Posts Tagged “Young Adults”

Episode description:

Katelyn Olmsted first joined Peace Meal in 2025 to talk about her eating disorder, her time in treatment, and the book she began writing while in care. Now a year further into recovery, she returns to the show as a college student with a second book out in the world. The Recovery Click started with a single text Katelyn sent to a friend from treatment (“what made you want to choose recovery?”) and grew from there: interviews with people in recovery and the therapeutic assistants who watched them pursue it, and reflections from Katelyn herself on the daily practices that keep her choosing recovery too.

You might have started the new school year knowing you were struggling with an eating disorder. Or you might only be beginning to suspect that something isn’t right.

Either way, maybe you hoped the routine would help: that classes, friends, and a full schedule would leave less room for it. Maybe you decided you could manage for now and wait to see whether things got “serious enough.” When getting help could mean missing class or watching everyone else keep going without you, waiting can feel like the safer choice.

Postponing help doesn’t protect your school year from an eating disorder. Left untreated, these illnesses can interfere with everything you’re trying to protect: your focus, your health, your friendships, and your ability to participate in school.

Episode description:

In this episode of Peace Meal, Rawnaq Albathigi joins us to share her experience with an eating disorder, and how it’s shaped the perspective she’s bringing to the field as an emerging dietitian.

Drawing on a recovery journey she describes as anything but linear, Rawnaq makes the case for a more individualized understanding of healing from an eating disorder, and for treatment that’s far more accessible than it currently is, especially for people whose culture and faith fall outside the Western framework much of it is built around.

School’s out, and the house is full again. Maybe your teen is home all day for the first time since the fall, or your college student just moved back in with a semester’s worth of laundry. Either way, summer puts more of your child’s daily life where you can see it. Meals that happened in a school cafeteria or dining hall now happen in your kitchen. Downtime is at home now, not between classes.

Sometimes that closer view comes with a sense that something about your child’s eating habits, exercise, or mood has changed.

Behaviors that might have developed during the school year—and were easy to miss between classes, practices, and packed schedules—can come into focus with more time face-to-face. If your gut says something is off, that’s worth your attention. Eating disorders are serious and more common than most people realize. But they’re also treatable, especially when they’re caught early.

**Content warning: This is one person’s story; everyone will have unique experiences in recovery and beyond. Some stories may mention eating disorder thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed.

Katherine Stancoff (they/she) is a 20-year-old mental health advocate and former client of The Emily Program. You can follow her on TikTok and Instagram at @thereispurposeinthispain and @katherinestancoff, and see more of her literary work at www.thereispurposeinthispain.com.

Comparison was my constant nemesis as a child. I’d compare my home life, friendships, personality, interests, skills, and talents to everyone around me. Quickly, I’d fallen into the deep waters of never feeling adequate. I’d try to excel the way others seemed to, but I always believed I’d fallen short somehow. I soon internalized the notion that I am defective.

This utter despair made me feel like a failure, and my mind began to tear itself apart, skinning itself dry in desperate search of a solution. Consequently, this exploration of “fixing” myself led to self-isolation, then a vow of silence, until it spiraled into disordered behaviors.

From this deterioration, I fell into a distorted “love” with my eating disorder. It convinced me that once I reached my goal weight, I would achieve “perfection,” setting me apart from my peers. I did as it told me, wholeheartedly believing that losing weight to an idealized number would “perfect” me, would satisfy the void my depression and OCD had created.

Episode description:

Coming home for the holidays when an eating disorder is in the mix can be deeply complicated—for the person navigating it, and for the people who love them.

In this episode of Between Bites, Dr. Jillian Lampert reflects on her own experience returning home from college while struggling with an eating disorder, and offers clear, compassionate guidance for young adults facing similar homecomings. Whether the eating disorder is known, hidden, or somewhere in between, Jillian shares tangible strategies to help make this season feel more manageable. With deep care, she holds space for anyone who might be quietly struggling—and for those who want to help, or say something, but aren’t sure how.

**Content warning: This episode includes discussion of suicide. Please use your discretion when listening and connect with your support system as needed. If you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available. Text or call 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Episode description:

When their daughter Grace developed an eating disorder, John and Kathy experienced the heartbreak and confusion familiar to many parents. In this episode of Peace Meal, they speak with raw honesty about the helplessness of those early years, the shock of seeing Grace’s personality shift under the illness, and the mix of fear and relief that came with entrusting her to treatment.

When Grace turned 18, she left treatment, and John and Kathy lost the ability to make decisions for her care. She struggled through a college relapse that felt devastating at the time. John and Kathy talk about learning to support Grace through those years—finding community with parents who truly understood, separating their daughter from the illness even when it felt impossible, and accepting that recovery had to be something Grace wanted for herself.

Academic excellence can vanish almost overnight when eating disorders take hold. High-achieving students find themselves unable to concentrate, missing classes, and watching their GPAs plummet. The academic consequences extend far beyond temporary setbacks—they can derail entire educational trajectories.

Learn more about eating disorder treatment and school support for teens and families