and Michelle, their marshmallow pit-bull rescue, in New York’s Hudson Valley, where they bicycle the rail trails and visit farm animals and Kerrie busts out her light-up roller skates as often as she can.

I’ve finally recouped what I desperately desired through the ten years of anorexia: the ability to move through my life with both physical and mental freedom and to eat not by numbers. To my refurbished mind it’s the most simple, natural thing to do — but it’s also a miracle. —I, Dragonfly

CONNECT WITH KERRIE:

ABOUT KARIN LEWIS:

Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS has been recovered from Anorexia Nervosa for over 20 years and has been specializing in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders since 2005. Karin is the founder of the Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center located in Boston, MA. You can visit Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center online to learn more about Karin and her center’s services. You can also connect with Karin on social media by following her on Facebook and Instagram.