Suppose you see or know or suspect that an employee has an eating disorder. What should you do?  I asked Joy Nollenberg to write a guest post about this issue. She is director of The Joy Project. Joy agreed and said readers should be aware that legal issues abound in this realm and that her words are not legal advice.  In other words, check out your legal position before embarking on a work place confrontation. Here's what Joy writes.

There may be times when someone in the workplace appears to be very ill with an eating disorder. This can be a difficult situation with many potential pitfalls. It's important to keep these points in mind.

This story is my attempt to bring understanding to this painful, desperate and all too common experience in the life of a bulimic woman. It could be triggering.  I wrote this because articulating the extent of a bulimic episode in detail can help a woman know she can be understood and accepted. If she can feel known in her darkest hours she may experience a new sense of hope and reach for her recovery.

Home

 Day 8 continued You quietly let yourself in to your apartment. You run water in the bathroom to hide sound. You throw up the doughnuts. Exhausted, you collapse on the bed, fully clothed, on top of the covers and pass out.

Part 3 Dangerous Sexual Encounter - a variation on the previous option

 This story is my attempt to bring understanding to this painful, desperate and all too common experience in the life of a bulimic woman. It could be triggering.  I wrote this because articulating the extent of a bulimic episode in detail can help a woman know she can be understood and accepted. If she can feel known in her darkest hours she may experience a new sense of hope and reach for her recovery.

You’re in the car driving. You can’t think of anyone to call. You still are in the state where you want someone to be glad to be with you and match your energy. Where is this man?

Days One through Seven of a Ten Day Bulimia Episode

This story is my attempt to bring understanding to this painful, desperate and all too common experience in the life of a bulimic woman. It could be triggering.  I wrote this because articulating the extent of a bulimic episode in detail can help a woman know she can be understood and accepted. If she can feel known in her darkest hours she may experience a new sense of hope and reach for her recovery

Bulimia before recovery work:    Trigger: Your roommate goes out of town for a week.

If you have an eating disorder, please be careful of people who support your symptoms rather than your recovery. 

Undermining influences come in many forms, not just people who help you to starve or encourage you to join them in a binge.