Mentor Profile Mandy has a lived experience of eating issues, addiction and other mental health challenges; possessing knowledge and compassion regarding the journey to recovery. Mandy understands the complexity of living with an eating disorder - the perception of “high functioning” versus the reality of struggling in secret. Mandy’s own recovery journey involved a lot of “self-work”; professional supports for the ED were far less at that time and Mandy struggled to find the right support. One of the biggest influences in recovery for Mandy was observing and listening to others to relearn more helpful ways of relating to food and herself more broadly. For Mandy, the turning point was realising how much the eating disorder had taken from her; that is wasn’t her true identity and she could do something different with her life after 25yrs of living with an ED.
Mandy Long
In January 2017 Mandy found EDQ’s Peer Mentoring Program. With her children finishing high school, Mandy felt that she was far enough in her own recovery and had the time to give back. After completing mentor training in the February of the same year, Mandy went on to mentor five mentees in five separate PMP rounds. Having personally experienced the importance of learning from others in recovery, a huge part of what motivates her in the mentoring role is being able to connect and “do life with people”. Mandy loves that PMP allows mentors and mentees to be themselves and use their relationship as a vehicle for hope and change. Mandy particularly loves “the moment when someone can see that there is a glimmer of hope.”
FY20 Annual Report
Mandy is grateful for how the mentoring role reminds her of how far she has come and that, even now, she continues to find more healing, especially being in the EDQ environment which promotes body neutrality and self-love. Fastforward to 2020 and Mandy has now completed her first PMP round as a senior mentor and, most recently, started in her role as Lived Experience Peer Worker in EDQ’s Covid Stream; something Mandy experiences as “very humbling and a privilege” and very validating of the challenging work of the recovery journey. Since 2016 she has run Exchange Consultancy- her Cairns-based coaching and mentoring individuals living with eating disorders and other mental health challenges and in 2019, Mandy published a book loosely based on her own recovery journey. Mandy has found EDQ a very welcome addition to her life in “an ongoing quest for more and more freedom.” EDQ and all our clients who have received help from Mandy’s support and guidance would like to show our gratitude for all Mandy has so graciously shared with us.
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