[Thom_Book] Thom Rutledge may be best-known to the eating disorders world these days as Jenni Schaefer’s therapist, but Jenni is just one of literally hundreds of folks who credit Thom for life-saving guidance, mentoring, and support.

When I first published Beating Ana and launched MentorCONNECT, I was pretty starry-eyed around folks I considered to be “eating disorder celebrities”. So when I first started getting email from Thom himself, I nearly fell over.

But he liked what we were up to with MentorCONNECT, and proposed a collaboration. His idea involved “teleconferences”, which made technologically-challenged me feel a bit faint for other reasons. His part would be to lead them. My part would be to run the teleconferencing program.

Needless to say, it took awhile for us to get the thing up and running.

But to date, Thom has presented 9 amazing teleconferences for us, and the 10th is right around the corner on February 9th.

Troy Roness is an inspiring role model for any person who is struggling to recover from an eating disorder. He is equally inspiring to those who have recovered in his ceaseless efforts to support, encourage, and advocate for better treatment and care for all who struggle.

Troy currently serves as the inaugural United States Male Junior Board Representative for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), Advisory Board Member and M.O.R.E. Program Director with MentorCONNECT, and is active in promoting legislative changes in his home state of North Dakota to promote education and treatment of eating disorders.

Troy is a busy guy!

He is the epitomy of what it means to “pay it forward”, and it is my pleasure to feature Troy’s words and work in “Mentoring and Recovery”. Troy, thanks so much for being with us!

Tell us a bit about your battle with an eating disorder and what motivated you to choose recovery.
“I cannot specifically remember a day or ‘ah-ha’ event that I really wanted to choose life. There are specific moments I do recall, however, that really had me analyzing the direction I was headed. For one, physically I couldn’t function enough to perform daily tasks, let alone enjoy life. Aside from that and more importantly, I was emotionally, psychologically and spiritually drained; I was desperate and completely alone. It was, and still is sometimes, a daily task to choose healthy decisions verses unhealthy ones. I feel confident when I lay my head down each night knowing that I have done the best I can in my efforts to make myself healthier, happier and more in-tune with my feelings.”

Eating disorders are widely considered to be a female disease.

Those of you who are reading this post and are knowledgeable about eating disorders are thinking, “no they aren’t” and “no they’re not”.

But the vast majority of the population still regards eating disorders as a female disease. This includes many general medical practitioners. You might be surprised to learn how many males with eating disorder symptoms are told by their family doctor, “you can’t have an eating disorder – that is a female disease”.

But it is an eating disorder. And they are male. They are a male with an eating disorder.

It happens…and much more often than most of us may suspect.