Episode Details

About Bellatore Recovery The Bellatore Recovery philosophy is grounded in connection. Their founders are all native Kansans, connected as personal friends and colleagues for over 15 years. Throughout their years treating eating disorders, they've consistently seen that building truthful connections with your own courage, your own beauty, and your own people lets you:

• Make peace with yourself
• Tap into your true unique strengths
• Find lasting recovery from eating disorders

About Brooke Wesley Brooke's desire to help individuals struggling with and recovering from eating disorders began shortly after she recovered from her own eating disorder. Today, she runs her own private counseling practice for adolescents, adult women, and families. She has been in the field of social work for over 20 years, having started as a technician on the Eating Disorder Unit at Baptist Lutheran Hospital. From there, she moved to the Women and Children's Unit at Northstar, working in substance abuse recovery. After earning her Master's in Social Work, she worked in the Olathe school system. She co-founded Kansas City's first and only transitional living program for women with eating disorders, wrote Hungry To Be Whole: A Therapist Story of Healing from Anorexia, and served on the board of REbel.

About Amy Sullivan

Amy Sullivan began helping individuals recover from eating disorders 25 years ago at a residential treatment center in Arizona. Since that time, she has supported adolescents and adults in recovery in a variety of settings.

A Registered and Licensed Dietitian, she holds a Master's degree in Counseling. This unique combination has allowed her to help hundreds of clients achieve recovery and gain freedom from disordered eating.

Along with Brooke, she founded Kansas City's first and only transitional living facility for eating disorder recovery. She also owned a private adolescent nutrition practice and is the Founder of an online support platform for adults struggling with emotional and binge eating.

Kirsten Oelkla

Kirsten Oelkla's interest in eating disorders began over 24 years ago at the Menninger Clinic. There she developed and led Adult Inpatient, Adolescent Inpatient, Day Treatment, and Intensive Outpatient groups.

She continued her passion in working with individuals with eating disorders and their families at the Baptist-Lutheran Medical Center Eating Disorder Program. For the past 14 years, she has provided individual, couples, and family therapy on an outpatient basis.

She has served in organizations that bring awareness to eating disorder-related issues and currently serves on the Missouri Eating Disorder Association board (MOEDA).

Join Dr. Michelle, Brooke, Amy, and Kirsten as they talk about:

• Bellatore Recovery's mission as an intensive outpatient and bridge program.
• The importance of being careful with words when speaking to someone about their healing journey.
• Breaking down the statistics of eating disorders and who is experiencing it the most.
• Why major life changes can create or re-create new struggles with food.
• The fact that most of the population is dealing with some sort of body image disorder.
• Differences between anorexia and bulimia.
• What guidance they can give to parents to help them talk to their children about mental health and food.
• How we can talk to ourselves about what foods are not serving our bodies and minds.
• Steps you can take to be more mindful about what you are eating and what nutrients you need.
• Exploring where we've gotten off track with our body image expectations and the impact of social media.

Mentioned In