Recovered eating disorder professionals.
“Up until now there has been no place, no guidelines, no support and no mentoring outside of a few recovered clinicians like myself offering help.” Carolyn Costin has spent her career changing that — building a home for professionals who have lived recovery and now want to give it back.
A field built, in part, by people who recovered first.
“Since I began treating eating disorders in 1979, I have always referred to and utilized my own recovery from anorexia nervosa.”— Carolyn Costin
Current research indicates that between 25% and 55% of eating disorder treatment professionals have personally experienced an eating disorder. Many want to work in this field, yet hesitate to disclose their own history.
Carolyn was one of the first clinicians to openly hire recovered professionals as providers — and to help them use their lived experience well. This page is for the clinicians, coaches, dietitians, and students who have been there, and who want to turn what they learned into help for others.
Having experienced and recovered from an eating disorder can give a professional a rare perspective. In their 2002 article “Been There, Done That,” Carolyn Costin and Craig Johnson described the advantages a recovered clinician can bring:
- →Deep empathy for a client's fear of giving up their behaviors.
- →The credibility to challenge clients — without hearing “you just don't get it.”
- →Insight and knowledge of the disorder from the inside.
- →Serving as living “messengers of hope” — proof that full recovery is possible.
Lived experience is a strength — with the right guidelines around it.
Working from lived experience carries real considerations — counter-transference, over-identification, and the risk of relapse. Carolyn's experience shows that with the right structure, recovered professionals thrive. Her long-standing hiring guidelines are simple:
“Recovered,” not “recovering”
Only hire clinicians who describe themselves as recovered — not still in the thick of it.
At least two years
Require a minimum of two years of recovery before working in the field.
Consistent supervision
Provide ongoing supervision and guidance. Over decades, only one relapse of a recovered staff member is known.
“Being recovered is when you can accept your natural body size and shape and no longer have a self-destructive or unnatural relationship with food or exercise.”
The words “recovering,” “in recovery,” and “recovered” are often used interchangeably, but they carry different meanings — and different implications for when a professional is ready to help others. Being recovered means food and weight take a proper perspective, and you no longer use eating disorder behaviors to cope with life. That distinction is at the heart of who CCI trains and supports.
Join the Recovered Professionals community.
CCI hosts a large private Facebook group for recovered eating disorder professionals — a place to find guidelines, support, and mentoring alongside others who have walked the same road. And on the podcast, Carolyn and her guests go deeper on what full recovery really takes.