I was thrilled to see Thrive Global shining the spotlight on Mental Health.
My story is of my daughter’s Mental Health battle with Anorexia, which here in Australia has the highest rates of suicide amongst all mental illness.
My daughter did not have a conventional life as most of her peers at her top private school in Sydney did. My marriage to her father broke down when she was 6 weeks old, whilst we were living in Hong Kong working in the financial markets. Her father had confessed to being Gay, hence our sudden marriage breakdown.
After our divorce I forgave my ex-husband for his deception, to enable us to co-parent our beautiful daughter across the world with love. Her father was the Chief Financial Officer of one of the worlds’ largest banks in London, until when our daughter was 12, when her life crumbled down, when her adored father passed away from an AIDS related Brain Tumour. At 19 loving her first year at university, and under the care of a top Sydney psychologist for anxiety, my daughter experienced a complete and utter breakdown. Ironically, at this exact time, my daughter was scouted on the streets of Sydney from on one of, if not the most prominent modelling agencies in the world.
At this crisis point, my daughter and I came up with a plan that going to rehab was her best opportunity to help her get better. I found one of the best global rehabilitation facilities here in Australia, and thankfully I had the financial means to privately pay for this. At her rehab she met her amazing therapist who diagnosed her with Anorexia and multiple instances of PTSD.
Having been a too busy single mum trying to keep up with my career and care for my daughter alone, I decided It was time to focus solely on my daughter, to give her the best chance of staying alive. I sold my beautiful home in Sydney to support my daughters battle, which only begun with her attending rehab.
What followed was a fraught, lonely and at times life-threatening battle for my beautiful Lucinda to stay alive. She had therapy up to 3 times a week, in addition to being under a psychiatrist, and undertook weekly yoga, beginning with trauma yoga to help her healing process. During my time as a carer, I undertook my own therapy, to maintain my mental health, as being a carer is an extremely difficult and lonely role, particularly as a single parent with no support from a partner.
Now 4 years from when she first entered rehab, my daughter has found her purpose in life, she is a Writer. She is soon to be a published author, with her book titled ‘What’s Eating Lucinda.’ of her battle with Anorexia. Her book truly is a gift to the world. Not only will it help sufferers as they will relate to my daughter’s story, but it will help mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, school teachers and therapists understand the torment that eating disorders suffers exist within.
With her soon to be published book, her goal is to raise the awareness on a Global stage that Eating Disorders can and do kill, and the more we understand, the more we can help suffers.
My daughter is a role model, as from her pain and suffering she is bravely sharing her story to help heal others.