Q&A with Michelle De Faria: Family Therapy

Michelle De Faria is doing her placement at Eating Disorders of York Region.

Michelle De Faria (above) studied in the postgraduate Addictions and Mental Health program at Durham College and is completing her placement at Eating Disorders of York Region.

Until August 10, she will routinely answer different questions pertaining to family dynamics (in other words, how a family works) in relation to mental health.

Today, Michelle talks about what makes a family and family therapy.

Question: What makes a family?

Answer: The textbook definition of a family is two or more people involved in an important relationship.

In laymen’s terms, a family is a team or a unit of support and love. They provide guidance. This group of people could be anyone, from a team to a group of friends to coworkers to classmates. A family is anyone you find comfort with, and isn’t limited to relatives or people on your family tree.

Question: What is family therapy?

Answer: Family therapy is professional guidance to help solve family struggles. A family can meet whenever it is convenient for them to discuss issues that may have come up. It is beneficial for all members of the family to attend and participate.

Eating Disorders of York Region’s Guidance for Family and Friends support group, for example, strives to improve understanding within the family and self-care. This model also emphasizes that family members are not each other’s therapists but instead can benefit from expert guidance (even if all family members are not present). This group is led by a psychotherapist.

Question: What are the benefits of family therapy?

Answer: Family therapy allows for an objective, outside opinion that invites all issues, emotions and thoughts into a safe space. For example, if a mother and daughter are in a dispute, but the daughter feels her mother is misunderstanding the root of the problem, family therapy could allow for an objective voice to see the dispute in a new light, perhaps giving a new perspective to both parties.

In family therapy, groups work as a team towards a specific goal. Using the earlier example, the goal for the mother and daughter could be to understand why both parties are upset and to find a compromise and/or a solution.

Family therapy also resets the various roles in a family (parent, sibling, child, etc.) to reestablish boundaries and rules. If the daughter in the example used prior is acting more as a parent than the mother is, then the therapy can attempt to reestablish roles.

Question: How can a family be replenished?

Answer: As the family grows together, schedules change and lives get busy. It is important to still spend time together, even when there is limited time. Here are some fun activities a family can do together:

• Family vacations (even weekend trips are enjoyable) 
• Family dinners (fewer and fewer families spend dinner together. Dinner may be the best time to ask about someone’s day)
• Family outings (day or night trips)
• Preparing meals together 
• Weekly recreational activities (walks, board games, movie nights, etc.)

For more information on family therapy, please visit the National Eating Disorder Information Centre.

Know Drugs

Michelle De Faria started her placement with Eating Disorders of York Region (EDOYR) earlier this summer. Her passion is to encourage men and women to take control of their mental health.

"Know Drugs" is the byproduct of De Faria's inspiration to create a campaign to promote pharmaceutical alternatives, since medicine may not always be the only way to be healthy and happy.

Yoga: A wonderful tool

Megan Jacobs is a certified iyengar yoga teacher.

"Yoga has helped me a lot in my life," says Megan Jacobs, a certified iyengar yoga teacher who works out of her studio, Dove Tail Yoga, in Aurora. "It' a wonderful tool."

Jacobs came to visit us at Eating Disorders of York Region Monday where we had a wonderful conversation about the benefits of yoga.

Iyengar yoga, that which Jacobs teaches at her home studio, is a detail oriented practice. Iyengar is very physical, Jacobs says, and uses a lot of props, like blocks, blankets and belts.

"We are all built differently. [We all have different] heights and confidence levels. Props help everyone do the poses," Jacobs says, adding that though the technical term for the blocks, blankets and belts is props, she prefers the word "tool."

These "tools" teach the poses to the body and then the body eventually gets more comfortable with the various movements and stretches.

When a yoga class begins, the movements are very general. Throughout the class and after numerous sessions, a stronger foundation is built, both physically and spiritually, where participants begin to sink deeper into each position.

"You then go deeper and deeper into yourself," Jacobs says. "And your mind is calmed and then you begin to learn about your body."

Iyengar yoga doesn't teach a lot of breath work, but, as Jacobs refers to it, "is meditation in action."

"Endorphins in yoga can get addicting," Jacobs says. "As a teacher, I teach balance and how to find that connection between your heart, body and mind. Yoga can be harmful if, like anything else, it is abused."

One of the main practices of yoga is awareness. When we are aware, "the contentment and peace we find is not in our environment but in ourselves," Jacobs says. "We lose the attachment to sensory things when we practice."

This objectiveness connects an individual to his or her inner voice, where there is a need for sensitivity and thought about how much we let the rest of the world affect us.

-- Leviana Coccia

Girls Circle Body Image and Self-Esteem Building Workshops start on July 11

Laura Connell, Girls Circle facilitator.

Starting Wed. July 11, Girls Circle comes to York Region with new workshops illustrating a research-based model that encourages girls to stay true to themselves.

“Through the research-based model of Girls Circle groups, I hope to empower girls by helping them see their true value which is more than skin deep. Girls deserve to celebrate and love themselves for who they are rather than what they look like,” says Laura Connell (right), Girls Circle facilitator in Richmond hill.

Each week at the Richmond Hill Central Library (located at Yonge St. and Major Mackenize Dr.), Connell will meet with and lead the six to 10 girls through a structured format. Girls will take turns talking and listening to one another about concerns and interests, Connell says.

Connell visited Eating Disorders of York Region last week to talk about expressionism, a style of art where the artist seeks to express emotional experience. Expressionism at Girls Circle will expand further with creative or focused activities like journaling, drawing, poetry collaging and the use of drama.

Guest speakers, in the fields of body image and self-esteem, are also welcome.

Girls Circle Body Image and Self-Esteem Building Workshops are for girls ages 11 to 14. For an early bird rate of $99, registrants will attend eight two-hour sessions every Wednesday from July 11 to August 29 from 6:30 to 8:30p.m. at the Richmond Hill Central Library.

For more information please visit www.mygirlscircle.com. To register call Connell at 4169039714 or e-mail her at girlscircle2012@gmail.com.

Preparing for the future by Jim Campbell

We came across Preparing for the future by Jim Campbell, an Oakville author and writer, in the Summer 2012 edition of Home Digest.

Read it, here.

Exceptional support group starts Tuesday July 10

Healing Emotional Eating: Using or Refusing Food to Cope is an exceptional support group facilitated by Marilyn Strauch M.A. (C) OACCPP Psychotherapist. It will take place starting on July 10 for four consecutive Tuesdays from 4:00 to 5:00p.m.

Those with eating disorders may restrict, overeat or emotionally eat in an effort to cope with uncomfortable negative emotions or to reinforce a positive mood. After each episode, there may be increased self-criticism around weight, body image and lack of control, in addition to long term negative physical conditions.

The group will be held at 115 Wertheim Court, Suite 511 in Richmond Hill, located east of West Beaver Creek and North of Hwy 7.

There are four spots left. Register online now.

Monday inspiration!

We came across this awesome quote online. We found it very inspiring.

Then, we remembered we had this from Rae's "The Love Yourself Challenge."